Ambiguous Reprimand
Jens Hoffmann lecture at the Frist Center for Visual Arts as part of “State of the Arts” lecture series.
Published by Art Now Nashville, April 1, 2012
By Ryder Richards
With a lecture titled “Biennials and Curatorial Ambivalence” one expects a call to arms: either heralding ambiguity as profound or exposing it’s role in contemporary art as an apathetic mask for ill-considered practices. Speaking at the Frist as part of a collaborative program with Vanderbilt Jens Hoffmann, paradoxically, did both.
Hoffmann began the two-hour lecture reading several pages of a prepared statement with terms like “deskilling of the current curatorial practice,” “avoiding contextual readings,” and “investigation of otherness.” (My sister, whom I brought with me, promptly nodded off.) The statement acknowledged the current trend toward ambiguity and open-ended investigation found in the arts, while focusing on a high degree of professional ambivalence leading to a decrease in the quality of current curatorial practices due, in part, to the usage of the Internet. Stating “there is no criteria by which to judge the success of many current Biennials,” Hoffman seems to be confronting events such as Oberst and Hanrou’s Cities on the Move or Hanrou’s P_A_U_S_E, both of which dramatically blur the distinctions between city and exhibition as a way to evolve traditional curatorial practices into a heterotopic awareness.
Held in four large buildings, the interiors were designed to mimic the maze-like layout of the local street markets, while each building has a theme derived from an individual work by Gonzalez-Torres: Untitled (Death by Gun), Untitled (Passport #II), Untitled (Ross), and Untitled (Bloodwork: steady decline). The works presented tied both aesthetically and conceptually to the themes, showcasing a global range of artists with works challenging attribution and interpretation.
After the lecture a few questions were asked: “given your stance on the deskilling of curators, how does the rest of the curatorial community receive you?” Hoffmann side-stepped the question implying that there was some controversy but he was not concerned. He followed up with a comment about curatorial exploration stating, “there is still more to be explored within the current curatorial format.”