The four video tapes to be seen as the four-channel installation under the title Der Postraum (the post room) represent the documentation of a kind of performance at the opening of the exhibition by Kurt Ryslavy in the well-established Galerie Stadtpark in Krems. The artist, who had already lived in Belgium for six years at the time of the exhibition in 1992, alluded in general in the show to two different aspects of art production: to the actual 'works', which in Ryslavy's case included a continuation of his Rollaquarelle watercolours, as well as the situation in the gallery itself in that the latter was declared to be the actual exponent. The visitors at the opening were also the protagonists in the four videos: people moving past the camera, stopping, greeting one another, taking a sip of white wine, and moving on ? a typical opening situation. The lights go out suddenly, and somebody begins to speak in the dark, both providing an explanation of the exhibition and talking about his profession, saying that an artist today is more of an entrepreneur than creative. By using humour and a sense of irony to 'elevate' the art context, the so-called 'artworld' and its protagonists, to the focus of the show, Kurt Ryslavy delivers a complex commentary on events in the art context from the early 1990s. When the speaker remarks toward the end of his speech that the recipients' active contribution constitutes the art, constitutes the image that is retained, then this also means that here too, conceptually, the original artwork had relinquished its function.
(Patricia Grzonka)

Exhibition concept by Kurt Ryslavy:
"The key image of Der Postraum is a brief (120 secs) staged power cut at the opening of the show ? during which the visitors are forced to picture the space they currently occupy in the dark, i.e. the visitor consequently actively imagines the space. This reconstruction effect in the mind when the lights suddenly go out is enforced by a fleeting over-exposed shot of the space. The 'artist' uses this brief spell of darkness to make a statement (which is actually delivered by a professional public speaker using the first person, clearly articulated and to effect) on the word Postraum with reference to the work in the exhibition. This process is to be recorded by four fixed (rudimentary) video cameras on tripods, one in front of each wall (main space), along with the approx. ten minutes preceding and following the staged power cut."
(Jonathan Quinn, Engl.)

Exhibitions

Der Postraum, 1992

Galerie Stadtpark, Krems (NÖ), Austria

Specifications

32min stereo color PAL

Technical protocol

4 uncut VHS tapes; one's sound stereo, the others' mono; 4 Nordmende monitors, Philips VHS player

Video installation: 4 monitors on base with screens facing each other; documentary of the exhibition opening at the Galerie Stadtpark Krems, recorded 25 October 1992

Production

Kurt Ryslavy

Edition

Edition

Copyright

Kurt Ryslavy

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