My trip to see the contemporary art offerings of began Friday 5 July at Arndale Shopping Centre. This is Europe鈥檚 third largest mall, officially described as 鈥榯he jewel in the city鈥檚 retail crown鈥. Wearing its consumerist status on its sleeve, and housing chain stores shouting prices from their windows, it goes without saying that Arndale is an unconventional setting for the work of art, which tends to keep its sales price hidden.
Nonetheless, on Hans Ulrich Obrist鈥檚 invitation to join the curatorial project 鈥榙o it鈥 (an expansive series of instructions written by artists for open interpretation), Chicago based Theaster Gates proposed 鈥楬OW TO CATCH THE HOLY GHOST or GET ARRESTED IN A SHOPPING MALL鈥. According to Gates, catching the ghost/being caught requires 鈥榓n adventurous buddy鈥 and the following props:
2 pairs of white gloves
2 old church hymnals
1 handkerchief
1 portable battery-operated amplification system
3 rocks (found on the street on your way to the mall)
White-gloves on, performers Alistair McNicol and Kamella Sophie-Lorelle followed instructions to create a 鈥榮acred space鈥. With Kamella sat, yogi-like, hymnals, handkerchief and rocks laid out before her, Alistair stood to sing lyrics selected from the books. For thirty minutes, of which I caught the last ten, he repeated the words 鈥榳ith souls refresh鈥, pacing back and forth between rails of a bridge linking Sole Trader and the Disney Store on one side with BOSE and Waterstones on the other. Sometimes slipping up to give 鈥榳ith shoals refresh鈥 / 鈥榳ith souls we fresh鈥, it was more interesting to watch the faces of shoppers – mostly pensioners or mothers with babies – betraying a kind of bored curiosity, than it was to wonder whether the Ghost had been caught. Obviously, this being an official part of the festival, no arrests were made. I wonder whether security would have been called had 鈥楬OW TO CATCH THE HOLY GHOST…鈥 been played out elsewhere, without forewarning. On this occasion, shoppers readily adopted roles as witnesses; whipping their camera phones out to film the uncommon event. It all ended abruptly: when thirty minutes were up the performers walked away and were lost from sight as they passed the Apple store, rocks and other props in hand.
More rocks could be found amongst the further five rooms of 鈥榙o its鈥 exhibited in Manchester Art Gallery. In the 鈥楬omage Room鈥, devoted to the instructions of twenty artists deceased since the 鈥榙o it鈥 project began, we find a rock magnetically attached to the wall, illustrating Olafur Eliasson鈥檚 instruction in homage to Francisco J. Varela. We are invited to take the rock in hand and, 鈥榃hile holding the meteorite, try to see yourself from the perspective of the orbiting asteroid belt. Think of this as your multiverse point-of-view鈥. An already difficult task is made harder by the presence of a mirror, installed immediately above the rock. On the same wall, those acquainted with the late J煤lius Koller鈥檚 work will find the 鈥榓steroid viewpoint鈥 condoned again: the Slovak artist wrote of the potential formulation of a cosmological 鈥榮ubjective-objectivity system鈥. In this exhibition, however, Mladen Stilinovit膰, assuming the role of Koller, has documented the task of sticking question marks to public poster texts considered in need of interrogation. The question mark was Koller鈥檚 chosen symbol, applied to public spaces such as tennis courts, to clothing, flags…, to convey the principle of questioning everything during the extended period of repression that followed the 1968 Prague Spring.
The performative, participatory nature of 鈥榙o it鈥 was yet more evident in the 鈥楢ctive Room鈥, containing what HUO referred to as 鈥榤any do its within the do its鈥 – opportunities for participation in e.g. squeezing lemons (Andreas Slominski), climbing ladders (Ilya Kabakov), or helping oneself to curry paste made by a volunteer following Rikrit Tiravanija鈥檚 recipe. If the 鈥楾V room鈥 was more passive, it compensated through self-conscious attempts at inclusivity: shorts by the highly reputed, e.g. Agnes Varda exploring the late Chris Marker鈥檚 studio, are found alongside works by recent Manchester School of Art graduates.
Danny Orwin, present for the screening of his film interpretation of Raqs Media Collective鈥檚 鈥榙o it鈥 (set in a library, it ends with the maxim 鈥榠nfect knowledge with wisdom鈥), said that Manchester felt like a good place to be post-graduation. As the festival began, I found this easy to believe – the MIF programme extends to the Whitworth Art Gallery for Nikhil Chopra鈥檚 鈥楥oal on Cotton鈥, and to venues across the city for music and theatre events. Hopefully the energy generated during the festival will be sustained when it ends.
Lizzie Homersham
Manchester International Festival, 4 until 21 July
Images courtesy Joel Fildes
