A cartography of a year
2020 in our key materials
This has been an extraordinary year ‒ not least because we have all changed, all of us. We all started it as different people looking at things through different eyes. And the articles and interviews posted on Arterritory over the course of this year bear eloquent evidence to this change of mood and sense of reality (and equally of the place and role of art in this reality). As 2020 is drawing to an end, we have decided to take another look at the key materials published during these 12 months and pick some of the most important ‒ as we see it ‒ thoughts. It is a unique cartography of a year featuring a precipitous drop in mood and severity of the situation in March, the unhappy reflections of the first lockdown, the hopes and events of spring and summer, a cautious autumn and a quiet resolution to overcome this new share of challenge this winter. What an interesting, significant and complicated year, one that we will certainly be remembering and re-examining again. Let’s have a go at it together.
JANUARY
Conversation with German – Iraqi artist and animal activist Lin May Saeed:
“For us who are participants in the art world, we should fly half as often and donate for our carbon compensation or, even better, let’s cut the art calendar in half. Turn biennials into quadriennials, more work in the studio, and we gain lots of time for other things. The question should not be “have you been there”, but “how did you get there”. For example, within Europe it’s possible to travel to the Venice Biennale by train, but who goes by train? It’s complicated. Also, I don’t think you have to go see every single event. I think climate change should not be a label. Hopefully we’ll be able to slow down man-made influences until there’s decisive technological progress.”
An interview with curator Taru Tappola:
Taru Tappola and Pirkko Siitari. Photo by Matti Pyykö. Courtesy of Helsinki Biennial. Helsinki Biennial’s inaugural edition runs from 12 June – 27 September 2020, helsinkibiennial.fi
“In our individualistic times we somehow forget that we're a part of other things... Everything we do is connected.”
FEBRUARY
An interview with Iran-born artist Bahar Noorizadeh:
“One thing that I set as the first requirement for my students is to make a work that doesn’t concern themselves – in any way. (..) Because that’s exactly what art schools want you to do now. They want you to make work that is only about yourself. But the only way to understand what another thing means to you is to do something that’s not personal. To be able to build the links by different means. The only way to know yourself is to do something that doesn’t concern yourself. Otherwise, your vision is too limited.”
An interview with Polish art collector Piotr Bazylko:
“Art is not considered to be an important matter here in Poland. For local politicians, it is more important to build a new football stadium instead of a new museum. (...) This speaks volumes about what place art has in people’s perception.”
MARCH
An interview with Canadian anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wade Davis:
“One of the things that scares me most about the human species is the fluidity of our memory, our capacity to forget. We can adapt to almost any degree of environmental degradation. How many of us in North America remember that, in the lifetime of our great-grandparents, passenger pigeons made up 40% of all birds on the continent? Flocks of three billion birds would eclipse the sun over cities in the American Midwest... There was also a time when the buffalo outnumbered the people in North America – again, in the lifetime of my great-great-grandfathers. We adapt in really frightening ways. That was probably a useful adaptive trait when we were small populations coming out of Africa, but it can be very daunting today. Part of this is just the overall concentration of human beings – the coronavirus [epidemic] is not something new.”
An interview with Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto:
“That's the boa – Gaia boa – stopping human movement. Yes, it is sad that many people are dying, but it is no more than die every day here in Brazil (as in many other ex-colonial countries) from violence and the consequences of this economic structure. At the same time, it's incredible – the invisible virus just suddenly stopped us. Something became more important than making money: life, the old magical and beautiful life, anywhere and everywhere, and we have time to stay home and read a book, take care, and play games with our family. We are all separated yet all together at the same time. It’s beyond culture; it's nature, placing us together, showing us that there is something else, something bigger than us. The boa constrictor of Gaia, of life, is giving us the time to feel, to think; it’s like invisible angels are giving us a chance to stop, breath and ponder: Where do we want to go? What is solidarity? What is important? I hope we survive and become better humans; from Homo sapiens to, who knows, Homo solidarius?”
Dutch writer and art collector Han Nefkens writes Arterritory:
“A Chinese curse goes: “May you live in interesting times,” and that can certainly be said about the moments we are going through now. So far, Spain is the second most affected country by coronavirus after Italy, with up to 800 deaths in one day. Spaniards, for whom family life is so important, are shocked by the news that twenty elderly people were found dead in their beds in a nursing home in Madrid. The Arco exhibition centre is now a coronavirus hospital, the carefully separated empty white beds on the dark floor look like a giant installation.”
