Chicago Tribune art critic Alan G. Artner reviews The Language Barrier.
Mel Bochner has a way with words — Conceptual Art pioneer's works at Art Institute, Spertus
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South African art activist Kendell Geers has created the second temporary work commissioned by the Spertus Museum on the construction barricade for its new building... » read more
Kay Rosen's "Hello Again" is the first in a series of site-specific artworks commissioned by the Spertus Museum for the barrier on the construction site of its new addition. » read more
Site-Specific Artworks
Kendell Geers, BE/LIE/VE, 2006
Commissioned by Spertus Museum
Photograph by Thomas A. Nowak
The Language Barrier
Kendell Geers
May — September 18, 2006
Kendell Geers’ artwork on the construction barricade for the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies’ new facility is the second in a series of commissions conceived by Spertus Museum to activate the construction site, to engage contemporary artists, and to connect with the public. Called The Language Barrier because of its location and the selection of artists, all of whom incorporate text or language into their practices, this series of site-specific works takes into consideration the identity, role, and relevance of a Jewish educational and cultural institution in the 21st century.
For close to fifteen years, Kendell Geers’ highly charged, diverse body of work has been concerned with the limits of authority, art, language, and belief systems. From repetitious assaults of violent film clips to transgressive interventions and subversive alterations of text, his emotional and visceral work disrupts complacency, provokes reactions, and encourages new constructs of meaning. Geers’ project for the Spertus barricade, BE/LIE/VE, 2006, stems from his ongoing investigation of faith. By repeating and dissecting the word BELIEVE, he directs viewers (or readers) to consider the component parts, their meanings, and their coexistence within the larger enterprise. Embedded in this loaded word is its opposite, calling into question the relationship between belief and truth. Geers has said, “Every belief system has myths built in that are in fact lies but without which the same belief would be impossible. The problem is that we are all entrapped within the prison house of language and that by definition is a lie for pure faith or pure belief should lie outside of language. It’s a bit like the Zen idea of listening to the sound of one hand clapping—it’s impossible to have faith outside language as much as it is impossible to have faith inscribed within it.” BE/LIE/VE is Geers’ attempt to transform text into pattern, to create an abstraction beyond language that embodies skepticism yet stimulates fervor.
Kay Rosen
January, 2006
Kay Rosen's Hello Again was the first artwork presented on the Spertus construction barricade.
Mel Bochner
September, 2006 — March 2007
Mel Bochner’s The Joys of Yiddish is the third installment of The Language Barrier.