Matchmaking

In an exhibition, works of art are matched. They start to belong together; they search an equal ‘other’ in order to exist inside of the exhibition space and inside of a temporary artificial constellation. The curator hereby acts as a matchmaker. Moreover, as Boris Groys wrote in Art Power, the process of curating ‘cures’ the image’s powerlessness, its incapacity to become visible. In Temporary City, the artists need to find a suitable match for their own pieces of art; they are both searcher and matchmaker, both bearer of the virus of art and owner of the cure.
Just like in human relationships, a couple is the least unstable relationship that is possible between individual entities. Today, the artists involved in Temporary City, have experimentally gone on a blind date: pairs of artists, together with their as yet unborn works of art, have taken a trip in the land of the exhibition space, governed by the wooden architectural structure. Possibilities were touched upon, affinities have been laid bare. But what really happens when artists match their works with the works of others? Out of a myriad of possible meanings, one interpretation comes to the surface, simply by the linkage and the double, two-fold positioning. Creating and interpreting have, ever since the dawn of art history, been two separate activities. In the extraordinary process of the making of Temporary City, they will need to blend in order to succeed.
The first work day – Monday – ends with a party. This party will end up, on Friday, as a work of art itself. What this real party means right now, is clear – what it will mean as a part of the exhibition, will depend on the works of art it will eventually be matched with. (cvg)