Francis Alÿs, ‘Night watch’ (2004)
Alÿs released a fox, called Bandit, into the deserted gallery at night. Seen from the high viewpoint of the security cameras, the fox looks a little puzzled among all the paintings of the great and the good. Like the guards, the fox is out of context; an intruder, observed dispassionately.
Elmgreen & Dragset, ‘How are you today?’ (2002)
A ladder was installed inside the gallery, which the visitor was encouraged to climb.
Once up, the visitor could have a peek into the private life of the gallerist.
‘Tunnel’ (2004) by Marjolijn Dijkman and Wouter Osterholt.
Installed at Sign, Groningen (NL).
The intervention consisted of a tunnel built through the gallery space that transformed the non-public space of the gallery into a public space. Removing one of the windows at the front and a garage door at the back allowed twenty-four hour access through the tunnel.
BBC’s Art Safari, ‘Gregor Schneider‘ (2004)
Another Art Safari episode, this time Ben Lewis visits Gregor Schneider in Haus Ur.
Stefaan D’heedene, ‘Billy’ (2006)
Stefaan Dheedene bought a piece of furniture from the Billy series at Ikea. But the day before the exhibition opened, Dheedene took Billy back to Ikea. He received back the money he invested.
In the time before the opening the artist had hired a carpenter who reconstructed the mass-produced Billy as a unique work of art, in a slightly more expensive and nicer type of wood.
Billy’s next buyer must’ve been a happy consumer…
Bas Schevers
Bas Schevers, ‘Kinderfiets (Children’s bicycle)’ (2001)
Bas Schevers stole a child’s bicycle from a front yard and left the owners a note, saying that he stole it for an art exhibition and that they could have it back if they came by on the night of the opening.
At the opening Bas was sitting by a table with a sandwich toaster in front of him. The owners of the bicycle could choose whether they wanted the bicycle back and take the toaster too, or if they wanted the bicycle back and have a conversation with the artist about his motivations for stealing the bike.
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