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“Day
is not all light that dazzles.
Nor night unlimited dark." Ragnar Thoursie
There is a scene in Wim Wender's Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire)
that made a strong impression on me when I saw the film in the mid 1980s.1
The scene still intrudes on my consciousness from time to time. I am not
at all sure that my memories of the scene actually correspond with what
happened on the screen. The main events, as I recall them, and the nature
of the place are as follows: Two middle-aged men are standing by a kiosk
in a shabby, grey urban landscape. They are wearing dark clothes and they
radiate a sense of earnestness that is reinforced by the dismal surroundings.
One of them is an angel and the other is a man. He was formerly an angel
but he left heaven for an earthly life; a choice that is difficult to
understand on this bitingly cold winter's day. The two men hold an intense
but low-voiced conversation focusing on the descent. The man explains
his becoming human by referring to the feeling of alienation caused by
the elevated heavenly perspective when he visited earth as an angel. He
craved for a sense of presence and to participate fully in the world of
men and women – a world that is characterized by corruption and that
has vast amounts of suffering and distress. The angel remains sceptical
and gives an apposite example of what makes the human situation so difficult:
the damp and the penetrating chill. "True, it is cold", the
man replies, "but think of the pleasant feeling one gets from rubbing
the palms of one's hands together and experiencing the warmth which, thanks
to the friction, spreads through the body." Faced with this argument
the angel is speechless and, perhaps for a moment, the angel thinks of
joining his colleague: of becoming a human being in spite of the fact
that so much argues against this course. I do not remember exactly what
happened in the end, but the man's answer offers a degree of consolation.
In his way of meeting the difficulties of life there is a quiet opposition
which expresses a distinct attitude to life. He is an optimist. In Jan
Kjærstad's novel The Discoverer, there is also a passage in which
the principal character reflects on a question which has obvious links
with an optimistic attitude to life: "In my life I have not, like
many others, been so concerned with traumas and unfortunate affections,
with things that pull me down. /…/ Of all the questions that I have
had to address I consider this one to be the most fundamental: Are humans,
pictorially speaking, descended from animals or from angels? Perhaps this
is merely a variant of a further question: Should we let the past or the
future determine our lives? Again: Who are we and who do we wish to be?"2
The choice that the main character makes is on the side of the future,
but clearly the question of whom we want to be in a whole succession of
circumstances and in many different ways is dependent on who we actually
are. Humans inevitably live in the shadow (or the illumination) of history.
The past has a strong grip both on individuals and the collective but
the image of history is not given for all eternity and there is something
hopeful in this possibility of rewriting it. The positions adopted by
the former angel and the character in a book are expressive of an optimistic
attitude to life that is more complex than the hearty form that appears,
for example, in management literature. An optimist is not necessarily
naïve. On the contrary, optimists are often expressly conscious of
the fact that existence is full of pain and inequality. An optimist of
this sort has a specially developed sense for discovering bright spots
in what is going on and a capacity for imagining some other way of life
than the current one. This is a perspective that emphasizes that there
is, in spite of everything, reason not to let hope evaporate. An artist
who was an optimist in this sense was the recently deceased Helga Henschen
and her work unmistakably combines rebelliousness with good humour. On
the walls of the metro station at Tensta, which she decorated in 1975
when she was 58, there are quotations from the sacred writings of the
major religions as well as from the sources of wisdom represented by the
world's literature. One of these represents a true optimist's defiance
in the face of the world: "Don't curse the dark – light a candle".Future
is based on Trust is the title of an installation that Jårg Geismar
showed at the National Gallery of Thailand in Bangkok in 1999. Imagine
that you are standing on the threshold of a dark room – you take
a few careful steps, feeling for something or someone that can help you
find your way. Sound gives you an idea of the size of the room but it
rapidly becomes evident that there is nothing like light. There is a very
pale lamp in each of the power points in the dark exhibition hall and
these spread a mild, greenish light. They acted as tiny lighthouses that
led visitors through the expanses of darkness. This type of lamp is normally
used in a child's bedroom in case the child should wake up and feel frightened
of the dark. The points of light in the installation created the sense
of confidence that is essential if one is to step out into the unknown.
By analogy this can naturally give expression to the future. And even
if one is of an optimistic disposition, the darkness may – in all
its uncertainty – seem impenetrable. Future is Based on Trust is
just one example of Jårg Geismar's interest in the problem of the
future. That this is a recurrent theme in his art is evident if one considers
the titles of several other major works: Future Laboratory, Future in
Mind, Future is Based on Nature and Future by Feet.3 The titles often
point to something that is important to bear in mind if the future is
not to be a worse time to live in than the present but, hopefully, a better
time. In Future is Based on Nature he gives prominence to one of the necessary
conditions for human – and all other living things´- existence:
nature.4 Few other matters are more important to our future than how we
treat nature. What will happen if we fail to see ecological sustainability
as an essential (though insufficient) condition for the development of
society? And what will happen if we do not, to a greater extent than hitherto,
make use of natural resources from a long-term perspective? It is no accident
that Jårg Geismar's work deals with such questions. His artistic
approach sees society and art as intimately connected with each other
and in which artistic creation is in a potent field between the social
and the aesthetic.5 This way of relating to art and life developed during
the early 1960s, most especially in the variegated and dynamic Fluxus
movement whose network and activities were extremely important to many
artists – not least Jårg Geismar.6 This unusual combination
of an open, creative spirit and a social and political consciousness contributed
strongly to its attractiveness and makes it more relevant than ever today.7
Fluxus was also a forerunner of contemporary artistic practice in its
positive attitude towards working in different disciplines: art, architecture,
music and design as well as business and marketing.8 The important thing,
according to Ken Freidman – one of the central figures of the Fluxus
movement – is "creating social actions and life activity".9
With a view to clarifying the meaning of the Fluxus perspective he formulated
a number of characteristics, among them globalism, art and life in combination,
experiment, accident, playfulness, simplicity, presence in time and musicality.10
If there was a particular art form for optimists it would surely share
many of these characteristics11 and, with regard to Geismar, it is evident
that he works in a spirit that is closely related to this point of view.
He shares an ambition of creating conditions so that many viewers/participants
can find something that arouses their curiosity or that moves them. This
democratic ideal is combined with an almost impassioned attitude to everyday
objects and events which frequently form the basis of his art. He also
shows a conscious desire to combine social and political aspirations with
poetic and humorous dimensions, making the actual artistic expression
a central issue. Within Fluxus it is important "...that the piece
have something to do with the characteristic of the site or situation
that the content of the work deals with"12, i.e. what later came
to be called a site-specific perspective. Fluxus artists also seek to
achieve, in the words of Freidman, simplicity and elegance in the actual
result and though the ideas may well be complex they should not be complicated.13
This characterization fits Jårg Geismar extremely well.
