Page 78 - Studio International - January February 1975
P. 78
spectators enter finding continuous back projection slide `RAW', its cables falling down to
themselves in a completely white, display, few photographs and a rather noisy transformer. A
tapering, 35 feet long corridor. Duiker pages from the previously superb drawing WAR (Study for a
This leads to an adjoining totally mentioned book. The display is neon object) dating from 1968
black corridor which back-tracks Exhibition designed on a formal arrangement and illustrated in the 1972-3
the first, then turns at right angles of smooth silvery panels standing Los Angeles catalogue, shows the
and inclines and tapers for 75 feet at the on a cerulean blue base, so elegant stark sequence, and is annotated :
until it meets a narrow, acute- Van Abbemuseum that it somewhat conflicts with the 'sign to hang whenever war is on'
angled part which slopes towards elemental quality of the and 'this size up to six feet long' —
a small, white, lit room at the end. architecture it is displaying. here it is 7½ inches. Opposite, the
A fluorescent tape on the black In 1970 the Dutch architect Jan It is, however, very good to red script of none sing cast a soft
corridor walls will be the only clue Duiker was honoured 35 years know this exhibition will be glow on the wall behind,
to spatial recognition except for after his death by being awarded brought to the A.A. this autumn, contrasting in flag-like division
the spill-over of light from the posthumously the annual cultural even if just as a reminder with the bright white words
white room which not only prize of the city of Hilversum. of the importance of Duiker. 'neon sign' which hung below.
identifies the final destination but This prize signifies more than it More effective though would be The colours of these three works
also seemingly attenuates both would at first appear. Although to have a full translation of are radiantly responsive to their
space and time. The spectators well known to architects and to the book in English and for it individual contexts. WAR is an
then enter the theatre which will all interested in the history of the to be circulated widely. orange flare exploding in a
be a complete structure made modern movement Duiker was by Christopher Dean rectilinear aura. The blue of
with inter-changeable no means an internationally Mystic Truths forms a gentle
components. recognized figure. Some of his spiral path with peach highlight,
works were published by le stable and self-referential.
Corbusier in L'architecture Vivant UK None sing/neon sign provides in its
STRUCTURED THEATRE
but were not widely known red and white stripes a visual
beyond a relatively small circle. Reviews counterpart to the anagrammatic
Certainly, he was not recognized sentence and phrase which it
as universally as Reitveld or syntactically comprises.
Dudok, but his legacy is probably BRUCE NAUMAN From the hum and buzz of the
more powerful than the former Opening the P.M.J. Self Gallery, first floor gallery one climbed
and quite outshines the latter. London. to the second, being met at the
Duiker was trained at the Delft November. half landing by a tapping as if a
School for engineer-architects. At the time of Nauman's first table tennis game was in progress
He was not so much concerned Castelli one-man show 1967-8 round the corner, but what met
with neo-plasticism and other the neon works of Antonakis the eye was a monitor and the
current vogues of the early and Chryssa were very much in only visible part of the 1970
modern movement, as with direct evidence, but a more different Surveillance Piece (Sealed Room/
building technology and the approach in one medium could Public Room), originally conceived
liberation of space by hardly be imagined. Kosuth, for London, Ontario. The single,
straightforward constructional Apple and others were also still image on the screen showed a
techniques. His use of trebiated producing neon works but (not immediately identifiable)
GRAPHIC WORKING STRUCTURE OF SCRIPT
structure in place of mass load nothing approaching the tape-deck in the middle of an
bearing forms was a powerful startling Neon templates of the otherwise empty room, with its
The primary action-point is the indicator of the new 'esprit' of left half of my body taken at ten power cable following the
theatre itself Unit (1) Within architecture, with which le inch intervals (1966) one of the diagonal to the bottom left
this, five individual space units Corbusier readily identified. The first Naumans to be seen in corner of the screen and out of
operate, one of which is elevated. clearest statements of his Britain at the 'When Attitudes the picture. The sound came from
Four suspended, coloured ropes structural philosophy were the become form' exhibition.
