This year’s edition of Art on Stage, an initiative of Art Basel in association with the Theater Basel, presents the performance Drama Queens, created by the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset (with text by Tim Etchells). Instead of real people, Drama Queens features seven famous 20thcentury sculptures as its protagonists. How do they deal with the unaccustomed situation of finding themselves on stage, and how do they behave towards each other? The performance develops by way of a series of conflicts and debates between the «isms» of 20th-century art history represented by the seven sculptures. Art on Stage is curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco. The performance takes place at the Theater Basel on Wednesday, June 4, at 8 p.m. The event is open to the public. Admission is free.
Art on Stage made its debut last year with the performance An Untitled Concert by Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. For this program in collaboration with the Theater Basel, Art Basel has invited a number of artists to create works that are particularly suited to a large stage. Positioned aesthetically and substantively between lavish theatrical productions and minimalist presentations, the pieces range from plays, concerts, musicals, and performances to ballets and operas. They benefit from the extraordinary infrastructure and facilities offered by one of Europe’s most distinguished theaters.
The 30-minute-long play Drama Queens is inspired by the visionary power of the theater, which the two artists are convinced remains as strong as ever. Drama Queens is a play without actors. Trapped on a theater stage, outside their accustomed museum environment, are seven sculptures, icons of 20th century art history: Walking Man by Alberto Giacometti (1947), Cloud Shepherd by Jean Arp (1953), Brillo Box by Andy Warhol (1964), Elegy III by Barbara Hepworth (1966), Four Cubes by Sol Lewitt (1971), Untitled (Granite) by Ulrich Rückriem (1984), and Rabbit by Jeff Koons (1986).
How will these «superstars» cope with their new surroundings and deal with one another? Sculptures soon prove to be capricious entities. Inevitably, little psychodramas develop on the plain black stage. The action unfolds with the actorsculptures displaying their finest quality, resilience, as they represent the «isms» of 20th-century art history in a series of conflicts and debates.
Drama Queens premiered at Skulpturenprojekte Münster 07. The text is by Tim Etchells, the sculptures are by Katja Byhan, Ronneburg, and KÖNIG Bühnenbau, Berlin. The cast features Alexander Partzov (Cloud Shepherd), Mark Coles (Four Cubes), Lucy Coleby (Elegy III), Marek Sarnowski (Untitled, Granite), James McLean (Rabbit), and Johann Schibli (Walking Man).
Michael Elmgreen (b. 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (b. 1969 in Trondheim, Norway) have been collaborating since 1995. They live and work in Berlin. In recent years, Elmgreen & Dragset have gained an international reputation for their series of artworks entitled Powerless Structures. Creating installations and performances positioned between art, architecture, and design, the artists seek to explore and redefine a space and its countless possibilities of meaning and function. Their approach is based on Foucault’s thesis that it is the acceptance of certain behavioral patterns within given structures, and not the structures themselves, that restricts human actions. Elmgreen & Dragset translate spaces to new contexts of meaning, deliberately modifying the way they function with a view to redefining and reinterpreting the familiar. In 2003, for example, the artists set up a Prada store in the Texas desert, between Marfa and the tiny town of Valentine. Although the store has part of the 2003 fall collection of the international fashion house on display, there is neither an entrance nor an exit to the building, which is at risk of slow deterioration. This project exemplifies the artists’ work, which often sets out from the long debate over the White Cube. Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset thus join the tradition of artists whose investigations range from the axioms and reception of art through the critical questioning of the siting of contemporary art to the institutional critique of the late 1980s and ’90s.
Art on Stage is a cooperative project of Art Basel and Theater Basel, Switzerland’s largest three-discipline (play, ballets, opera) theater. Through its involvement in Art on Stage, the Theater Basel seeks to create a liberated space that mirrors and challenges society. The pieces may be entertaining, authentic, or sensual – their message emotional, provocative, or reflective. But whatever their character, they always harbor opportunities to discover something new, more precise, and surprising. Art on Stage enhances the diverse array of artistic signatures and visions to be found at the Theater Basel. Alliances between the visual arts and the theater have a long tradition. For centuries, visual artists were captivated by the theater and theatrical artists fascinated by the visual arts. In the 20th century, artists developed a new understanding for the theater. Transcending the individual actor and the purely text-based drama, it was a new approach rooted in the many avant-garde movements and modern art of the early 20th century.