There is an emphasis in Jårg Geismar's artistic activities on things
that unite people regardless of age, sex, class or race.14 Fundamental
needs like food, clothing, love and sexuality are prominent in his work.
The social aspects of life, i.e. how we organize our dealings with each
other, both large and small, is another fundamental condition of human
life which his art deals with. I believe that this is an expression of
his fierce curiosity about how individuals and cultures – with a
handful of common needs – form their lives and their societies in
different ways. It can also be seen as a desire to create and make visible
connections between people. A necessary condition for all of this is a
feeling that the world is essentially shared and that there is a genuine
ability to communicate and to understand: that the world of people is
characterized by intersubjectivity. Both in history and in our own time
there are numerous examples that prove that this is the case, but one
cannot deny that much speaks against this. What one believes – because
ultimately it is perhaps a matter of belief – and how one is to act
are problems that mankind has long struggled with. Even an optimist can,
of course, feel doubt about the reason for looking brightly at the future,
but this does not necessarily prevent one from, in the midst of this uncertainty,
acting as though it really exists. In his work Jårg Geismar continually
establishes relations between himself and other people but also with his
viewers and between them and the world that he is portraying. WE MEET
IN:::, living, loving and doing, Joint Venture, Touch Me Listen to Me,
We Came and We didn´t Leave, Dreams of Communication, To Whom it
May Concern, You, You and Me, Dependencies on Distance and If You Can´t
Come in, Smile as You Go by15 are titles of extensive works that reflect
this desire to communicate and to participate. A recurring way of portraying
this is the rich use of lines that he draws between different parts of
his pictures or of cables that bind together the various objects in an
installation. The cables – often electric cables – and the energetic
lines are elements that have always been present in Jårg Geismar's
work and they can be interpreted as both a physical and a metaphorical
expression of the dynamic relations that are constantly created between
all the aspects of life.16 His entire work as an artist is basically characterized
by an attitude that can be described by Martin Buber's notion of a reciprocal
or dialogue principle. In his most famous work Ich und Du from 1923 Buber
wrote that the basis of life is the dialogue between "I" and
"Thou". This is even true in an ontological sense in that God's
dialogue with humankind is the forerunner of all communication. The ego
only becomes an "I" in relation to a "Thou". Human
existence takes place in the tension between address and answer and the
dialogue is a necessary condition if the self-conscious subject is to
appear. Thus in an existential sense we are all dependent on the other
and there is – a least on a philosophical level – a symmetry
in the relationship between "I" and "Thou".17 Another
central aspect of the condition of dialogue is the role of the look or
gaze in creating both relations and identity. Unlike Buber's description
of this relationship, with Sartre the experience of seeing the other who
sees you is potent with a sense of being caught by the other's gaze and
of a role being forced upon one.18 Surely we have all experienced the
uncomfortable feeling that a scrutinizing and classifying gaze can create
but we have also experienced the reverse. To be seen and confirmed in
the eyes of the other – simultaneously to be created in the vision
of the other. This more optimistic view of the exchange of glances permeates
Jårg Geismar's work. This finds expression in all the pictures –
both moving sequences and still pictures – that he creates with the
digital camera that he always has with him. The subjective perspective
emphasizes the role of beholder and the actual act of seeing. In the greater
part of this extensive pictorial material his gaze is directed through
the lens of the camera to other people, who often stare back. Their faces
often wear a smile that confirms the contact. The family is the most fundamental
context in which to exchange looks in this existential sense and therewith
to receive confirmation of one's own existence. Families of sorts have
always existed. They are probably essential to mankind from the point
of view of mere survival. Compared with other animals, it takes an unusually
long time for human offspring to be able to fend for themselves and during
this period of dependency we need a network of people to look after us.
We have also to learn how to function as members of a group. That a nuclear
family of today's type is not essential is evident if one looks back in
history but even if one looks at types of families in existence today
or looks to other cultures than that of the West. Our nearest and dearest
– however they happen to be organized – are a source of security
and joy. Parents, siblings and relations are people whom we grow up with
and with whom we share experiences. With them we see how new couples are
established, how new generations are born and old one's die off, and how
life progresses. Beyond the family, from a very early age and on until
we are old, we make ties of friendship with people whose company we enjoy.
Friends do things together. They play, accompany each other to school
or to work, have secrets in common, eat together, gossip about this or
that. With our friends we do things that we enjoy and when life is difficult
friends are a source of support. Humans are social animals and in order
to survive we need to feel a sense of community with other people. In
Family, Friends and Disappointemnts there are a couple of hundred photos
of family, relations, friends, acquaintances and friends of friends but
also of people who have not yet become acquainted – which perhaps
they may never become. This may be the result of circumstances but could
also depend on their feeling indifferent or even hostile to each other;
certain people one simply wishes to have nothing to do with. The vast
majority of the photos show people at moments of fellowship and joy –
people full of the brightness of the moment. The disappointments mentioned
in the title are not apparent in any of the pictures. Very few people
avoid experiences of sorrow and treachery connected with family and friends
but we do not so readily display our disappointments, keeping them rather
to ourselves. One of the peculiarities of life is the fact that it is
precisely those people who mean something to each other who risk causing
each other the fiercest disappointments. Not even an optimist can deny
that life can develop in a way that can make death seem like a more desirable
alternative than carrying on living. This may depend on a sense of irreparable
loss, alienation or a sense of boundless shame but also – and probably
much more commonly – of an illness which one has little chance of
overcoming and which causes great suffering. Various thought experiments
are conducted by moral philosophers in which suicide is one possible course
of action and – even if it is usually presented as an extreme choice
– rational arguments are produced in its favour in specific situations.19
But it is reasonable to assume that a decision to take one's life is,
in the vast majority of cases, taken in much more stressful circumstances
than the seminar discussions among philosophers. The paralyzing feeling
that the decision to take one's life gives rise to in most cases is portrayed
in Jårg Geismar's series of installations entitled The Suicide Room.
