Pieces of the Puppet Show

The Puppet Show @ ICA
January 18 - March 30, 2008

This month, as well as the following month, is the start for a new year as well as a new season for the ICA. Their previous exhibition Ensemble was a huge success in terms of the mammoth nature of the artists presented as well as the curatorial endeavors of Christian Marclay. Regardless of any impressions of the show, it boosted Philadelphia a notch up on the contemporary merit system. Allow me to preface this review by saying that I had some expectations, both in terms of the transformation of the ICA as well as the caliber of the show as a whole. I was fairly eager to see what they had to offer this month.

As I stepped into The Puppet Show I gave up my initial presumptions and I let the show do the talking. I was initially taken to a third world offering by the artist Terence Gower who presented puppets much like already dead and caged animals on exhibition. Every lifeless corpse was very tactile in nature and the vulnerability that one would perceive upon caged animals was translated pretty well into the installation. I was excited by the truth of life and death and puppets as well as the prospect of a completely transformed space to continue through the exhibition. To my disappointment but not complete disdain, everything opened up to reveal a somewhat reserved space that was chock full of work. The space did appear and function more differently than usual.

There was no predetermined path so wandering was the prescription. As I traversed the space I went from piece to piece much like an arcade game room to explore each station more closely (from what pieces were actually working properly).

Surprisingly enough, because of the show’s layout being primarily video and sculpture, all of the 2-D work was much more engaging and stimulating to the eye and the redundancy that echoed through the show was able to be separated into a quieter and more personal experience for myself. Work by Kentridge, Wright, and Simmons were just as effective in portraying what puppets were as many of the quite lengthy videos playing and the sculptures hanging.

Many of the videos in the show are quite lengthy and demand quite a bit of time from their audience. This was a turnoff for me because I only had x amount of time in my stay at the ICA to explore these areas. I was compelled not only by time but also lack of interest in a majority of the videos as they carried a redundancy across the exhibition. As in any situation there were exceptions that happened to grasp more of my time and patience. Huyghe's piece staged at Harvard University was one of those moments that held me in the room watching intently as puppets' puppeteered and all the behind the scene action that otherwise seemed unfair to reveal to anyone outside of the that community was revealed to the viewer in a nonchalant manner.

The entire back wall of the ICA, right near The Puppet Show lettering, was dedicated to sculpture. Perhaps because I was overloaded right at the entrance to the show or the work was expected to be puppets at this point, the entire back wall was rather lifeless due to the forbearing nature of Oppenheim’s piece. Artists that had some excellent work, like Kiki Smith and also Anne Chu, really needed to have their work represented under a different context because they were presented in a more historical arrangement that allowed them to be lost.

Many of the placement discrepancies of the show simply were due to the limited wall space as well as poor integration of larger pieces into areas. This led to a lot of visual confusion and over stimulation, an overall arrangement much like a natural history or science museum. If this was a desired effect it detracted from the potential of this show as there were specific areas that housed more interest than others. This was noticeable by the bodies, including myself, gathering at specific spectacles (appropriately titled) such as Oppenheim’s piece “Theme for a Major Hit.”

The saving grace for this show was fortunately the work by some of the individual artists shining through with some attention-demanding work. Such artists as Oppenheim, McCarthy, Nauman, Huyghe, and Ben-Ner all exhibited some funny as well as thought-provoking pieces that helped to hold my impression of the show together. It’s unfortunate that the show as a whole was filled with a lot of “Hot” spots where the attention and the action existed.

My overall impression of the show is much like the vacant nature of the puppet itself; both present and passive.

[Chris Golas is a curator at FLUXspace and an artist living and working in Philadelphia]



Bookmark to Del.icio.us