Felix Gonzalez-Torres in Public Space

BILLBOARDS

Two different Gonzalez-Torres images of birds in flight can be seen on 12  billboards scattered through the streets of Brussels.The addresses of the posters are :

Session 4 (21.04 - 04.05.2010)
Bd Van Haelen 233/Pl de Rochefort, 1190
Place des Armateurs, 1000
Ch. de Boendael 61 (Pl. Flagey), 1050
Ch. de Waterloo 545, 1050
Ch de Waterloo 840, 1180
Ch. St Job 174 (dépôt communal), 1180
Av. Voltaire 44/Av. L. Bertrand, 1030
Rue Général Leman, 1040
Ave de Jette 207, 1090
Rue Birmingham/Graindor, 1070
R. Bois des Iles / Rd-point, 1082
Av. H. Conscience 156,  1140

One concrete example of the radical differences between the two versions of the exhibition: in the first version, part of the monumental light string “Untitled” (America), 1994/1995, was hung indoors, suspended in Wiels' historic grain silo; for the second version of the exhibition, Vo proposed to have it installed in public space and outdoors (as Gonzalez-Torres hoped it would be), but in such a way that it is ideally viewed by one chosen individual (the technician who oversaw the production of the light strings) whose house it is hung in front of. It thus hangs along a country road in the village of Gesves, on the outskirts of Namur, about one hour from Brussels. Consciously locating the piece far from Wiels, Vo extends the exhibition beyond even the city that the institution is located in. As such, the piece is able to be seen by any passersby (a public) even as it turns on its head the logic that usually determines where to hang this Gonzalez-Torres artwork (near the site of the exhibition, near an ‘informed’ public, within an urban setting…). It thus engages and blurs exactly those issues of public and private at the heart of Gonzalez-Torres’ practice, creating the possibility for both publicness and intimacy at the same time. For map and directions, click here.