These have been shown both at museums and in real-life venues such as
a hotel bathroom where, with a minimum of props, he created environments
redolent of an encapsulated desperation and its tragic solution. The rooms
are filled with a sickening stench of spirits and there are objects spread
around like indecipherable hieroglyphs from the dead person. But the installations
also have a paradoxical beauty. If the truth be told, the mystery of death
can seem attractive. This appears not least in the romantically coloured
world of ideas in which the darkness and finality of death are as terrifying
as they are fascinating.20 Suicide is a serious subject, but this does
not prevent there being something tragicomic about the fact that the act
of taking one's own life was once, particularly in the UK, a criminal
offence. The unfortunate person who tried, but failed to take his or her
own life could look forward to being publicly whipped. If one wanted to
take one's life there was good reason to ensure that one actually succeeded.21
Suicide has not always been considered a shameful act but, at times in
history, it was seen as an honourable way of ending one's days. Socrates'
Defence portrays how the philosopher, having said farewell to his family,
empties the poison chalice surrounded by his pupils and, with great self-control,
awaits his own death.22
Jårg Geismar lives in Düsseldorf and he studied at the Academy
of Art there from 1980 to 1986. Though Joseph Beuys was no longer teaching
at the Academy his influence was still considerable.23 His ideas about
art, life and creativity have been of decisive importance to Geismar.
This is not least because his ideas were put into practice; they became
"social sculpture", to use Beuys's own terminology. Beuys made
a major contribution to formulating an expanded concept of art by sculpting
not only works of art but also the ego and society. He wanted, with the
help of art, to reform the basely materialistic society and, instead,
to create a society characterized by a sense of community among people
and a proper respect for nature.24 Jårg Geismar, too, in several
of his works, has thematized the relationship between the individual and
the collective. But he is also interested in different institutions and
phenomena in modern society like fashion, art, economics and technology.
These interests find expression in titles such as: Private and Public,
Clothes Make People, Cables, Art is no Fashion, Public Copyright, Money,
Money Come to Me, Low Budget and Peoples Exchange.25 Another work that
deals with the position of the individual in society is Politics of the
Children. This consists of classical theatrical puppets that are hung
on the walls. The strings that brought life to the figures have been removed
from the limbs and joints that they are normally attached to and, instead,
hang beside the puppets. In a sense this mirrors the lot of mankind as
described in modern philosophy. The individual is born into a society
with patterns of thought and action already in place. Language, too, precedes
the individual and, with social structures, forms the framework that establishes
what we can think and can formulate at any given time and place.26 Both
language and social structures are essential preconditions for mankind
- without them we should not exist as people – but they also dictate
the limits of our existence. There seems to be no position beyond the
structure and language and any freedom that we have must be realized within
this framework. The installation is a portrayal of the dilemma inherent
both in freedom and in community, but in another sense it pays homage
to the creative imagination of childhood and the freedom that this can,
we hope, bring into existence. An important element of the work is a red
case that Jårg Geismar had as a child. In it he kept his crayons,
a pair of scissors and pages of newspapers from which he cut various figures
and created his own imaginary world. In the installation there is a much-enlarged
copy of the little case and during the course of the exhibition this will
be filled with flowers created by children from schools in the Stockholm
area. The work will emphasize the children's capacity for changing the
world and there is, with Geismar, an affinity with Joseph Beuys's faith
in the possibility of human freedom, but also in his struggle for everyone's
right to give expression to their own, native creativity: "Only the
creative person can change history and only by using her creativity in
a revolutionary manner."27
Early childhood is a period in which the foundations are laid for later
life. This is especially true of language. Jårg Geismar was born
in Sweden in 1958 and he lived in the little town of Burgsvik on the Baltic
island of Gotland until he was six years old, when his family moved back
to Germany. Swedish was his first language and, even if today he is far
from fluent in Swedish, he can still make himself understood. This personal
history is relevant to It's a Wonderfull World, even though the inspiration
came from something that happened in Stockholm in 1998 when he had received
a grant to work in Stockholm. When he was returning home from his studio
one day he walked by Hötorget where a television crew was filming.
They wanted comments on some current topic from what, in such contexts,
are known as "ordinary" people. The reporter came up to Jårg
Geismar, posed a question and pointed the microphone at him for a rapid
answer. There was nothing about him that revealed that he did not speak
Swedish with total fluency and when the reporter noticed that he delayed
in answering she turned round and asked another person who was passing.
Jårg Geismar stood there feeling surprised and insulted. In one
sense this was an insignificant event but it says something important
about the state of Sweden today. One can ask oneself how people are treated
who have a much stronger accent that he does. And what happens if one
combines this with an appearance that is not considered traditionally
Swedish? How is our view of a multicultural society influenced by the
way that the media so exclusively focus on problems?28 The answer is probably
negative and thus there is a need for something that contrasts with the
negative images of the news programmes. It's a Wonderfull World is, both
as regards its range and content, one of the principal works in the Liljevalchs
exhibition. It consists of 22 banners hanging from the ceiling in the
two central galleries at Liljevalchs. Each banner is almost 4 x 2 metres
and some two hundred photographs have been printed on them. These portray
cities, animals, nature and people in every imaginable situation but also
documentations of his works of art as they have been shown in different
places: in Japan, the USA, Italy, France, the UK, Spain, Germany, Thailand,
Zambia, Austria and Belgium. Among all these photographs there are a large
number of portraits of people who live in Stockholm but who were born
elsewhere. They are from all over the world and the reasons why they are
living here and what they do for a living vary widely. The size of the
banners, the large number of pictures and, not least, their wealth of
images provides the visitor with an almost dizzying experience. Most of
Jårg Geismar's works, and particularly It's a Wonderfull World,
seem to have been created in a spirit that sees in life a superabundance
of everything rather than a dearth of things. Our longing for the world
just increases the more we look at it and our desire to be a part of it
can be realized every day – It's a wonderfull World! Many, perhaps
most people, will be affronted by what they see as a lack of linguistic
knowledge or evidence of carelessness. I have myself pointed out that
the title is misspelt and have been told that that is intentional. When
one regards the fantastic world that the pictures portray it seems petty
to worry about there being one l too many in wonderfull. The feeling acts
as a reminder of the importance of generosity – that we should not
be too quick to criticize things that depart from the dominant norm. The
World is full of Wonders.
As an artist Jårg Geismar maintains a constant dialogue with the
world around him and is continually engaged in giving artistic expression
to his experiences and reflections. This takes the form of a never-ending
production of images: analogue and digital photographs and videos but
also artefacts using older techniques such as drawings and sculptures.
