The present (in) tense. Art in the world of Now. (Daria Koskorou)

Art was pronounced autonomous when it claimed the existence of an archeology of it own language, through its capacity to explore, define and self refer to its investigations in the material and intellectual world(s). Art always investigates and defines not only its physical, but also its conceptual relations and references within its unambiguous presence. When operative, art leaves nothing unquestioned. Lately, it has come to “scrutinize” the gaps and voids that might exist between a work and its audience, connected to the relationship of its medium and its materiality, or to its duration and its durability, in terms of decay, outdate-ness and performance. Art in other words nowadays deals with the ontology of time.

According to Heidegger, in his short text about art & space[1] of the late ‘60s, art reveals the truth, by uttering its objective spatial claims. He goes on to suggest that art through sculpture, by virtue of its materiality, exposes the codifications and qualities of space. In today’s view, this breakdown of art’s spatial attributes could be expanded to incorporate art’s more contemporary spatial investigations, those that refer to the elements interweaved within the actuality of presence. By focusing on this, artworks today transfer us (the viewers) to a new place defined this time not by its spatial determinants but by time. The qualities of time that are explored and “dissected” here constitute to the shifting of the focus of the meaning of space itself. In other words, upon entering the artwork’s zone of influence, we become active users of it, just by our presence within the artwork’s space. At the same time we become essential to the work, not for the sake of its functionality but for that of its performance. Our relationship with the work is not therefore a matter of intimacy between us, but it’s the “volume key” for the artist’s effort to utter
the qualities of time, through presence and suspension.

If the investigation of the performative scope of an artwork can reach simultaneously such diverse subjects as the notion of presence and the act of viewing, then it may come as no surprise that the materiality of the work of art has become a secondary issue. This prolonged shift has also affected the appearance of an artwork over the years. Starting off in the previous century, it seems as if the artists tend to restrict any association of the artwork with beauty that could “deflect” the viewer’s attention to a possible decorative quality on the work’s physical aspect. And through this “undermining” of the visual pleasure, artists direct their audience to a presence that connects them symbolically with the qualities of actuality. Art in this context asks from us to ponder upon the space, as the “no man’s land” that exists between an artwork and its audience. By immersing in this space the viewer creates a personal linkage with the artist and it is only when this link is established that the work can happen. The relation of the performivity of the work and the viewer’s role operates beyond any issues of authorship or ownership. When the artwork performs, it discloses the discontinuities traced between its auteur, its situ, its culture and its viewer. This, according to Magritte, could also be called the “crisis of an object” and in our case, it is the condition that makes presence tangible beyond the materiality of the artwork. A voluminous presence within which the artwork manifests itself.

Art seen through this perspectives allows us to visit those spaces where emotion and consciousness register the present tense, before it has time to become something cohesive and translate into an experience. Capturing this space means to negotiate a place for the meeting of the viewer and the artist in the spatial and temporal presence of the work. Art today puts its audience in a seaming role, in an essential part that re-unites the work’s attributes to the artist’s aesthesis. In this “re-alignment” we all participate in art’s attempt to map the ontology of our present tense.

'Is There anything More or Less Than This?'
Exhibition text