Tino Sehgal's Immaterial Art

The New York Times Magazine has a very interesting article about Tino Sehgal, the Berlin-based conceptual artist. Sehgal experimented with dance early in his career, but his recent creations, which he calls "staged situations," are conceived as artworks rather than theater, and have been acquired by the Tate and the Museum of Modern Art, among others. Nevertheless, his work builds on the ephemerality of dance (unless it's recorded, a dance performance is gone as soon as it is performed) and takes that quality to its logical extreme. Sehgal is adamant that his work be completely intangible: it cannot be documented in any way, which means it can't be photographed or publicized and is bought and sold without involving any objects whatsoever.

The only objects in the works themselves are human beings. For example, in This situation, the viewer is greeted by six people who intone "Welcome to this situation" in unison and then engage in a conversation inspired by a quote spoken by one of the six, all the while making slow, tai-chi like movements and occasionally including the visitor in the discussion. The process is repeated each time a new visitor enters the gallery.

The legal aspects of buying and selling this art can be confounding. The Times writes: "Since there can be no written contract, the sale of a Sehgal piece must be conducted orally, with a lawyer or a notary public on hand to witness it. The work is described; the right to install it for an unspecified number of times under the supervision of Sehgal or one of his representatives is stipulated; and the price is stated. The buyer agrees to certain restrictions, perhaps the most important being the ban on future documentation, which extends to any subsequent transfers of ownership. 'If the work gets resold, it has to be done in the same way it was acquired originally,' says Jan Mot, who is Sehgal’s dealer in Brussels. 'If it is not done according to the conditions of the first sale, one could debate whether it was an authentic sale. It’s like making a false Tino Sehgal, if you start making documentation and a certificate.'"

So if you document the work in any way, you've suddenly got a forgery on your hands. Sehgal isn't kidding when he says his work is ephemeral.

Two of Sehgal's works will occupy the entire Guggenheim rotunda, January 29 - March 10, 2010. Information about the exhibit is here.

Related post: Another reason for choreographers to videotape their work.

A Word to the Wise: "We're Not in the Sandbox"

A New York Times report about a contract dispute between a choreographer and the 92nd Street Y highlights how important it is for artists to have an outside eye scrutinize the agreements they enter into.  The Y commissioned Pavel Zustiak, a Czech choreographer, to create a work to be premiered at the Y's Harkness Dance Festival in New York City, and included a clause in its contract that forbade Mr. Zustiak from presenting any work in New York for a period of six months before and three months after the premiere.  Theaters frequently have this type of clause in their contracts with performers.  Mr. Zustiak ran afoul of the agreement when, thinking that the exclusivity provision applied only to performances of the Y-commissioned work, he scheduled a performance of one of his other works at a Manhattan venue less than three months prior to the scheduled Y performance.  Mr. Zustiak ended up paying the Y to guarantee at least $8,000 in box office receipts, and lost $1,200 in the process. 

The article also mentions the ordeal of choreographer Laura Peterson, who lost thousands as a result of not having a contract with a theater that cancelled a production of her show at the last minute.  The moral of the story is that artists need to put their agreements into writing and have someone qualified review them.  To quote one theater director: “From the perspective of an artist, you’re always thinking, ‘I’m so poor, how can anybody be taking money from me, that’s so mean.’  But it is a business; we’re not in the sandbox.”