Just as important is his use of different types of creative, social and
communicative processes as well as the use of space itself in the exhibition
context. Mostly he works closely with the architecture of the institution
but also in relation to its position and its history. At an early stage
of planning the current exhibition he studied a selection of Liljevalch's
catalogues from 1916, when the gallery opened, up to the present. His
interest was affected by the fact that his father had recently died and
he was especially curious to know what had been going on at Liljevalchs
in 1928, the year of his birth. Of the ten exhibitions that were shown
that year there was one that seemed particularly relevant to his own ideas:
The Optimists. This was a group exhibition with 15 Swedish artists participating,
among them Mollie Faustman, Ninnan Santesson, Olof Ågren and Great
Knutson-Tzara. The year 1928 was one of the last of the famous "roaring
twenties". The world was struck by euphoria: never again would young
men be slaughtered in the trenches. Conflicts would be solved round the
conference table in the newly formed League of Nations. The first five-year
plan for the Soviet Union was launched in 1928 and poverty and hunger
were to be eradicated by means of rational production and distribution.
The seductive tones of jazz echoed through both the old and the new worlds
and, to the dismay of many but also to the delight of even more people,
traditions were being liberalized. Historically the title of The Optimists
could hardly have been bettered. Looking at the works reproduced in the
catalogue gives rise to a number of questions. At first glance it proves
difficult to find a connection between the serious portraits and dark
landscape paintings and the positive spirit of the title. Several of the
artists had spent shorter or longer periods on the Continent and perhaps
they had snapped up other currents beneath the euphoric surface and suspected
something that others had not caught sight of? Just over a year later
the New York Stock Exchange crashed – one of the elements that led
to what many people have regarded as the darkest period of human history.
Perhaps the act of creating gentle landscapes, intimate portraits and
interiors was a way of lighting a candle in the face of the approaching
darkness: militarization, the tramp of boots and, finally, a war that
laid large parts of Europe to waste. Each era has its optimists. It is
clear that there is reason to be sceptical of the development of society
today, a development characterized by international terrorism, an aggressive
superpower and increasing xenophobia. The number of homeless people in
the major cities is increasing in several of the rich countries and there
is a global market involving women – as well as children – who
are sold to the sex industry as though they were chattels. This is a world
in which the headlines of the evening papers report on whether Michael
Jackson's nose has died or on what was not shown on TV of the latest episode
of "Big Brother" or some other docusoap. The media – essential
to public discussion – have in many cases become a claustrophobic,
mirror-lined cabinet of news and pseudo-events. In sum, things look fairly
dark. But in spite of everything – as an optimist would put it –
there are still good reasons for not giving up hope. There is even a good
deal to feel happy about: meetings between people, the beauty of nature,
food, music and other moments of peaceful or intense enjoyment. If it
is cold one can, for example, rub one's hands together, but there are
other ways too. And honestly speaking: what alternative do we have (if
one does not consider suicide as a plausible solution)? We have our families,
our friends and the earth that we live on. In a poem from 1952, Ragnar
Thoursie writes of how the open city's light "..rises up against
the loneliness of space"29, very conscious of the fact that it is
on earth, and not in space, that one can hear people's cries for help.
Whatever one feels about it, here is where we are. There is not much we
can do about it but we can always try to make the best of the situation.
An optimist is a person who is prone to action. The choice to defy circumstances
and to take action is always a risk. But for the optimist, passivity is
often a worse alternative than acting and risking getting things wrong.
There is an aspect of acting that has to do with tedium. Action counteracts
the tedium and sorrow that is part of the human condition. One acts in
order not to suffer. The Optimists exhibition grew out of a strong desire
to step out into the common arena and to raise the question of the place
of art in contemporary society. One of the central aspects of the exhibition
is the room entitled Be My Guest which faces the garden and the Blå
Porten restaurant. In this room Jårg Geismar – together with
a large number of invited visitors – will carry out an extensive
series of events.30 There will be guests from almost all over the world,
all of them highly committed to their areas of activity and interest:
philosophy, art dealing, fashion, business, curating, psychoanalysis,
gastronomy, politics and international conflict management, to name a
few. Every day for the space of six weeks (apart from days on which the
gallery is closed) there will be public discussions, lectures, guided
tours, creative activities, happenings and concerts. Each on its own and
taken in sum these will contribute to fruitful meetings between the public
and the art, but also between people. It is a project in which all visitors
are invited to take a more active part in the exhibition than is normally
the case. One day each week will be specially dedicated to children and
senior citizens who will do different things together with Jårg
Geismar in the Be My Guest room which is suitably furnished for visitors
with sofas, chairs, tables and suchlike. The exhibition contains a number
of works that have not previously been shown – both new works and
somewhat older ones. The other works can be considered as re-creations
in that all the installations have been adjusted to fit in with the architectural
space of the gallery. It has been our ambition to involve the architecture
of the building to a much greater degree than is normal at exhibitions.
The entire building will be activated by the fact that the rooms are transformed
and incorporated into the exhibition. Taken together the various works
provide a very varied progress through the premises with different impressions
contrasting with each other: dark rooms with light ones, airy rooms with
enclosed ones, calm ones along side eventful ones. One special feature
is Geismars Bio (Geismar's cinema) for which the artist has put together
an extensive programme of his own films – from hand-coloured collages
from the early 1980s to digitally based films portraying various aspects
of life in the new millennium. The title of The Optimists has served as
an inspirational dynamo for the preparations. So far everything has been
done with a view to the future and it is only now – when the exhibition
is opened to the public – that it really begins. We hope to be able
to offer the public an unusual forum for both enriching experiences and
a more profound reflection on art, life and society. Be Our Guests!Notes
1. Peter Handke (Screenplay) and Wim Wenders (Screenplay/Director), Himmel
über Berlin/Wings of Desire, 1987.
2. Jan Kjærstad The Discoverer (1999), s. 149.
3. Future Laboratory, workshop with students from five universities in
Bangkok, Thailand 1999, Future in Mind, National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
1999, Future is Based on Nature, Shingu Tempel, Japan 1987 and Future
by Feet, 7th Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy 2000. The reason for
my naming particular works, workshops, lectures and exhibitions by Jårg
Geismar, both here and elsewhere in this essay, is that he himself considers
them a vital aspect of his work. The titles point to themes and, thanks
to their associative character they arouse curiosity and thus become a
means of communicating with the public. Since 1980 he has also produced
stickers supplying the title of the exhibition, his name and address and
often a telephone number to the particular institution. These should be
considered as works in their own right (multiples) with whose help he
spreads information beyond the traditional channels.
