鈥淵ou can have any kind of a like-for-like with people, but if you have to say 鈥業 love you鈥, you better mean it.鈥
Lawrence Weiner isn鈥檛 keen to put his work in context. Although he鈥檚 considered a founding figure of American conceptualism, a pioneer of post-minimalism and a trailblazer for text-based art, he doesn鈥檛 associate himself with any particular movement. Nor does he believe that the works currently on show at Blenheim Palace are site-specific 鈥 something he might not have mentioned to the curators at the Blenheim Art Foundation. Consisting of new and reformulated text works appearing unannounced throughout the palace, Within a Realm of Distance equips visitors with a linguistic toolkit for 鈥渇inding their own existential relationship to the world of objects at the moment.鈥 The fact that those objects might be victorious tapestries, priceless porcelain or Churchill memorabilia is neither here nor there. The texts are made to adapt to the needs of the viewer: the words will serve their purpose 鈥渨ithin a realm of distance鈥 at 鈥渁ny given time.鈥
Weiner prefers to think of his texts as sculpture rather than conceptual art, verbal constructions built from notions of space, time and physical material. Vaulting over a stone archway, the statement 鈥淣EAR & FAR & EQUAL MEASURE // AT SOME POINT鈥. contracts the expanse of the palace into a few brief measurements. Embroidered homilies are 鈥淔OUND [鈥 AFTER ANY GIVEN TIME鈥 resting on mantelpieces or hung in dark corridors. A text applied to a mirror simply states 鈥淪O FAR FLUNG鈥.
Other works draw upon theories of chemical change, where scientific language slips into the figurative or poetic. In the Great Hall the statement 鈥淢ATTER SO SHAKEN TO ITS CORE TO LEAD TO A CHANGE IN INHERENT FORM TO THE EXTENT OF BRINGING ABOUT A CHANGE IN THE DESTINY OF THE MATERIAL鈥, suggests not only chemical change but alchemy; the word 鈥渓ead鈥 appears again in the Long Gallery, where text graphics installed in the ceiling cornices compare the physical properties of lead, gold, silver and aluminium. The slippery use of 鈥渓ead鈥 as both a verb and a noun suggests the mutability not only of matter, but also of language. The texts are there for the taking 鈥 if visitors manage to find the bowl of wooden coins (鈥淏URIED GOLD鈥) they are welcome to take one home.
Could alchemy be the key? Weiner shrugs his wide sloping shoulders. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 do metaphor.鈥 Just like he doesn鈥檛 鈥渄o鈥 context. However, his lack of specificity is highly precise. What interested Weiner about Blenheim was its role as a 鈥渞egal palace鈥 rather than a 鈥渞oyal palace鈥, 鈥渁 realm鈥 rather than 鈥渢he realm鈥. Built by Vanbrugh in the early 18th century to mark the victory of the 1st Duke of Marlborough over the French, Blenheim is a baroque fantasy of the palatial rather than the thing itself. The exhibition title appears emblazoned in vast vinyl lettering above the mighty north portico, the 鈥淎鈥 of 鈥淲ITHIN A REALM OF DISTANCE鈥 helpfully encircled to inform visitors they are now entering an ideal existing outside time and space.
Blenheim, on the other hand, seem pretty sure of their positioning as a brand. Their strapline 鈥淏ritain鈥檚 Greatest Palace鈥 was clearly dreamt up by a copywriter with slightly more commercial wit than Weiner. Nothing can fault Blenheim鈥檚 ambition. The palace was born victorious and today it is a successful business; as witnessed at Chatsworth, commercial success goes hand in hand with contemporary art. When the Blenheim Art Foundation launched last year they chose Ai Wei Wei as their poster boy, another artist photogenically out of place amid the swirling curlicues and mighty colonnades. However, it remains to be seen whether Weiner鈥檚 sibylline statements will sell as well as scones and strawberry jam. For most of Blenheim鈥檚 visitors the exhibition will be less about 鈥渁 realm of distance鈥 than simply distancing, and it will be interesting to see who the Foundation selects next. Most likely a female artist, British, with a conceptual practice based on tangible narratives. My money鈥檚 on Cornelia Parker.
Lawrence Weiner: Within a Realm of Distance, until 20 December at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock,聽Oxfordshire聽OX20 1PP.
For more information, visit聽
Matilda Bathurst
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Credits
1. Lawrence Weiner, Within a Realm of Distance at Blenheim Palace, 2015.聽Photo credit: Hugo Glendinning.聽Courtesy of Blenheim Art Foundation.
