Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Alex Dippold, Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No. 5   October 18, 1999

Handwerker Exhibit Urges Artists and Viewers to ‘Do It’ The Contemporary Art Series at the Handwerker Gallery will continue when Do It, a conceptual art installation created from written instructions from more than 50 renowned artists — including Yoko Ono — opens on Thursday, October 21. There will be an opening reception from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. On Thursday, December 2, there will be a panel discussion on conceptual/neoconceptual art at 5:00 p.m. The exhibit will run through December 14. All events are free and open to the public. Referred to as an exhibition in progress, Do It will show works created by students enrolled in the Department of Art History’s Contemporary Art class. The students will realize the work by following various instructions provided by participating artists. Hold this position until a guard has taken a Polaroid of you. From Erwin Wurm, False/Right, Right/False, 1996 New York City artist Alison Knowles, for instance, has these instructions for Homage to Each Red Thing: "Divide the exhibition space floor into squares of any size. Put one red thing into each square. For example: a piece of fruit, a doll with a red hat, a shoe. Completely cover the floor in this way." Yoko Ono offers these tips for Wish Piece: "Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper. Fold it and tie it around a branch of a Wish Tree. Ask your friends to do the same. Keep wishing until the branches are covered with wishes." Artist Jimmie Durham says, "Rooms contain objects that are not intended to be seen. These include radiators, light switches, outlets. Make a list on paper or wood of all the not-to-be-looked at objects in a museum room." In addition to the displayed works, a videotape of various Do It performances conceived by some of the instructing artists will accompany the exhibit. Visitors will be offered copies of do-it-yourself instructions that they can use to create their own artworks at home. Based on the idea of using a museum as a performance site rather than a permanent place of display, Do It is less concerned with copies, images, or reproductions of artworks than with human interpretation. No artworks are shipped to the galleries; instead, everyday actions and materials serve as the starting point for the art that is to be created. The idea is not to copy works but to interpret the instructions as a musician would interpret a musical score. When the exhibit closes, the works are destroyed. Conceived by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, curator of the Museum in Progress in Vienna, Do It is organized and circulated by Independent Curators International of New York City. The first Do It exhibit took place in 1994 at the Ritter Kunsthalle in Klagenfurt, Austria. Different versions of the exhibition have since been realized in Glasgow, Paris, Reykjavík, Helsinki, Geneva, Brisbane, and Bangkok. More than 50 artists from the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America — including John Baldessari, Maria Eichhorn, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ulrike Grossarth, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Shere Hite, and Erwin Wurm — have written instructions for Do It. Located on the ground floor of the Caroline Werner Gannett Center, the Handwerker Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. (Thursday until 9:00 p.m.); Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 2:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m. The gallery is closed when the College is not in session.For more information call the gallery, 274-3018, or Jelena Stojanovic, director, at 274-3548.

Created by Andrejs Ozolins. Updated 2 Nov 1999