4. Animals and nature have always been present in Geismar's works. This
is an expression of his fascination with the multiplicity and beauty of
natural species and of the "personalities" of animals, their
patterns of movement and their forms of life. With both humour and poetry
he portrays our fundamental dependence on and relation to animals, but
also the fact that man is part of nature. His exhibition The Optimists
includes several works on this theme: Women, Men, Children and Dogs, Fish
Poem, Falls, Flowers Inc. and the workshop Flowers for Peace, which is
being produced in collaboration with school-children from the Stockholm
area.
5. This attitude is based on the notion that art cannot exist independently
of its social context or its "setting", which causes movements
like Fluxus to value works that make obvious reference to (and thereby
clarify) the social, political and institutional circumstances that are
the conditions of its very existence – rather than cultivating the
Kantian idea of the autonomy of art. That art is, in a very concrete sense,
part of this world – and not a transcendental entity – does
not necessarily mean that one seeks to dissolve entirely the boundary
between art and life, even though there are several examples of such an
ambition in contemporary art.
6. With regard to Jårg Geismar's relationship to Fluxus it is of
interest that he studied both at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf
and at the New School for Social Research in New York, both of which were
important centres for artists in the Fluxus movement's extensive network.
The question as to how Fluxus should be described is much debated. Like
many other writers on art I variously use the terms "movement"
and "network", conscious of the fact that it is/was in no sense
a homogeneous and organized group of artists but a much more open and
changing forum. According to Dick Higgins, one of the founders, Fluxus
was and is: "1. A series of publications produced and designed by
George Maciunas 2. The name of our group of artists 3. The kind of works
associated with these publications, artists and performances which we
did (and do) together 4. Any other activities which were in the lineage
or tradition which was built up, over a period of time, that are associated
with the publications, artists or performances (such as Fluxfeast)."
Dick Higgins, "Theory and Reception", Fluxus Reader, Ken Freidman,
ed., West Sussex 1998, p. 220ff.
7. Both the openness and the social and political commitment of Fluxus
mean that its perspective is of real contemporary interest. In several
senses Fluxus is a forerunner of today's artistic practice; which is also
true of the "relational aesthetic". This is a concept that was
established during the second half of the 1990s to describe art which
focuses on social processes but, in practice, it has existed for far longer
– not least in Fluxus. Many notable works of art have been produced
in this genre, but in recent times the relational aesthetic has, sadly,
all the more often become an approach without any real commitment. The
fundamental ambition would seem to be that of creating a sense of community
among the group of people participating and the result of this is often
an event at which people meet and mix – something that is both laudable
and enjoyable – but it is seldom that anything more worthwhile develops
out of this. It is all too seldom that they succeed in reaching beyond
the circle of initiates and the whole event becomes almost private in
character, even when it takes place at a public institution. Artists can
also take part in major social projects where they can function as providers
of inspiration and as creators, but the results of such interventions
are often difficult to grasp. This may be because the artistic perspective
has not been formulated with sufficient clarity, or that other –
more traditional – parties do not consider it especially interesting.
This may, of course, be a mistaken judgement on their side, but it results
in the alternative perspective not being given any real space. In many
instances, the relational aesthetic needs to be vitalized and clarified.
In the one instance this has to do with our view of what the nucleus of
the social dimension actually consists of and on the other it is a matter
of ideas, of how they are established and of how they are expressed.
8. Ken Freidman, "Fluxus and Company", Fluxus Reader, Ken Freidman,
ed., West Sussex 1998, p. 240.
9. Ken Freidman, "A Transformative Vision of Fluxus", Ibid.,
p. ix.
10. Ken Freidman cites twelve ideas that were central to Fluxus: 1.Globalism
2.Unity of art and life 3. Intermedia 4.Experimentalism 5.Chance 6.Playfulness
7. Simplicity 8. Implicativeness 9 Examplativism 10. Specificity 11. Presence
in time 12.Musicality , Ken Freidman, "Fluxus and Company",
Ibid., p. 244ff.
11. In this context mention may be made of certain other elements that
made the Fluxus movement so attractive among optimists. In a comparison
between Fluxus and Dada Ken Freidman writes that "Dada was nihilistic,
a millenarian movement in modernist terms. Fluxus was constructive. Fluxus
was founded on principles of creation, of transformation and its central
method sought new ways to build." Ken Freidman, "Fluxus and
Company", Ibid., p. 243.
12. In an interview with Georges Maciunas, one of the founders of Fluxus,
the Fluxus artist Larry Miller discussed the significance of site and
situation-specific art and whether this can be called "concretism"
or "functionalism". Larry Miller, "Transcript of the videotaped
interview with George Maciunas, 24 March 1978", Ibid., p. 193.
13. Ken Freidman, "Fluxus and Company", Ibid., p. 239.
14. Jårg Geismar's interest in things that unite people does not
mean that his art deals with or promotes an idea about universal values.
He gives attention both to what is common to us – for example, eating,
clothes, communication, sexuality – and how human life finds very
different means of expressing itself, under the influence of different
historical and cultural factors. The humanist tradition's "universal"
ideal is a standpoint that – for very good reason – has long
been the subject of serious criticism. From a feminist angle there has
been criticism of the fact that the values and viewpoints of white, middle-aged
heterosexual men have been raised to the status of a universal norm, thereby
creating an ideological and actual repression of large groups of people.
The queer perspective has further problematized the matter and has directed
attention towards the exercise of power inherent in the establishment
of heterosexuality as a norm (the so-called heterosexual matrix) and to
the fact that the opposites of "man" and "woman" are
much too generalized. (For an excellent presentation of the problem see:
Tiina Rosenberg, Queerfeministisk agenda, Stockholm 2001, especially the
chapters "Butlerism: genealogi och performativitet" and "Heterosexualiteter").
From a perspective that emphasizes the importance of post-colonial experience
one can add to this criticism thoughts about whether the universal is
primarily a projection of Western cultural norms and values. By their
very divergence the others help to confirm one's own normality, not to
say the natural order represented by one's own culture. (A good introduction
to post-colonialism is to be found in the periodical Kairos's anthology
Postkoloniala studier, Stockholm 2002.) Thanks to feminism, queer theory
and the post-colonial perspective it is clearly evident today that the
differences in people's circumstances and influence are entirely dependent
on gender, sexuality, class, age and race and that universality is not
an a-historical characteristic that is independent of such matters as
power and dominance.
