I just came across a review in the Morgenpost on H.N. Semjon's kioskshop, a permanent installation/gallery right across the street from our house in Schröderstraße. The reviewer draws comparisons between Semjon and Warhol; Oldenburg seems more accurate. Apparently at Markus Richter, Semjon also did a Duchamp and exhibited an old GDR-era toilet.
From kioskshop's press release:
Over 1000 "Product Sculptures," are at the center of this walk-in artwork, product packagings with their contents covered in white wax...The painterly white and the estranging effect of the waxed "Product Sculptures," the minimal design of the white fixtures and the brightly lit room create a distance and transcend the well-known store ambiance to another kind of perception and understanding of ones surroundings. The experience is analogous to standing before a painting, the work creates a distance and simultaneously piques a kind of curiosity.
It's all ghostly and very pretty. But because this is a semi-permanent project, with every "product" based on the same scheme (slightly modified by the artist then covered in wax), the effects of estrangement and fascination mentioned above are fairly short-lived. Seen one wax-covered coke bottle, seen 'em all. I don't mean to undermine the overall impression the shop makes, though, because walking past at night it really is striking; the products seem caught out of time. And there's something to be said for serial objects, competetively priced: 3 Euros for a water bottle.
Posted by Heather at January 11, 2004 04:28 PM
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