Page 18 - Studio International - July August 1973

that necessarily implodes upon something important element of this is the documentation
representing itself to be a building), the section which directs them to other galleries, to
rhetoric of conceptual art could be the more read other journals and search out other places
fierce. The effects, within each discipline, have where the action is going on.
been quite different. Within architecture, the The ICA as Michelin Guide.
dea of design by specification has a refreshing, Then the show goes on the road in Europe.
but not explosive, effect upon the mainstream of I intend that the ICA becomes a referencing
thinking. It has been absorbed as part of a point for that underestimated part of our
cycle of redefinition of the role of aesthetic population that happens to be transient, but
symbolism. The full absorbtion has not yet been that also happens to be genuinely intrigued by
felt : so that there are still many who would London's creative effort.
continue to deny (as all laymen would recognize) After Summer Studio is an exhibition by
that there is no such thing as a completely Austrian artists and architects (September,
unbiased functional building. 1973). Most of these are involved in series of
I am fascinated that upon the London scene, investigations of a semi-abstracted or conceptual
at least, there is an apparently total polemic nature, often preoccupied with death. The
between the conceptualists and (for example) architects are indistinguishable from the
the shape-painters. There is also a continuing painters and vice versa: Hans Hollein, for
artificiality of arguments that are made example, is the best-known architect: but he
concerning the conflict between personal was in the Venice Biennale as a 'fine-artist'.
expression and the collective political effect of an Walter Pichler, when not drawing his gravestone
art work. To suggest that it should not be so sequences, is making pneumatic enclosures
would be quaint, maybe. But in the present (though he has never been an architect).
situation one knows that the muttering in Isolated overlaps such as these are evident
corners is not enough. Could the ICA elsewhere, but I doubt if the degree of integrity
deliberately host a pairing of exhibitions ?: the and vicious determination in the face of such
one in its New (upper) Gallery, the other in cloying decadence exists elsewhere with as
Gallery I : with the protagonists ranged on a much black humour as in Vienna. The fact that
series of platforms (or if you don't think that these artists are relatively unexposed outside
appropriate, scrawling on opposite walls, Austria adds to their intriguingness.
making counter-videotapes, writing counter- The fact that they in turn are fascinated by the
manifestos, let's not be put off by technicalities). unyielding, private London world can, at the
Could there be a deliberate twist in the tail by ICA, be turned to advantage.
bringing in non-local critics or non-local artists
to make the commentary upon the current 6. The,ICA is a living artwork
scene ? (We are planning this for the autumn.) At the risk of overdoing the 'living' syndrome,
And now that it is 1973, there is need to there are three diagrams that might suggest
consider the possibility that some synthetic that the total instrument of the ICA can be
move might be made whereby the advent of more than a mere shell.
conceptual thinking will have been a Is it theatre ? Contrivance ? Merely a question
prerequisite to the next movement, rather than a of organization ? Dream (no, it's all there, like on
definitive position. In such, the means of the drawing). Is it hard enough — tough enough —
expression may demand exposition of a kind as echoing with those rasping thrusts ? That is up
different as the early happenings were from the to you.
Academy shows. The late 197os could be
strange ? (Above)
Art is the experiencing of the message, and Walking through
as entrepeneurs we can help or hinder this. We (Centre)
can create a suitable or unsuitable environment Corners /Pockets
for this . We can edit the conditions. We can (Below)
encourage. Practically an architectural activity: Out of the corner of your eye
if you use the word architecture in its fullest
form.

5. On to the road
One way of blowing open the cosiness of the
London scene is to exchange with the outside
world. But not just leave it at that. In the case of
our next two exhibitions we do just this : in the
Summer Studio (July/August, 1973) — which is
a collection of shop-window assemblages,
vegetation-works, paintings, architecture,
fashion design, illustrations, photography,
conceptual work and documentations — we throw
our London network directly at all those
visitors to London who drop in and ask 'What
is now with the Edouardo Paolozzi ?' An