15. WE MEET IN:::, The Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art and AIVA, Yamaguchi,
Japan 2000, living, loving and doing, Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle,
Sweden, Henry Tayali Center, Lusaka, Zambia and Motomoto Museum, Mbala,
Zambia 1999, Joint Venture, PS 1 Museum, New York, USA 1992, Touch Me
Listen to Me, The Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, Japan
2000, We Came and We didn´t Leave, Konsthallen, Gothenburg, Sweden
1998, Dreams of Communication, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, Sverige
2002, To Whom it May Concern, Gallery Gabriele Rivet, Köln, Germany
1994, You, You and Me, workshop at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts,
Antwerp, Belgium 1998, Dependencies on Distance, Tokyo, Japan 1990, If
You Can´t Come in, Smile as You Go by, Ausstellungsraum Thomas Taubert,
Düsseldorf, Germany 1994. A good example of Jårg Geismar's
way of working and of how his ideas can be developed into an extended
collaborative project is living, loving and doing. He produced two exhibitions
within this framework, a seminar entitled Personal Experience versus On-Line
Experience at the National Museum in Lusaka, and a cultural exchange in
which, initially, artists from Zambia visited Gävle and Stockholm.
These exchanges generated several different collaborative projects including
that undertaken by Konstakuten, the co-operatively run gallery in Stockholm
and artists from Zambia. A more extended and longer-term collaboration
is that between Helen Karlsson, lecturer at Gävle Konstcentrum (with
artists from Gävle) and Academy without walls, which was founded
by the Zambian artist William Miko. An article on this project was published
in DIK forum No. 2, Stockholm 2003. As regards the exhibitions, the first
was a portrait of Gävle that was shown in Lusaka (and in a smaller
version in Mbala) in Zambia while the other was a portrait of Lusaka which
was shown at Gävle Konstcentrum. The exhibitions included photographs,
videos, sound recordings, candles, textiles, fans and murals. The portrait
of Gävle also included 10.000 boxes of Läkerol throat tablets
– produced in the city since the end of the 19th century – which
were handed out to visitors. The portrait of Lusaka included an official
work of art in the form of a poster showing a photograph of a market in
Lusaka. The poster was displayed in 50 light-boxes round Gävle while
the exhibition was in progress.
16. One of Jårg Geismar's most common means of artistic expression
is his drawings. Since the Renaissance, the drawing has been the basis
of pictorial art. With its pregnant lines it appeals to the intellect
and contributes to the search for perfection in the portrayal of nature.
Sven-Olov Wallenstein has given an account of Vasari's (1511-74) theory
of art in his essay "Kants gränslinje": "His theory
of disegno (drawing, formation, but also "inner conception"),
which allowed him to combine painting, sculpture and architecture, and
which in an Academia del Disegno, requires the establishment of a common
model in which we proceed from an inner mental conception (inner disegno,
"idea") to a first materialization (outer disegno, "drawing"),
and thereafter to the individual genre's particular form in order to be
completed.", Bildstrider. Föreläsningar om estetisk teori,
Göteborg 2001, p. 62f. (For the place of the drawing in classical
art theory see, for example, Marta Edling, Om måleriet i den klassicistiska
konstteorin, Stockholm 1999, the chapter "Idealisering och imitation:
linje och färg"). In Geismar's case it is a very different aspect
of drawing that gives it such a central role: intimacy. Drawing can be
done using almost anything at all on almost any surface. One can write
with a finger in the wet sand on the beach, scratch with a sharp object
on a sheet of copper or, as Geismar has done on several occasions, use
different colours of carbon paper for scratching images with keys or a
pair of scissors – for example in the exhibition doing by hands looking
by feet, Werkstadt Graz, Austria 2000. The pencil, or whatever material
one uses, becomes an extension of the movements of hand and arm. Thus
the drawing, more than most other media, represents a personal handwriting
that lends the work a particular nearness. For Jårg Geismar, the
drawn line also portrays the network of linking relationships that exists
in the world between phenomena and people. His frequent use of electric
cables and washing lines is a form of three-dimensional drawing in which
the lines cross space and literally bind things together. Seen against
the background of their original use, the electric cables become carriers
of an energy that also has a metaphorical element and that expresses the
force that is generated by the social network that his art so greatly
depends upon. Jårg Geismar has made use of electric cables for more
than 20 years and he maintains that they are the most important symbol
in his art. With regard to drawing and the use of line, he frequently
mentions Paul Klee and Eva Hesse as important influences. It is interesting
to note that Klee taught at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf in 1931-33
and that Eva Hesse visited the city on several occasions during the 1960s.
17. Svante Karlsson, "Jung v/s Buber", Hjärnstorm No. 54,
Stockholm 1995.
18. Sartre developed his theory of the importance of the look or gaze
in human relations – based on Hegel's "master-slave dialectic"
– in L'Etre et le néant, Paris 1943: "I experience the
other's gaze right into the heart of my action, as though my own possibilities
had frozen and become alienated".
19. Margaret Pabst Battin, Ethical issues in suicide, New Jersey 1995.
Chapter 4 "The Concept of Rational Suicide" is particularly
apposite: "Is suicide, if it is rational in given circumstances,
sometimes the rational choice or is it always merely a rational choice
among others? Clearly when strategies other than suicide will equally
well prevent harms, accomplish goals, or express a person´s deepest
convictions, staying alive and using the other strategies will be at least
an equally rational choice. But where other strategies will not succeed,
suicide may be the only rational thing to do."
20. The preoccupation with death in the romantic world of ideas has been
portrayed by Staffan Kling in his essay "Memento mori", Hjärnstorm
Nos. 56-57, Stockholm 1996. In art, Arnold Böcklin's symbolistic
"Die Toteninsel" is a paradigmatic example of how death can
be expressed as both attractive and terrifying. Böcklin painted no
less than five variants of the work between the years 1880-86 and reproductions
of his isle of death spread in large editions throughout Europe towards
the end of the nineteenth century. Franz Zelger, "En tavla att drömma
om", Böcklin, Hans Henrik Brummer, ed., Stockholm 1993. The
magnetic attraction of death is emphasized when it is coupled with the
erotic as, for example, in Edvard Munch's works Vampire (1893-94) and
Death of Marat II/The Murderess (1907). That the orgasm is often described
as a "little death" obviously lends a certain sweetness to death
itself. Andy Warhol's art has been a serious influence on Jårg Geismar,
not least because of the fact that death was a prominent aspect of several
works produced in the years 1962-65 including: 129 Die in Jet, Woman Suicide,
Suicide (Silver Jumping Man), Suicide (Falling Man), Black and White Disaster,
Ambulance Disaster, Twelve Electric Chairs and Atomic Bomb. These works
are part of Warhol's series on the themes of death and accidents. In an
interview from the early seventies Andy Warhol explained: "The Death
series I painted was in two parts: the first part was about dead celebrities,
the second about individuals no one had ever heard of. I thought people
ought to think about them: the girl who jumped off the Empire State Building,
the women who ate poisoned tuna fish, the car crash victims. I wasn´t
sorry for them exactly, but people go on their way and they don´t
really care if some stranger just got killed. So I thought it would be
nice for those unknowns to be thought about by people who would never
normally do that." Peter-Klaus Schuster, "Warhol and Goya",
Warhol, Heiner Bastian, ed., London 2001, p. 55.
