Christian MarclayAction

*Aargauer Kunsthaus 30. 8. – 15. 11. 2015

English

Christian Marclay (b. 1955) explores the relation-ship between art, music, and popular culture in his multifaceted work. Featuring around 120 works, the exhibition Action focuses, for the first time, on Christian Marclay’s ongoing artistic interest in onomatopoeia since the late 1980s. Christian Marclay grew up in Geneva where he attended the École Supérieure d’Art Visuel. Subsequently, he continued his studies in the U.S. As a pioneer of turntablism, a performer, and a visual artist, he discovered early on – in the late 1970s – the potential of music as a material for the visual arts and has since received interna-tional recognition for his sound-based collages, videos, sculptures, paintings, and photographs. His artistic practice is shaped by the principle of “sampling,” of assembling fragmented objects such as broken vinyl records, musical instruments, and film clips. In contrast to the artist’s many sound-based works, the works included in Action are silent, though they do aim to evoke sounds within us as viewers – to make us aware of of how intensely we “hear” with our eyes. Situated at the dynamic intersection of movement and stasis, sound and silence, word and image, the works shown in Aarau point to an important aspect of Marclay’s artistic investigation, which is examined for the first time here. Action places particular weight on the per-formative side of Christian Marclay’s work. A teahouse that was specially conceived in collab-oration with the artist by Zurich-based Fuhrimann Hächler Architects serves also as a stage for vocalists to interpret musical scores. At the same time it is a platform for tea ceremonies and a series of talks in which invited guests will dis-cuss various aspects of Marclay’s work.

Abstract Music, 1988 – 1990

Christian Marclay frequently works with vinyl records in his performances as an experimental DJ, as well as in his visual practice. For Abstract Music (1988 – 1990) the artist painted over album covers featuring reproductions of abstract painting. Always in keeping with the style of the original, Marclay added to the existing illustrations; he copied the expressionistic gestures and by overpaint-ing the text parts he eliminated the direct link to the specific recording, thus focusing on the connection between music and abstraction. The short film sequence Bubble Speech (2000), an objet trouvé from the early days of cinema, as well as Soap Bubbles (1997 – 2015), which can be seen floating in the courtyard, both point to the speech act as the origin and the dissolution of meaning.

Aaaaahhh, 2006

Comic books are key to Christian Marclay’s interest in the visualisation of sound and his preoccupation with ono-ma  topoeia. In the late 1980s he painted over comic book pages, obscuring the narrative while retaining only the visualised sound expressions, which convey the acoustic dimension of the narrative and, in doing so, not only rep-resent sound, but also energy, movement, and drama. For his large-scale prints (2006) the artist tears onomat-opoeic fragments from comic books, reassembling them into collages which are then enlarged and focus attention on the cheap, disposable quality of newsprint comics. Manga Scroll (2010) employs onomatopoeia collected from English language translations of Japanese manga which are collaged into a vocal “score” that runs the length of a 20 metre long makimono roll. The result is a sequence of sounds, brought to life in various performances through-out the duration of the exhibition.

Zoom Zoom, 2007 – 2015

Zoom Zoom (2007 – 2015) is a slideshow of Marclay’s photographs of onomatopoeias that were found pri marily on signs, advertising, and product packaging. Zoom Zoom was also conceived as a performance score. Ameri can vocal performer Shelley Hirsch, for whom this piece was cre-ated, and Marclay will perform on 24 October 2015. Sel ec-ted images trigger vocal improvisation in an ongoing call and response. Manga Scroll will also be interpreted by Shelley Hirsch that same evening.

Blubble Thmp, 2001

Japanese culture, and especially the Japanese scroll, is an important source of inspiration for Christian Marclay. In Hanging Scrolls (2011) he combines this traditional type of vertical-format painting with elements of contemporary comics. For their first presentation in Europe, Fuhrimann Hächler Architects have created, in collaboration with the ar tist, a hybrid pavilion structure that serves both as a con-temporary interpretation of a Japanese teahouse and as a stage for performances and talks. Mixed Reviews (1999 – 2015) is a long, collaged line of text made from fragments of descriptive, often meta phorical, language used by reviewers to describe concerts, performances, and recordings. Each new presentation of the text is transla-ted from the language of the place where it was previously exhibited into the language of the country where it is being shown. In this process of serial translation, some words and meanings inevitably change and mutate, form-

ing a new composition, while at the same time revealing the difficulty of adequately translating musical experience into language.

Actions: Froosh Sploosh Wooosh Sskuusshh Splat Blortch (No. 2), 2014

Recently, painting has once again been featured as one of the artist’s mediums of choice. His canvases and works on paper are based on a superimposition of mechanical silk-screen and painting, pairing onomatopoeias culled from comics with analogous painterly gestures. The sounds pro-duced when paint is sprayed, poured, or smudged as part of the artist’s “performance” have long faded away, but can be recreated in the imagination based on the “score” – the painting – in front of us. Incorporating chance, gravity, and materiality, as well as his own physicality, Marclay’s working method is reminiscent of 1950s Action Painting. Accordingly, the onomatopoetic expressions represent not just sounds, but also energy, movement, and drama – in short, Action.

