"Room For Nothing To Do #2" - lee wen 李文
"Room For Nothing To Do #2"
"Art Workshop and Installation"
"One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Us and Institution, Us as Institution
Exhibition Period: June 30th - August 11th 2013
Guangdong Times Museum:
Times Rose Garden III, Huangbianbei Road,
Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou, China
Lee Wen
In a recent solo exhibition "Lucid Dreams in the Reverie of the Real" at the Singapore Art Museum, April 20 to June 10, 2013, Lee Wen enacted a work called "Room For Nothing To Do”, the materials used were large dry leaves collected, one museum chair, needle and thread, and a pile of blank A4 size left on a museum pedestals.
Initially artist proposal was to have the whole exhibition laid out without any explanations and in a way where we walk into the exhibition without any order like that of entering a dream. As the museum find that would lead to difficulty for our audiences to understand the works as well as time constraint for installing the works in such a big exhibitions with the limited time given, it became expedient to do the exhibition in the same conventional way.
My response to have the work “Room For Nothing To Do” installed using dry leaves to form a kind of floating vessel or cloud and placing a corner of the room with a pile of the dry leaves. Diagonally across was an armchair to welcome visitors just to sit and “do nothing”. The pile of blank paper in the corner is also another gesture towards how many of our art exhibitions tend to rely on explanations before we could appreciate the works in the exhibition.
In the exhibition of “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back : Us and Institution, Us as Institution”, at Times Museum, Lee Wen conducted a workshop in order to make the second installment of “Room For Nothing To Do”. Participants assisted in contributing elements used in the creation of the work to be installed together with the artist. In the process the artist will provide an insight into the philosophical ideas behind his art practice. It is seen as a part of the oral tradition of cultural exchange and practice recalling how art can involve community as well although in fact we are in an age of heighten individualism.
The materials used are consciously chosen with ecological and social sensitivity and the process involved simple skills that are prevalent amongst the layman. The only requirement is openness towards the creative process in co-operation with others.
"One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Us and Institution, Us as Institution
Exhibition Period: June 30th - August 11th 2013
Guangdong Times Museum:
Times Rose Garden III, Huangbianbei Road,
Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou, China
Lee Wen
In a recent solo exhibition "Lucid Dreams in the Reverie of the Real" at the Singapore Art Museum, April 20 to June 10, 2013, Lee Wen enacted a work called "Room For Nothing To Do”, the materials used were large dry leaves collected, one museum chair, needle and thread, and a pile of blank A4 size left on a museum pedestals.
Initially artist proposal was to have the whole exhibition laid out without any explanations and in a way where we walk into the exhibition without any order like that of entering a dream. As the museum find that would lead to difficulty for our audiences to understand the works as well as time constraint for installing the works in such a big exhibitions with the limited time given, it became expedient to do the exhibition in the same conventional way.
My response to have the work “Room For Nothing To Do” installed using dry leaves to form a kind of floating vessel or cloud and placing a corner of the room with a pile of the dry leaves. Diagonally across was an armchair to welcome visitors just to sit and “do nothing”. The pile of blank paper in the corner is also another gesture towards how many of our art exhibitions tend to rely on explanations before we could appreciate the works in the exhibition.
In the exhibition of “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back : Us and Institution, Us as Institution”, at Times Museum, Lee Wen conducted a workshop in order to make the second installment of “Room For Nothing To Do”. Participants assisted in contributing elements used in the creation of the work to be installed together with the artist. In the process the artist will provide an insight into the philosophical ideas behind his art practice. It is seen as a part of the oral tradition of cultural exchange and practice recalling how art can involve community as well although in fact we are in an age of heighten individualism.
The materials used are consciously chosen with ecological and social sensitivity and the process involved simple skills that are prevalent amongst the layman. The only requirement is openness towards the creative process in co-operation with others.