Our attention is also directed, in Jårg Geismar's Suicide Rooms,
towards all the people – famous and unknown – who have taken
their own lives for different reasons. The installations are a quiet homage
to what is irrevocably lost: the uniqueness in each individual who dies.
21. Ironically, attempted suicide was punishable by death at certain times
and it was still a criminal offence in England until 1961. (Battista,
p. 88).
22. Anton J. L. van Hoff writes in From autothanasia to suicide. Self-killing
in classical antiquity, London 1990, that "During the Late Republic
and Early Empire committing suicide becomes something of a moral duty
for the nobleman who loses face or the favour of the emperor. The ritual
scenes are duly recorded by historians of that age.", p. 15. (Battista
p. 88)
23. Joseph Beuys was appointed professor of sculpture at the Academy of
Art in Düsseldorf in 1961 and he remained there until October 1972
when he was dismissed by the Minister of Science in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen
after he had led an occupation of the Academy's secretariat. This unusually
dynamic period was portrayed in Stephan von Wieses article "Brännpunkt
Düsseldorf - en krönika", Louise Robbert, ed., Brännpunkt
Düsseldorf. Joseph Beuys och hans krets, Stockholm 1987. Beuys has
given his views on the role of the professor: "perhaps a professor
has no other function than that of the thread that one dips into a solution
of sugar in order to make sugar candy: something organizes itself and
crystallizes round it. The professor is nothing more than a student; there
should be no distinction. He merely takes responsibility for continuity
while students, in some cases, can come one day and disappear the next.
At an academy a professor is, in a manner of speaking, a crystallization
core and a principle of order." Ibid., p. 11. Numerous very gifted
students attended Beuys's class, among them Jårg Immendorf, Blinky
Palermo, Imi Knoebel and, to some extent, even Gerhard Richter. Right
up to his death in 1986 Beuys was of great importance for the expansion
of the concept of art, not least with regard to the relationship between
art and life. Erik van der Heeg's article, "Beuys och transformationens
geografi", Kris No. 39-40, Stockholm 1990, quotes part of an interview
with Robert Filliou during which Beuys says that his actions "have
always had importance for extending the old concept of art and making
it as broad as possible and, if possible, so large that it includes all
human activities.", p. 140. Classes at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf
are organized round a professor. During his trial year, which is differently
organized, Jårg Geismar studied with professors Bernd Minich and
Tony Craigg. Visiting professors included Kaspar König, Anthony Twaites
and Nam June Paik. He then spent a year with Professor Fritz Schwegler
and the ensuing five years in Professor Irmin Kamp's class. It was with
her that Geismar took his Meisterschuler exam. Other teachers that were
important to Geismar during his time as a student were: Tünn Konerdign
(colour theory, basic artistic expression and history of art), Attila
Kotany (philosophy), Walter Biemel (philosophy) and Werner Spiess (history
of art). Even though Beuys was never Geismar's teacher, his ideas lived
on at the Academy and were important on the art scene (not least in Düsseldorf).
One point of contact between the two men is a great interest in food and
art (food-art). As early as the 1960s Beuys, as well as other artists
with Fluxus leanings like Daniel Spoerri, created works that related to
food and eating. Ever since the exhibition Rice Cooking in Shingu in Japan
in 1988 – at which Jårg Geismar offered visitors newly cooked
rice – food and communal eating have played a central role in his
activities. On some ten occasions he has organized his RESTAURANT MES
AMIS at different places and, just as the title suggests, this is a "restaurant"
for and with his friends. There is always a combination of cooking (often
together), eating and conversation in something that be compared with
the classical symposium. Everything takes place in an installation with
a specially set table with such elements as cables, sound, light and smell
effects and, sometimes, even poetry readings. In 1989 Jårg Geismar
produced an exhibition with the title Rosemary that was concerned with
electricity. The English title is both a girl's name and the name of a
herb which, traditionally, symbolizes energy and vitality. Joseph Beuys
also had a special relationship to rosemary. He used it, together with
many other food products, in his work: fat, wine, tea, lemon, honey, herring,
pork and others. Lucrezia De Domizio Durini, Joseph Beuys. The Art of
Cooking, Milan 1999, p. 14f. With regard to the central matter of art
and life which Beuys was so eager to resolve (for an initiated discussion
see Sven-Olov Wallenstein, "Kants gränslinje", Bildstrider.
Föreläsningar om estetisk teori, Gothenburg 2001), there is
an important difference: even if Jårg Geismar works using an extended
concept of art – and in a very concrete manner makes use of everyday
events and experiences – he does not show a desire to combine life
and art to the same degree as Beuys sought to do. In Geismar's case, the
distinction is both interesting and important, even if, by means of his
interactive and social projects, he clearly extends traditional limits.
24. Throughout Joseph Beuys's work there is a clear coupling to animals
and nature. He was also one of the main figures behind The Greens in Germany
at the beginning of the 1980s. In an article entitled "Beuys och
transformationens geografi", Kris Nos. 39-40, Stockholm 1990, Erik
van der Heeg considers Beuys's relationship with the animal world based
on the famous Coyote action in New York in 1974: "The Coyote can
be seen as an attempt on the part of Beuys to incorporate the New World's
nature and mythical foundation into a metaphysical geography of its own.
The wolfhound forms a hyper-hesperian pendant to the hare in the Old World.
If the hare is seen as a nomadic creature of plains and lowlands, the
embodiment of a principle of movement that exceeds and bridges the 'gap
between east and west, Rome and Byzantium' and that 'finally becomes a
synonym for Euroasian history', the encounter with the coyote marks a
further step in the direction of a more global understanding of the forces
that form our thoughts and societies.", p.137.
