ARTYFARTY 2012 by Michael Schmitt
we invite you to our new exhibition!!
Vernissage 14th April 9pm
ARTYFARTY 2012 by Michael Schmitt
from 14th April to 22nd April
The artist, the artwork, the exhibition space, the audience – these are considered essential components of art. But what if the artwork is missing in the equation? Michael Schmitt posed that very same question in his conceptual work, ArtyFarty 2012.
Bar and exhibition space exist side by side at ArtyFarty. But Schmitt divides both areas with acrylic glass panels that reflect the bar upon itself. To the casual viewer, everything seems the same – nothing out of the ordinary. But upon closer look into and beyond that reflection, the keen observer realises that an exact mirror image of the bar has been re-created. It presents an alternate reality where logos are reversed and even the music is played backwards.
Schmitt utilises and builds upon the architectural features of the space, giving rise to a sort of hyper-room. By disguising the “art” in the “artwork”, he toys with visitors’ usual patterns of perception and intentionally challenges their understanding of what an art exhibition is. Schmitt is relentless: his all-encompassing artistic statement reveals itself upon multiple sensory levels – optically, acoustically, physically. Visitors find themselves at the mercy of the situation, destined to become a piece of the very artwork in which they are trapped. In this manner, Schmitt effectively thrusts them into contemplation of art’s essential components, of art’s very essence, of their own subjectivity, and of their objective role in the system.
