1992.06.13. BELLOWS IX /
DOCUMENTA IX / KASSEL / TEXT BY THE ARTIST.
Paintings for flies
The way flies see is structured in a radically different way than our sight. Paintings for flies are executed in red. Red lies outside the colour spectrum that most insects can see, normally around 650 m whereas red is around 750 m On the other hand they can grasp, probably through genetically inherited experience, that this seeming emptiness, the void, is something, despite their inability to see it. A number of insects can distinguish certain red flowers such as, for instance, paper rhoeadales, since they reflect ultraviolet light, while others can distinguish various shades of red because they contain additional pigments. Some flowers, indeed, con-tain pigments the human eye can not perceive. Thus it may be that these controlling codes are in the red flowers. One thing we do know with certainty is that flies can not distinguish red. They can only apprehend its existence through a manifest absence. The paintings describe Bellows No.9 step by step for the flies. Localization, structure, suction entry, various valves and passages and the flies’ final enclosure. This enclosure may mean death for the flies. For me, this work has meant that I have been able to show for the first time the connection between death and its description to flies. UR 1992
Group Exhibition DOCUMENTA IX, Kassel, Germany. Curated by Jan Hoet, Bart de Baere, Pier Luigi Tazzi and Denys Zacharopoulos. Special Thanks to Johan Nobell, Esad Pasic, Hans Hamid Rasmussen, Hans Ruin, Krister Sundvall and Mikael Theorin, Atlas Copco, Rexroth Mecman, SSAB, Torbjörn Lenskog AB, Bildkonstnärsfonden, Documenta IX, Kulturrådet, Svenska Institutet & Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst in Ghent (SMAK).
In memory of Rolf Söderdahl. All photos by Lars Gustafsson.
1992 BELLOWS IX is part of NATIONAL GALLERY OSLO COLLECTION, STATENS KONSTRÅD COLLECTION
and S M A K COLLECTION.
www.documenta14.de/en/