25. Private and Public, (lecture) Haifa Museum, Israel 1995, Clothes Make
People, Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo, Japan 1991, Cables, Gallery Gabriele
Rivet, Cologne, Germany 1992, Art is no Fashion, Düsseldorf, Germany
1992, Public Copyright, Kunstverein, Düsseldorf, Germany 1994, Money,
Money Come to Me, Avtosavodskaja Saal, Moscow, Russia 1991, Low Budget,
Konstahalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany 1997 and Konsthallen, Gothenburg, Sweden
1998, and Peoples Exchange, 1. Biennale Tirana, Tirana, Albania 2001.
26. The philosophical movement is that of structuralism as formulated
by Lévi-Strauss, Lacan, Althusser, Barth and Foucault – even
though Foucault further developed the structuralist perspective to take
into account not only the hidden/unconscious structures of or underlying
a thought process but also the difference between thinking of different
epochs and cultures. His discourse analysis introduces a more dynamic
explanatory model which focuses on the production of the discourse and
the fleeting nature of power. (For an introduction to structuralism and
Foucault see: Svante Nordin, Filosofins historia. Det västerländska
förnuftets äventyr från Thales till postmodernismen, Lund
1995, p. 529ff. For the re-orientation see: Michel Foucault, Diskursens
ordning, Stockholm 1993 (1971).)
27. Lasse Ekstrand, Varje människa är en konstnär. Livskonstnären
och samhällsvisionären Joseph Beuys, Gothenburg 1998, p. 8
28. True to the traditional logic of the news media, the focus, even with
regard to the multicultural society, is on problems: in this case particularly
criminality, unemployment, and clashes between cultures. Ylva Brune's
study " 'Invandrare' i mediearkivets typgalleri", Maktens (o)lika
förklädnader. Kön, klass och etnicitet i det postkoloniala
Sverige, Paulina de los Reyes, Irene Molina, Diana Mulinari, eds., Stockholm
2002, shows, with the help of a couple of representative examples, how
the media image of immigrants creates a range of stereotypes and generalisations
from an individual case. The author writes: "But in relation to 'immigrants'
the news reports shift from individual cases of deviance to assertions
in which the deviance is made scientific and is generalized." (p.
177) Later in the article she reflects on the media's demonization of
what is foreign: "What utility value has the news reporter's constant
repetition and aggressive portrayal of 'the young immigrant's' and the
'adult male immigrant's' physical attacks on the ideals of sexual equality?
From our welfare-state optimism we can see the news stories as warning
examples that should make us all reflect – in the way that I believe
the texts on isolated immigrant women might function. But in the case
of contemporary media events in which (immigrant) boys and men are problematized,
there is also a dimension beyond the peaceful sphere of popular fostering;
a hateful, xenophobic demonization and anguished demands for disciplinary
action against the demons created by their own stories.", p. 180
29. Ragnar Thoursie, "Sundbybergs-prologen", Nya sidor och dagsljus,
Stockholm 1952
30. There are two works in the exhibition that relate to the matter of
public space. There is The Optimists, which consists of silhouettes of
monumental figures painted directly onto the wall in the first, monumental
gallery at Liljevalchs (originally intended as a sculpture hall) which,
architecturally, has something of the character of a square. And there
is Be My Guest, which is both the title of the room and the main heading
for the events which take place there. The walls of the room have been
papered with pages from newspapers from different countries and this acts
as a reminder that this is a part of the public space that is constituted
by the media – here represented by a form that is both old and, on
account of its non-linear structure, is also to some degree like the new
Internet-based media. The backdrop of newspapers helps to emphasize the
dimension of time: what takes place in Be My Guest – conversations,
lectures and the various happenings – takes place in a present while
the news is already history. The two works are the result of an express
desire to step forth into the public space, but also both to comment on
it and contribute to its existence. Taken together, The Optimists and
Be My Guest give a "picture" of a public dimension in a state
of transformation where the classical agora is only a part of (and one
of many metaphors for) the public space today. (A consideration of art
and the public space that is as initiated as it is accessible can be found
in Sven-Olov Wallenstein, Bildstrider. Föreläsningar om estetisk
teori, Gothenburg 2001, chap. "Verk, plats, rum").
Literature
Heiner Bastian, ed., Warhol, Berlin-London 2001
Margaret Pabst Battin, Ethical issues in suicide, New Jersey 1995
Hans Henrik Brummer, ed., Böcklin, Stockholm 1993
Lucrezia De Domizio Durini, Joseph Beuys. The Art of Cooking, Milan 1999
Marta Edling, Om måleriet i den klassicistiska konsteorin, Stockholm
1999
Lasse Ekstrand, Varje människa är en konstnär. Livskonstnären
och samhällsvisionären Joseph Beuys, Gothenburg 1998
Michel Foucault, L'Ordre du discours, Paris 1971
Ken Freidman, ed., Fluxus Reader, West Sussex 1998
Erik van der Heeg, "Beuys och transformationens geografi", Kris
No. 39-40, Stockholm 1990
Hjärnstorm No.54, Stockholm 1995
Hjärnstorm tema: döden No. 56-57, Stockholm 1996
Anton J. L. van Hoff, From autothanasia to suicide. Self-killing in classical
antiquity, London 1990
Jan Kjærstad, The Discoverer, Copenhagen 1999
Mikaela Lundahl och Mats Stjernstedt, eds., Postkoloniala studier, Stockholm
2002
Svante Nordin, Filosofins historia. Det västerländska förnuftets
äventyr från Thales till postmodernismen, Lund 1995
Karin Nörby, "Konstens villkor i Zambia - en utmaning för
svensk bildpedagog", DIK forum No. 2, Stockholm 2003
Paulina de los Reyes, Irene Molina, Diana Mulinari, eds., Maktens (o)lika
förklädnader. Kön, klass och etnicitet i det postkoloniala
Sverige, Stockholm 2002
Louise Robbert, ed., Brännpunkt Düsseldorf. Joseph Beuys och
hans krets, Stockholm 1987
Tiina Rosenberg, Queerfeministisk agenda, Stockholm 2001
Jean-Paul Sartre, L'Etre et le néant, Paris 1943
Ragnar Thoursie, Nya sidor och dagsljus, Stockholm 1952
Sven-Olov Wallenstein, Bildstrider. Föreläsningar om estetisk
teori, Gothenburg 2001
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