Photo/video reportage from "What thinks me" exhibition at Taiga, Saint Petersburg

July 26, 2014
Author Echo Gone Wrong

From June 27th – July 21st Taiga (Dvortsovaya nab. 20, Saint Petersburg, Russia) features an exhibition What Thinks Me which seeks to understand how the concept of the self is being constructed and/or reflected through artworks. The show revolves around this subject through metaphors, objectbased stories and artworks themselves.

J. Baldessari is an American conceptual artist whose work was famously criticized as ‘a mere parody of conceptualism’. He proved his playful character in a context of traditional rigorous conceptualism by throwing five balls at a time to form a line in the sky, by waving to the ships (and documenting this), by putting color dots on the faces of Hollywood stars in photographs and more artworks. While it is hard to overestimate the influence of conceptualism in contemporary art, we feel close to the attitude of J. Baldessari, a ‘prankster’ of conceptualism. So we took his work as the center of the show, but this center appeared so vast!

In What Thinks Me Now (1982) the artist names a continuous list of things, enumerating ideas that ‘think him‘He creates a space of self-knowledge through this work, both for himself and for the one who reads it. This is a good exercise, a practice similar to meditation or psychotherapy, or just spending time with your self and then coming back from that meeting with new revelations.

The very expression ‘what thinks me‘ is unusual to our ears but let‘s observe its logic: it is not only we who are thinking about something, but also objects, images, spaces and sounds. Face recognition software, mood-enhancing ionizers, transitional objects, entertainment parks, titanium crystals, ouija-boards, pop songs – they all have subjective character and are able to think us.

Artists: John Baldessari, David Bernstein, Ragna Bley, Jacques Gaspard Biberkopf, David Raymond Conroy, Jesse Darling, Jugedamos, Nikita Kadan, Rebecca La Marre, Lina Lapelytė, Slavomir Leontjev, Taus Makhacheva, Marija Olšauskaitė, Roman Osminkin, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Jurgis Paškevičius, Daniel Shanken, Viktor Timofeev, Technopoetry, Julijonas Urbonas, Robin Vanbesien, Mark Wallinger

* The title of the show comes from a text by John Baldessari, What Thinks Me Now (1982).

Exhibition curators: Justė Kostikovaitė and Monika Lipšic

Graphic designer: Daiva Tubutytė. Exhibition display: Marija Olšauskaitė and Petras Olšauskas

 

1_aJohn Baldessari What thinks me now 1982-page-001

John Baldessari, What thinks me now, 1982. Text.

David Bernstein, From collection of conceptual artists‘ beards, 2013. Printed images.

David Bernstein, From collection of conceptual artists‘ beards, 2013. Printed images.

1_David Bernstein_from collection of conceptual artists beards

David Bernstein, From collection of conceptual artists‘ beards, 2013. Printed images.

1_exhibition opening (1)

Exhibition opening

1_exhibition opening (2)

Exhibition opening

1_exhibition opening (3)

Exhibition opening

1_exhibition opening (4)

Exhibition opening

1_exhibition opening (5) Texnopoetry performance_Roman Osminkin, Anton Komandiroff, John Platt

Exhibition opening

1_What Thinks Me Saint Petersburg Exhibition View

Exhibition view

2_Mark Wallinger The Magic of Things 2010 courtesy Carlier Gebauer

Mark Wallinger The Magic of Things, 2010, courtesy Carlier Gebauer

3_Lina Lapelyte Yes Really 2014 Jurgis Paskevicius Pass The Cabbage Chips 2013

Lina Lapelytė Yes, Really!, 2014. Reccurring performance at different times during the exhibition.

4_Exhibition view Marija Olsauskaite Crystal 2012

Exhibition view; Marija Olšauskaitė, Crystal, 2012 (right)

5_What Thinks Me Exhibition view_R Vanbesien stray fire 2014

Robin Vanbesien, stray fire, with Povilas Kundrotas, Ernesta Letkauskaitė, Robin Vanbesien, Eitvydas Doškus, Antanas Palaitis, 2014, HD video, 18’

6_Taus Makhacheva Landscape 2014

Taus Makhacheva, Landscape, 2013 ongoing. Series of objects, wood, dimensions variable

6_Taus Makhacheva Landscape 2014_closeup

Taus Makhacheva, Landscape, 2013 ongoing. Series of objects, wood, dimensions variable

7_Nikita Kadan Flag 2009

Nikita Kadan Flag, 2009, mirror

8_J Urbonas Euthanasia Coaster 2012 Nikita Kadan Flag 2009

Julijonas Urbonas, Euthanasia Coaster, 2012 (left); Nikita Kadan, Flag, 2009 (right)

9_Daniel Shanken One 2012

Daniel Schanken.One, 2012, photograph on dibond, brain enhancing negative ion generator, sparks

51_Taus Makhacheva A Space of Celebration 2009

Taus Makhacheva, A Space of Celebration, 2009, video, colour, sound, 16.10‘. Camera: Aleksandr Sinyagin

91_What Thinks Me Exhibition view

Exhibition view

92_Viktor Timofeev State, Weaver of Dreams from 2009

Viktor Timofeev, S.T.A.T.E (2009-?), 2014, four drawings on paper

93_Viktor Timofeev, State, Impuls9, from 2009

Viktor Timofeev, S.T.A.T.E (2009-?), 2014, four drawings on paper

94_Ragna Bley I remember You 2014

Ragna Bley I remember you, 2014, steel bars with eye-lashes

Jaako Pallasvuo Dispersion 2014 still from video

Jaako Pallasvuo, Dispersion, 2014, video still

Mark_wallinger_the_magic_of_things_2010_VideoStill_Courtesy_CarlierGebauerGallery _and Artist2

Mark Wallinger,The Magic of Things, 2010, video still. Courtesy of Carlier Gebauer Gallery and the artist

Artist Rebecca LaMarre has created an online publication and offline workshop for the exhibition What Thinks Me. The title references the Futurist opera Victory Over the Sun, whose costumes and set were designed by Kazimir Malevich.

The workshop featured collaborative rewriting of the opera’s libretto, as well as for the script of Mayakovski: A Tragedy. Publication http://anothervictory.net features contributions by Amelia Groom, Rebecca LaMarre, Roman Osminkin, Viktorija Rybakova, Galina Gubanova, Julijonas Urbonas and Yuri Pattison.

Film by Kipras Dubauskas about the opening of What thinks me exhibition opening featuring a piece by David Raymond Conroy Content Context Container, 2014. Text during the performance was read by Robin Vanbesien and Anna Nekrasova:

Photographs by Yaroslava Forgegardt