Erwin Wurm. 2019. Photo: Eva Würdinger
“The press is awfully hysterical! (...)They have now started to broadcast news about the Coronavirus in the morning, in the noon and in the evening – it’s crazy. I think ‘abstinence’ is the new word – you don’t smoke, you are free from alcohol, and you are also clean from the press, clean from auction houses.”
APRIL
Indian artist Sudarshan Shetty writes Arterritory:
“This is a harsh reminder of the uncertainty of our lives in general. Everything seems to be ephemeral and that which may slip through your fingers before you know it. As an artist, I feel the response to this has to emerge in a way that essentially addresses the fragility of our existence. The art world, as it were, from being caught in the circus of personas, must move back to respect learning and the spirit of innovation that asserts life.”
French artist Laurent Grasso writes Arterritory:
Laurent Grasso. Photo: Roberto Battistini
“We have to accept that there has been a paradigm shift: we are no longer the masters and possessors of nature, as Descartes thought, and we will have to deal with nature and more generally with non-humans. So we have to move from the overbearing posture that was characteristic of the industrial revolution to a much more egalitarian position in which we accept our status as beings among other beings.”
Daniel Hug, the art director of Art Cologne writes Arterritory.com:
“In the most extreme scenario, only the absolute core of the art market will remain. Gagosian will still be around, most serious collectors will remain, most of the young galleries will continue, the secondary market dealers will be fine, the big auction houses will remain, prices for names from art history will rise, the market for Modernist artists and blue-chip post-war artists will remain. The mid-level dealers will have problems, so will the trendy over-priced artists, and young artists whose work is being sold for over €50,000. Most art fairs will suffer, many art fairs will stop due to fewer galleries existing. Things will become more local, less global. The art world is pretty predictable; what is not predictable is how nations, economies, politicians, and industry will weather this crisis. I'm guessing about 85% of businesses out there will be impacted negatively, while around 15% will profit from Covid19. The world will suddenly have new top dogs, new has-beens, new concerns and values. How the art industry will be affected remains to be seen, but a correction in the Art Market has been long overdue.”
Karola Kraus, the General Director of mumok museum in Vienna writes Arterritory:
Karola Kraus. Photo: Andrea Kremper
“Global solidarity – which, of course, also means European solidarity – is a narrative that will gain new significance in the arts. We are highly motivated to contribute to these challenges in our daily work and emphasize the most crucial aspects and perspectives of art, which this crises has once again highlighted for us: to create new ways of experiencing an increasingly complex reality and to be an intellectual, sensible force that counters simplified or populist notions of life, society, and art.”
Agniya Mirgorodskaya. Photo: Karlīna Vītoliņa
“I believe it will become increasingly more challenging and crucial to justify the existence of international art events such as art biennials due to requirements that may arise relating to sustainable ways of exhibition-making and travelling. Only those that are able to meet those requirements will survive and thrive. We are proud to know that we are already conducting our efforts to meet many of these standards.”
British artist Bob and Roberta Smith writes Arterritory:
“Artists, writers, poets, composers and musicians have a responsibility to keep working, to keep looking. We can see our parliaments closing and our democracies shrinking, but creative people still need to look. All artists are key workers. We have a responsibly to our health workers, corner shops, postal workers, and people who do deliveries – to keep asking questions and keep having fun. My hero, Hannah Arendt, said that democracy was threatened if human beings don’t participate, associate and perform. It is the artists’ job to show how to perform those functions in these difficult times.”
Icelandic artist Egill Sæbjörnsson writes Arterritory:
“In 30 years we will look back and see that this crisis was necessary to learn and change. Bless the crisis and bless the good times – both are two ends of the same stick.”
MAY
American visual artist and poet Alice Attie writes Arterritory:
“I find that I continue to notice small, seemingly insignificant things, things that at other times may have passed my notice – perhaps the labours of a single ant shuffling here and there in search of something. The bare trees are so stately in their naked shapes. Trees, in their bare indifference, signify endurance and majesty. How we survive these times. Being attentive. Noticing.”
Belgian conceptual artist Kris Martin writes Arterritory:
“Art should not be pushed into the margins of society. Don’t forget that art is the only thing that remains of every single ‘civilization’ in history.”
Dutch artist Erik van Lieshout writes Arterritory:
“...And also there is good news: there is a lot of concentration going on in these times. Sometimes it feels as if art is all about money. We have to change this. We have to believe in change.”