The 30-minute-long play Drama Queens is inspired by the visionary power of the theater, which the two artists are convinced remains as strong as ever. Drama Queens is a play without actors. Trapped on a theater stage, outside their accustomed museum environment, are seven sculptures, icons of 20th century art history: Walking Man by Alberto Giacometti (1947), Cloud Shepherd by Jean Arp (1953), Brillo Box by Andy Warhol (1964), Elegy III by Barbara Hepworth (1966), Four Cubes by Sol Lewitt (1971), Untitled (Granite) by Ulrich Rückriem (1984), and Rabbit by Jeff Koons (1986).
How will these «superstars» cope with their new surroundings and deal with one another? Sculptures soon prove to be capricious entities. Inevitably, little psychodramas develop on the plain black stage. The action unfolds with the actorsculptures displaying their finest quality, resilience, as they represent the «isms» of 20th-century art history in a series of conflicts and debates.
Drama Queens premiered at Skulpturenprojekte Münster 07. The text is by Tim Etchells, the sculptures are by Katja Byhan, Ronneburg, and KÖNIG Bühnenbau, Berlin. The cast features Alexander Partzov (Cloud Shepherd), Mark Coles (Four Cubes), Lucy Coleby (Elegy III), Marek Sarnowski (Untitled, Granite), James McLean (Rabbit), and Johann Schibli (Walking Man).
Michael Elmgreen (b. 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (b. 1969 in Trondheim, Norway) have been collaborating since 1995. They live and work in Berlin. In recent years, Elmgreen & Dragset have gained an international reputation for their series of artworks entitled Powerless Structures. Creating installations and performances positioned between art, architecture, and design, the artists seek to explore and redefine a space and its countless possibilities of meaning and function. Their approach is based on Foucault’s thesis that it is the acceptance of certain behavioral patterns within given structures, and not the structures themselves, that restricts human actions. Elmgreen & Dragset translate spaces to new contexts of meaning, deliberately modifying the way they function with a view to redefining and reinterpreting the familiar. In 2003, for example, the artists set up a Prada store in the Texas desert, between Marfa and the tiny town of Valentine. Although the store has part of the 2003 fall collection of the international fashion house on display, there is neither an entrance nor an exit to the building, which is at risk of slow deterioration. This project exemplifies the artists’ work, which often sets out from the long debate over the White Cube. Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset thus join the tradition of artists whose investigations range from the axioms and reception of art through the critical questioning of the siting of contemporary art to the institutional critique of the late 1980s and ’90s.
Art on Stage is a cooperative project of Art Basel and Theater Basel, Switzerland’s largest three-discipline (play, ballets, opera) theater. Through its involvement in Art on Stage, the Theater Basel seeks to create a liberated space that mirrors and challenges society. The pieces may be entertaining, authentic, or sensual – their message emotional, provocative, or reflective. But whatever their character, they always harbor opportunities to discover something new, more precise, and surprising. Art on Stage enhances the diverse array of artistic signatures and visions to be found at the Theater Basel. Alliances between the visual arts and the theater have a long tradition. For centuries, visual artists were captivated by the theater and theatrical artists fascinated by the visual arts. In the 20th century, artists developed a new understanding for the theater. Transcending the individual actor and the purely text-based drama, it was a new approach rooted in the many avant-garde movements and modern art of the early 20th century.
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Media information on the internet:
Media information, photos, and logos can be downloaded directly at
www.artbasel.com. Journalists can also log onto our website to subscribe
to our media mailings and receive information and invitations to Art Basel
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Art Basel, Communications, Peter Vetsch, Marlen Melone, or
Nathalie Riggenbach, CH-4005 Basel, Tel. +41/58-200 20 20,
Fax +41/58-206 31 30, press@artbasel.com, www.artbasel.com
For the UK:
Brunswick Arts, 16 Lincoln`s Inn Fields, UK-London WC 2A 3ED,
Tel. +44/20-7936 1290, Fax +44/20-7936 1299,
hscottlidgett@brunswickgroup.com
For the USA:
FITZ & CO, Sara Fitzmaurice / Dan Tanzilli, 535 West 23 Street #S10H,
US-New York, NY 10011, Tel. +1/212-627 16 54, Fax +1/212-627 06 54,
usoffice@artbasel.com
Media information on the internet:
Media information, photos, and logos can be downloaded directly at
www.artbasel.com. Journalists can also log onto our website to subscribe
to our media mailings and receive information and invitations to Art Basel
automatically.