Yesterday I went to an exhibition without art objects. There was nothing to see, except for a big table in the middle of a room with a laid out map of Europe, a pair of gloves, a black marker and a ruler. And lots of people. Relatively, that is (the gallery is rather small)! A couple of people stood out from the crowd trying to wear suits (you could see they would’ve been more at ease in a fleece jacket). They were there to report on the weather. First, they were to trace the sunniest place within a radius of 500 km and then they would send the artist there. Sun hunting. Now, in March. The “experiment” will last almost a month and would involve continuous movement from one sunny place to another. Since the artist will be on the road, someone will trace his whereabouts on the map in the gallery. At the end of the month, the artist is going to wrap up his journey and let us know about his journey.
OK. Now, how is this art?
John Dewey once said that art is the expression of life in the community. Well, that pretty much sums it up. The artist tries to tell us something, something most of us feel but perhaps very few can pin point. He is going to do it and literally pin point or mark it on the map (well, his hand in the gallery will do it for him). He interprets our lust for sun, light and warmth through a literal chase. Through this journey he’s going to enrich our experience of reality. And that should qualify, I think, as art.
