On the benefits of waste
Art is not commercial. It could, according to Georges Bataille, be regarded as a result of the need to expend the surplus energy produced by the living organism over and above that which is required for growth.
However, it is in keeping with human nature, or at least with the nature of capitalism, that “waste itself should become a commodity“, which then usually presents itself in the form of prestige. In an era when banks and industrial corporations are patrons of the arts and accumulate considerable artistic collections, their corporate image is likely to be as much a consideration as their much-vaunted social responsibility. This is only one reflection among many that is stimulated by a tour of the Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller exhibition at Kunstmuseum Olten. The artistic team, who have been producing art together since 2003, address in their works the complex network of relationships that exists between energy production and consumption, and between culture and technical progress respectively. Under the title “In the Direction of Rotation“, they explicitly focus on the relationship between the economy and art.
It is no coincidence that this encounter takes place in Kunstmuseum Olten, a place where the shock of a potential closing up of shop still grips to the marrow. In 2014, the discussion was enflamed by the huge financial losses sustained by the most important tax-payer in the town: Alpiq, a large Swiss energy corporation formally known as Aare-Tessin AG. In 1959 this company had housed an extensive exhibit by the Art Association of Olten, including artworks from the collections of almost 40 businesses. Hemauer/Keller develop here not only an impressive investigation into the background of the companies involved at that time and their respective collections but also encourage us to reflect more generally on both the meaning of art and the responsibility of business in society.
The duo laid bare the boundaries of business’s sense of duty vis-à-vis society last year at the Wallis Triennale when they sought to siphon off water from an inactive reservoir to create a fountain (done, in accordance with Bataille, out of a sheer desire for profligacy). Indeed, the value of this “waste“ lies solely in the eye of the beholder.
Deborah Keller, NZZ Feuilleton March 21, 2015, p. 55