When I'm on holiday, I don't always plan to go to a museum or see an exhibition. And the ones I run into randomly are the best!
This happened in Hall in Tirol a couple of weeks ago.
Imagine this munt factory, remain from the middle ages, the first of its kind. There's a sign at the entrance. "LEMONISM - AKEMI TAKEYA" and a bleeding lemon on the picture. *Right, something else is also on display.* - I'm thinking unconsciously.
It's interesting enough to see how money developed from tiny crooked thingies into super metal, unbreakable various of thalers, then euros. The building is old, has wooden machines inside, a much-much history to speak about.
And then there comes the part when you get to climb up to the tower to see the town. Entering the narrow snaily staircase we hear squeaking and a mixture of metal music.
And then I remember: "hah! this must be something contemporary!"
I can't wait to reach the top! The music is very disturbing, almost scary as I climb alone on the narrow wooden stairs, not seeing the next turn or level. And then I arrive:
lemons, half-rotten lying everywhere on the floor of a circular room with the staircase in the middle. The music changes into something I would call progressive tribe music, but I really don't know.
And I love it! It's scary, weird and makes absolutely no sense!
On the next floor, there is this weird, huge puppet, with lemon head, and several others next to it in a circle like a sacred killing ritual. The music is still the same. An old building, with pale withe, tilted walls with a meaning of materialism and these absurd lemon-headed dolls rotting surrounded with scary upbeat music. But wtf is this? What does this thing doing here?
"Akemi Takeya confronts different “art isms” with her idea of Lemonism" - can be read on the website of the Japanese born, Vienna based artist. "LEMONISM and Actionism, adapts and re-enacts the strategies of the Viennese 1960s artistic movement.". The lemon becomes the representation of the body and redefinition of it. This complex idea is complete with a performance that leads the viewer into the shocking acknowledgment of our transforming, fragile body.
So these little things with the lemon head are us. Our body and how it' changing through time and age. And how unconscious we are about it. Does the representation of "ism" reflect the changing times? Does that stand in parallel to our changing body? Do the exhibition space and its function reflect on this idea of changing or is it a coincidence? I don't know, unfortunately, but these are the questions I'd ask as a reporter.
I love the contrast of the physical place and the artwork itself. So different and yet, with the representation of materialISM and lemonISM fits perfectly together in my mind. Shocking and surprising, hard to understand. One really has to spend time and stare at the little figures to process the work. Or just stare at its weirdness.
What's was the most controversial artwork - show space that you've ever seen?
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