Surround Sounds, 2014 – 2015

Surround Sounds (2014 – 2015) presents itself as an elab-orately choreographed, hooting, hissing, and howling large-scale video installation. Onomatopoeias cut from comic books are animated in a dynamic composition suggesting the acoustic properties of each word. The over-whelming experience is, paradoxically, one of absolute silence. Viewers can only imagine the sounds flashing around them.

Fast Music, 1982

Fast Music (1982) belongs to Christian Marclay’s earliest video works. Under the influence of Fluxus and Punk he discovered music as a material for art making. In the process he anticipated a practice that is wide-spread in today’s visual arts world. In his short looped video clip we see the young DJ and artist devouring a vinyl record  – an absurdly funny attempt to ingest music.

Grey Drip Door (The Electric Chair), 2006

At the end of the exhibition we are once again confron ted with the theme of silence in a series of works that mov-ingly cast the show’s title, Action, in a new light. In The Electric Chair (2006), Christian Marclay references a  detail from Andy Warhol’s 1960s series of silkscreens titled Electric Chair. Warhol based his works on a pho-tograph of an execution chamber showing the empty chair and, in the background, a door with a “SILENCE” sign above it – much like the ones in a theatre that admonish the public to be quiet during the per- formance. Marclay, in turn, focuses on the SILENCE sign and the door. In a world full of sounds, noises, and voices sudden silence can drown all else. *Aargauer Kunsthaus

Aargauerplatz, CH–5001 Aarau T + 41 (0)62 835 23 30 F + 41 (0)62 835 23 29 kunsthaus@ag.ch www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch

Talks & Performances

Teahouse ConversationsEach Thursday 6.30 – 8 pmConversations with various guests, preceded by a tea performance with tea Soyu Yumi Mukai. Japanese tea and sweets offered afterwards.

17 Sep. Image and Sound (in German)Manuel Krebs, co-founder of graphic design team NORM, Zurich, and jazz guitarist and composer Philipp Schaufelberger, Zurich.

1 Oct. East meets West (in English)Prof. Allen S. Weiss, author, curator, and professor, NYU and Katrin Weilenmann, assis-tant  curator, Aargauer Kunsthaus.

15 Oct. Japan as a Source of Inspiration (in German)Dr. Katharina Epprecht, director of the Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen and former curator for Japan, Museum Rietberg, and architects Andreas Fuhrimann and Gabrielle Hächler, Zurich.

29 Oct. Art and Sound (in French with German translation)Marcella Lista, art historian, curator of contemporary art at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and Madeleine Schuppli, director of the Aargauer Kunsthaus.

12 Nov. The Languages of the Comic (in German)Jana Jakoubek, art historian, artistic director of the Comic Festival Fumetto, Lucerne, and Cuno Affolter, comic expert, conservator of the Comic Center of the City of Lausanne.

Vocal PerformancesInterpretations of the work Manga Scroll (2010) Sunday 6 Sep. 12 – 12.30 pm By Dorothea Schürch, vocalist, Zurich

Thursday 8 Oct. 7.30 – 8 pm By Isa Wiss, vocalist, Lucerne

Thursday 5 Nov. 7.30 – 8 pm By Eugénie Rebetez, performer, Zurich

Preceded by a guided tour.

Artist’s Talk and Performances

Saturday 24 Oct. 3 – 6 pm3 pm Performance of the work Manga Scroll (2010) fea-turing Shelley Hirsch, U.S. vocalist

3.30 pm Artist’s Talk with  Christian Marclay and  Madeleine Schuppli, director  (in English)

5.30 pm Performance by  Christian Marclay and Shelley Hirsch of Zoom  Zoom (2007 – 2015)

Traditional tea ceremony Sunday 8 Nov. 4.30 – 6 pm Tea ceremony with tea master Soyu Yumi Mukai teahouse.

Registration: doris.huber@ag.ch

Detailed information under www.aargauerkunsthaus.ch

CuratorMadeleine SchuppliAssistant CuratorKatrin Weilenmann

CatalogueChristian Marclay. Action (G / E / F). With essays by Allen S. Weiss, Gilda Williams, and an introduction by Madeleine Schuppli. Edited by Madeleine Schuppli, Aargauer Kunsthaus. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern. CHF 50.–, for members of the Aargau Art Association CHF 45.–

EditionIn conjunction with the exhibition a limited-edition print by Christian Marclay will be issued. The print can be obtained at the museum desk or through the online shop.

AcknowledgmentsWe thank Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, and White Cube, London, for their support.

Opening HoursTue – Sun 10 am – 5 pmThu 10 am – 8 pm

FrontpageActions: Plish Plip Plap Plop(No. 2), 2013