will provide a physical link sanatorium `Zonnestraal' at Furthermore, to compare the
between the space units. Hilversum 1926-28, and the effect of that work with the
Sound will introduce the 'Open Air' school at Amsterdam Naumans to be seen at Robert
performance, giving the spectators 1928-30. Self's new gallery in Haunch of
a feeling of space which will Parallel with the presentation Venison Yard, only serves to
remain undefined until — or even of the Hilversum prize to point out the amazing quality
after — the action points, Duiker's relatives the Dutch and originality of his variform
identified variously by magazine Forum devoted two points of view. It is a great pity
structures of light, colour and special issues (vol. XXII nos. 5 that the many inroads into
sound, come into play. and 6) to a comprehensive traditional sculptural approaches
The Intriguer (4) makes his catalogue of Duiker's works and a that Nauman has made could not Bruce Nauman, neon, 1968
individual audio/physical space collection of personal statements be more fully brought out here, beyond the wall in another room,
unit. Actress (1) creates her focus and letters. These numbers of the but the selection identified the access to which had been sealed;
in response (or not) to Intriguer magazine were prepared by E. J. pregnant areas of his concerns only with the aid of Nauman's
(4) Dancer (2) is the Fantasy of Jelles and C. A. Alberts, who also succinctly in a cogent group of working drawing diagram and a
Actress (1) Painter (5) re- instigated an exhibition of three neon works, a drawing and photostat of written notes by him
structures Unit (1) if and when Duiker's work designed to travel an installation, on display for all are the piece's constituent parts
necessary. Dancer (3) is to various centres. For the too short a time. and the subtlety of the
continually moving his focus, exhibition the two numbers of the The first floor gallery showed installation gradually revealed.
both bodily and spatially inter- magazine were reprinted in a three immaculately hung neon Nauman writes: 'The sound is
acting with all and they with him. single volume and act as a pieces, each given a separate wall, made by clapping on my thighs,
His mobility is his focus, in definitive work, and they are also the fourth, empty, providing a palms twice, then back of hands
contrast to the others who remain the catalogue to the exhibition. useful viewing point. The 1967 twice, etc.' (The tape loop was
contained and it is he who The Van Abbemuseum at Window or Wall Sign reading made in his studio and refers
provides the link between them. Eindhoven is dedicated to the `The true artist helps the world furthermore to other performances
The evening performance presentation of modern and avant by revealing mystic truths' and videos made there). 'The
provides the foundation for the garde art. In a relatively small appears as a soft baby-blue cooly volume should be loud enough so
daytime innovations. The public gallery it is wonderful to juxtaposed with an under/ that the clapping is just audible
spectators during the day see exciting material so elegantly overlining vibrant peach. In its through the wall of the sealed
will experience the actual shown. (Recently there has been spiral form it is strangely peaceful room.'
re-structuring process while the shown an excellent exhibition of and meditative, yet like the others, An extraordinary visual pun,
evening audience will experience Cortier and de Keyser and the its wires, transformer box, and the installation has the effect
the re-structured performance `Art Information Centre' show of manner of construction are all Nauman has described, often
'in toto'. Photography will serve Peter van Beveren was of great openly visible. The two other quoted, of the moment when
as an essential factor in recording imagination and interest). pieces on walls on either side walking down or upstairs in the
the creation and production of It is therefore with some intruded in their particular way dark, one takes an extra step
the project. This documentation, disappointment that one has to on the periphery of the when already at the top or
as are the photographs in this say that the recent small Duiker spectator's vision. On the right bottom: a sudden start and
article, will be by Conrad exhibition did not measure up Raw/War (1970) was in crisp momentary nudge into another
Hafenrichter. to expectations; only two double orange capitals and realm of experience. The only
Allen Barker drawings (blue prints), a inexorably blinked 'R' ... 'A' . link in the 'sequence', neither
8