JUNE
Nevenka Šivavec, Director of the Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana writes Arterritory:
“The art world should be aware that there are parallel worlds of artists who have long since given up on the hierarchical, vertical and impenetrable system of art and its institutions, and have sought refuge, communication channels (as well as a market) in virtual and real micro environments, or have become well camouflaged in an environment of pop culture, advertising and design. This is the future of art. This is where the most interesting things are happening.
An interview with British artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg:
“This situation simply reminds me that I'm just a piece of biology. That I'm vulnerable like any other animal. It's super-natural. But what is also scary is that the story of engineering and the story of science is also a story of control. Yet, the reality is we do not have control of our destinies, and governments are struggling to find control.”
JULY
Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos writes Arterritory:
Joana Vasconcelos. Photo: Kenton Thatcher for Atelier Joana Vasconcelos
“I don’t think things will ever be the same again. We’re living a turning point in the history of mankind, comparable to the French Revolution, as our resident astrologer at the studio has pointed out. I agree there is a kind of magic in the new beginnings and I think this is the moment to relearn compassion. And to be compassionate to one another. It’s important to rethink the world and do things differently. I believe this moment is important to reorganise our lifestyle and our lives.”
An interview with British anthropologist Tim Ingold:
“What artists are trying to do, I think, is very similar to what I think anthropologists ought to be doing. They, too, are trying to listen and learn, and from that listening and learning they’re trying to figure out a way to live into the future. I believe art that matters is learning to perceive the world differently and to suggest different possible ways of being.”
An interview with Israeli artist Yaara Zach:
“One of the things that shocked me during the first lockdown was the loss of public space. In a city like Tel Aviv, where private spaces are small and all of life takes place in the public space, this was a very strong experience that broke the illusion that this space is a safe thing; it reinforced the awareness that it could be taken away at any moment for various reasons. For me, this awakened the desire to create works for the public space.”
AUGUST
“It is very obvious how much contemporary people are consumed by the ideas of healthy living and healing our bodies, but I still think that our minds need to be healed just as badly. In his reflections on ecology, Félix Guattari says that nothing will ever change until we start dealing with the primary ecology ‒ mental ecology. Until we learn to understand the direct consequences of our own actions.”
An interview with Lithuanian curator Valentinas Klimaušauskas:
“Change – in our society, economy, politics, you name it, and, of course, the art system – is inevitable. However, we all lack vision; we lack the new vocabulary and new political structures to talk about the future for all of us, even about the near future. This is what the art world may help with – artists, critics, historians and curators might help societies create new meaningful visions of the worlds to come.”
An interview with Israeli gallerist and art collector Noemi Givon:
“This pandemic feels like a 3rd world war of a new power type, namely, a political one – the tensions, the speculative thoughts of how did it start and where, and how do we now live with it. Yet we can list many bright points that have come about as a result. It is cleaning up the globe as well as the art world, and in various ways. The hegemony of the rich and the richest is over. Another social structure will appear – it has to. Art presentation will change to on-line communication and exhibits; video and media activities will contribute to the critique of what is good, relevant and valuable, and will help point it out. Art shows will continue to take place.”
An interview with British artist Seana Gavin:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of version of a summer of love happens, but I think it would be different from what it was in the late 80s/early 90s. There’s a lot of press in the UK at the moment about there currently being many parallels with that period of time. And actually, there’s been a big surge in illegal raves happening all over the UK. Some of these parallels involve the distrust of our government and the restrictions on and closure of lots of venues and clubs. And then Covid-19 on top of that. But people really have this desire to dance and just be with other people.”
SEPTEMBER
An interview with the curator of the 11th edition of the Survival Kit festival Katia Krupennikova:
Katia Krupennikova at the Sigrid Viir exposition. Photo: Sergejs Timofejevs
“We have grown used to the rat race. But the work is not just about the rat race and impossibility of getting some rest but also about the problem of the ratio between life and work and capitalism per se. We live in a competitive milieu where everybody is responsible for their own fate. No trade unions, no contracts. No guarantees, nothing. It is only the now that some understanding of the necessity for these things is beginning to emerge. As well as for letting each other take a breather now and then.”
An interview with Latvian art collector and art patron Jānis Zuzāns:
“It is important to me that our children are not burdened with something that they will not be able to cope with. But the Zuzeum art centre is compact enough. If I will want to step away from it at some point, it will be able to go on by itself very well. And once we are gone, it will not be difficult for the children to maintain it.”
OCTOBER
An interview with Latvian artist Andris Eglītis:
“In some unconscious way, we’re present in the rules of nature. After all, death, battle and cooperation all exist at the same time in the forest, too. Some things grow, others break or die; the natural process of things takes place, and it influences us as well, if only subconsciously.”
