“The New Décor”

HAYWARD GALLERY
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road
June 19–September 5

View of “The New Décor,” 2010.

“The New Décor” seems like a straightforward title for a group show exploring sculptural objects and their domestic contexts, but it also questions the way these works function within the exhibition context. For many of the participating artists, including Tom Burr, Thea Djordjadze, and Marc Camille Chaimowicz, ideas of the interior constitute pivotal markers in their art; for others, such as Spencer Finch and Raqs Media Collective, the exhibition adds its conceptual slant to works of theirs that already have other complex narratives. While all the pieces on view bear a physical resemblance to furnishings such as chairs, tables, and beds, each artist has arrived at his or her (or their) conclusions through a variety of contrasting means. Rosemarie Trockel’s tablelike Landscapian shroud of my mother, 2008, examines furniture’s anthropomorphic qualities, while Nicole Wermers’s ashtray with butts, French Junkies #5, 2002, assumes the form of pseudofunctional items.

Franz West’s interests in domestic objects have remained constant throughout his career, and it is his collaboration with Heimo Zobernig and Zlatan Vukosavljevic—Studiolo, 2005—that is one of the most successful works on view. On a raised platform—flanked on four sides by white curtains—a yellow rubber glove slowly inflates and deflates, via a hole in a large table. Viewers are encouraged to enter the structure and adjust a dial that shifts the sculpture’s lighting through a spectrum of colors. By offering the possibility of interaction, Studiolo crosses a boundary breached by no other work on view: As an artwork, it transitions into being one of the gallery’s functioning accoutrements. Although the exhibition’s concept hinges on a subject with wide-ranging ramifications, it succeeds in bringing together a focused collection of internationally significant sculptural works.

— Steven Cairns

Lee Mingwei

MOUNT STUART

May 9–September 30

Lee Mingwei, Trilogy of Sounds, 2010, mixed media, dimensions variable. Installation view.

New York–based artist Lee Mingwei made several trips to the Mount Stuart estate, on the Scottish island of Bute, to develop the concept for his new installation there, Trilogy of Sounds, 2010. On each visit, he found the Victorian gothic manor and its expansive grounds quite still, unlike the rest of his journey, which was steeped in the sounds of the sea. Ultimately, the artist decided to create a work—his first major sound project—that would span two of the manor’s interior spaces and the natural landscape outside.

A large wind chime sculpture, made of bronze and wood, hangs in the garden. Its composition evokes two Taiwanese symbols: the circle, for enlightenment and the ideal, and the square, which represents the earth. The tubular chimes, created in Taiwan to the artist’s specifications, are suspended from a circle installed between four trees. Above, a woven net that holds them in place simulates a spiderweb; slate stones, sourced from local Scottish quarries, are arranged in a square beneath the chimes. The resulting sounds blend naturally with those of the sea, trees, and changing winds.

As a sonic companion, the sounds of music lessons can be heard throughout the manor. From the conservatory, the melodies of three live songbirds at times echo throughout the hallways. In encountering these scenarios—designed by the artist to explore the process of change, its potential, and our reactions—visitors catch a glimpse of something unexpected and indeterminate.

— Lauren Dyer Amazeen