Rirkrit Tiravanija

Elephant Juice

The involvement of Rirkit Tiravanija in Karriere arguably seems almost inevitable. For more than anyone, Tiravanija creates socially responsive art pieces that are made to be used. In many respects, Tiravanija is the very epitome of the word ‘contemporary artist’ in that terms like performativity, context-based, interactivity, political, relational and social art are intrinsic to any description of his practice. By setting up humdrum, quotidian activities such as cooking, playing music, sleeping and socializing at art institutions, he has turned these daily events into artistic experiments. This brackets him with the artists Nicolas Bourriaud had in mind when coining the term ‘relational aesthetics’ in the late 1990s. It became, and remains, the great buzzword in art circles. It was exemplified by Tiravanija’s legendary exhibition at 303 Gallery in New York in 1992 where, for over a month, he cooked Thai food for the exhibition’s visitors. Or when he constructed a full scale model of his New York flat at the Cologne Kunstverein, thereby enabling people to visit the art exhibition around the clock to occupy the flat, sleep, get married, dine, shower or use the loo. The prominently placed stripper pole in Karriere is Tiravanija’s contribution. As a site-specific work it is a reference to Karriere’s function as a bar and a dance venue. At the same time it is an allusion to the venue’s siting in Vesterbro where the stripper pole is a permanent fixture at a number of sex clubs in the area – and not infrequently with Thai girls as the main attraction (Tiravanija himself originates from Thailand). A stripper pole is used by strippers in showcasing their moves, playing to the audience, stripping and arousing those viewing them. At Karriere this use is given a twist in that, as an artwork, it is abruptly converted to an ‘installation’ that invites to ‘performance’. The stripper pole is now enfranchised as an art object in an art bar, but without losing its potential as an invitation to stripper pole dancing on a Saturday night. In Tiravanija’s works, common social structures are exposed, in that as ‘artworks’ they cannot elude analysis and interpretation. For this work to be brought to life it must be used – and it is only through such use that the point of the work is constructed. So high jinks are on offer for guests at Karriere – there you go! (MKT)

Rirkrit Tiravanija, born 1961, Argentina

• artwork