"Doing things others wouldn’t be interested in doing"
Wolfgang Tillmans and his London exhibition space "Between Bridges"
There
is certainly political intent behind Wolfgang Tillmans’ work – but that’s
not enough for him. Instead of merely complaining about the complacency
and self-satisfaction so rampant in the art world, he’s resorted to
action. “Between Bridges,” the exhibition space in London Tillmans has now
opened, is committed to presenting political artists and positions that
have been ignored by the art market. The opening exhibition consists of
photographs, a short film, and a crocodile by the New York artist and
activist David Wojnarovicz, who died of AIDS in 1992. Louise Gray asked
Tillmans about his project and, despite his initial reservation, came
close to receiving a full interview with the artist.
Wolfgang
Tillmans, Between Bridges, 1999,
Courtesy
Wolfgang Tillmans, London
There are two
railway bridges close to one another on east London's Cambridge Heath
Road, and it's here that Wolfgang
Tillmans opened his first gallery in mid-April 2006. Aptly named Between
Bridges - the gallery also takes its name from a photograph that the
West German-born photographer took in 1999 from the front seat of a car
traveling along a clear road - the gallery is, as its name suggests, both
a precise location as well as a place between places. In fact, Between
Bridges is a small space - the former foyer, a stairway, and an
upstairs landing - in the post-war building that also houses Tillmans'
studio.
David
Wojnarowicz, Untitled, 1991,
©Between
Bridges, London
Upon entering the building,
you are confronted with an intimate space and ten works - mainly
photographs, but including a short film and a small model of a crocodile -
by the late American artist David
Wojnarowicz. This small show represents the first appearance of
Wojnarowicz's work in the UK, but modestly, Tillmans does not want to do
any press for the opening of Between Bridges. "The focus is on David
Wojnarowicz," he says engagingly over the telephone. "I want to hold back
personally," he continues - he's not saying so, but Tillmans knows that
his own fame would draw attention away from the work at hand.
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David Wojnarowicz, from the series "Arthur
Rimbaud in New York", 1978-79/2004,
Courtesy
Cabinet, London
And then he relents.
"[Between Bridges] is an artist-run gallery focusing on political art -
although not exclusively," Tillmans says. "It's for art that doesn't
necessarily have a voice, because the artists are either dead or of no
commercial interest. I want to do things others wouldn't be interested in
doing."
Wolfgang
Breuer, Untitled, bench with berries, 2005,
Installation
London 2005
©Wolfgang Breuer
The
next exhibition at Between Bridges will be of the young
Berlin-based artist Wolfgang
Breuer. Breuer primarily works in public space, in cities like Berlin
or London. His interventions, often very quiet and only detectable at
second glance, offer assistance, such as the spray-painted notes that
direct passers-by to the next drugstore on a particular street or the
reflecting wall that he painted for a plant on the street curb. Or they
are fine "embellishments" of the surroundings, such as his arrangements of
leaves in barrier fences or of berries on park benches. For the Berlin
project "Sehnsüchtig
gleiten Ballone rund um die Welt" (Balloons drift longingly around
the world), Wolfgang Breuer locked a bicycle with a handmade lock outside,
next to the exhibition pavilion. He fashioned the lock from spring steel,
shrinkage hose, and rowan berries. It was the appearance of the lock and
not its obviously meager mechanical sturdiness that was meant to prevent
the bicycle from being stolen. Breuer's site-specific works are full of
references to Conceptual
Art, Minimal Art,
and Land Art. At the
same time, they unsettle the viewer in a completely unique way in that
their apparently poetic and imaginative solutions address subversive
questions concerning economic, social, and ecological issues. "He's still
at the beginning, but he's making very exciting things," says Tillmans,
who is obviously enthusiastic about the work.
Wolfgang
Breuer, Untitled
(bikelock that
protects by the way it looks rather than its strength) , Installation
Berlin 2006
2006 Courtesy Longing
Balloons
©Wolfgang Breuer
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