An interview with German-American anthropologist Tobias Rees:
“What if one were to think from the perspective of the virus? Viruses are the most abundant biological agents in the world. They had a critical role to play in the emergence of the biosphere as much as in evolution, especially when it comes to mammals. What different understanding of the world, of how it is organised, would emerge from thinking from the perspective of the world that emerges from viruses? What new, experimental notion of the human might emerge? How could one rethink, with viruses, what politics is?”
An interview with curator Katerina Gregos:
“Human beings are better equipped than all other species to deal with change; but in the past, change has been slow and humans have had the time to adapt. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, and now more so with the digital and technological revolution, there is no longer ample time to process change. I think the most threatening aspect of AI is that it can do things that we cannot foresee and might finally might escape our control.”
NOVEMBER
An interview with German gallerist Aeneas Bastian:
“I think we are on the verge of loosing some actors in the art world. In the end, the art world will be a bit smaller, which I think is a loss. I think that what we, the mid-range or leading global galleries, can do is use the resources that we have built up before the pandemic to continue our programmes, continue to grow (if possible), and support others when we can.”
An interview with Doug Aitken:
“This moment that we're in right now – whether it lasts for six months or a year and a half, who knows – is incredibly valuable because it allows us to consider what is worth, what is value – really? Is value speed and acceleration, or is value synergising with the world around you and the landscape around you? Is value culture and creating, or is value only capitalism and objects? These questions are for everybody. I think the idea that we have a moment of global awareness, of reflection, is absolutely unlike anything that I've seen in history.”
An interview with artist Michaël Borremans:
Michaël Borremans. Photo: Alex Salinas
“I’m not afraid of death, but I do hope I can live for another thirty years. Because I want to still do some things in my work, I still have a lot of plans and ideas, and it would be pity to leave before I’m finished.
On the other hand, though, death is the final solution. It’s relieving to know that we have it. I mean, we’re born and then we die, and in between we’re in this place, whatever it is. There’s no escape anywhere.”
“You can recover from very deep shit. You can recover from very great damage that has occurred – not only yourself, but your community and your land, too. And those instances of damage are all interconnected. If you have something that is very much damaged, it's never your individual burden – it is always connected to your surroundings, to your whole family, and to your land. And it is possible to make neo-nature of that, it's possible to make neo-nature within your own family, and it’s possible to make neo-nature within yourself. It is a life-long commitment to start repairing this damage and it is hard and slow work, but is something that needs to be done. Because this damage doesn’t just disappear by itself; you cannot dream it away, you cannot psychologize it away. There will be no invention that can just fix nature, and there will be no time machine that will bring us back to the year 1930 so that we can do everything differently. So that kind of individual and collective work needs to be done and it is doable.”
A conversation with ethnopharmacologist Dennis McKenna:
“I don’t worry too much about the survival of life on Earth. I think the biosphere is incredibly resilient, although the post-Anthropocene biosphere may look very different. Life will survive in one way or another. We, on the other hand, may not survive. And maybe that’s a good thing in the larger scheme of things. Maybe we’re like a virus on the planet, a pathogen. It seems like we’ve almost come to that space. But since we have to be members of humanity, it would be better if we could find a solution. The solutions are there, but the window is getting narrower and narrower. We knew all this thirty years ago; we knew it fifty years ago. People were only then beginning to talk about global warming. Thirty years ago it was already happening, but everyone said, “No worries, we have plenty of time.” And nothing was done, or at least very little has been done. Now we have maybe ten years, some people say fifteen, some say twenty. Others say we have five, or even “Forget it, it’s too late.” I don’t know which it is, but I do know that time is running out.”
DECEMBER
An interview with philosopher Michael Marder:
“Philosophy and art have to begin with the acknowledgement that they (we) are of the dump – that is, not separated from it, and far from being the islands of purity in a sea of shit. The acknowledgement will go some way toward forming the self-consciousness and self-feeling of the dump, something that is largely missing today. Once this initial step is taken, we can start formulating and concretising our refusal to think and to create for the dump, of which we, nonetheless, are.”
“In our time, consciousness has completely taken control over unconsciousness, the subject of endless research and reflection by Freud. I would say that we should think about helping ourselves come out of our shell and reclaim our irrationality. At that, we should not, of course, go back to things like male violence against women. Could we get back some irrationality while still being good human beings? Now, this one, I think, could turn out to be the key question of our times.”
Title image: Artūrs Virtmanis. In The Dust Of This Universe/The Black Sun. 2020.
