Come to Bed!, curated by Roya sachs by BOSI Contemporary

COME TO BED!

Michelle Jaffé, Marta Jovanović and Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos Curated by Roya Sachs

BOSI Contemporary, New York March 25 - April 25, 2015

Writing by: Roya Sachs Front Cover: Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos, #Untitled, 2013 (Right) & @Anonymous, 2014 (Left) Design: BOSI Contemporary ISBN:

978-1-312-99082-1

Contents 9

IMbedded Beds

INTERVIEW WITH THE ARTISTS

INSTALLATION SHOTS

31 33 57 71

EXHIBITED WORKS

Artist Biographies

CONTRIBUTORS

Roya Sachs

Michelle Jaffé Marta Jovanović Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos

Come To Bed! explores the theme of communication in the sphere of the bed, a lieu that hosts a third of our lives. The all female show focuses on three sectors of communication that bring to play the different usages of the bed, from pillow talk, and self-reflection, to technology with our need to stay connected. The installations also reorient ideas of time and space, by recreating the most intimate space of all, in a gallery. By inviting Michelle JaffĂŠ, Marta JovanoviÄ&#x2021;, and Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos to each create their own intimate environment, we bring to life questions about the individual, and the way in which we occupy the space. It is also important to bring to light the past uses of beds, and how this has altered over time. From the Ancient Egyptian times where beds were used as a place for not just sleeping, but also eating meals and entertaining socially, to the Renaissance era of Louis XIV who enjoyed lounging on his beds, owning a reported 413 ultra spacious and luxurious beds; they have been an integral part of history, yet often overlooked. The exhibition aims to push the viewer to contemplate his or her own relationship and experience of the bed. Roya Sachs

Roya Sachs

imbedded Beds

Marcel Proust wrote the most evocative pages of A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu from his bed, in a cork-lined room blocking out the noise; he was reclusively nocturnal. After his only brief encounter with James Joyce during an evening in 1922, Joyce admitted, “Of course the situation was impossible. Proust’s day was just beginning. Mine was at an end.”1 For Proust, his bed was his safe haven, his inspirational antechamber whose purpose was to isolate, and center. This straightforwardness demonstrates that there is a deep link between our inner thoughts and our beds. Our bed grows with us, accompanies us, and its purpose changes as often as we do. Proust found solitude in his bed; what do you find in yours?

Marcel Proust. A la Recherche Du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time). Paris: Grasset and Gallimard, 1913-27.

Craig Brown. Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012.

3 Jean de La Fontaine. Les Fables de La Fontaine. 1668-1694. 4 Zachary Armstrong, Untitled (From Dinosaurs Paintings series), 2014, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 81 inches. 5 Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, 1955, Oil and pencil on pillow, quilt, and sheet on wood supports, 6’ 3 1/4” x 31 1/2” x 8”, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City. 6 Tracey Emin, My Bed, 1998, mattress, linens, pillows and objects, 31 x 83 x 92 1/8 inches, Private Collection.

For many of us, the bed is our place of birth, where life naturally begins. It cushions our fragile bodies as we develop the ability to talk, walk and think. It quickly becomes a place of magic and fantasy, with the tooth fairy’s visits, Santa’s unannounced drop ins, and the evils of the monster that lives under our bed. The first memories I have of my bed involve bedtime stories, mainly adventures and fables that eased my drift into slumber. It began with my mother reading me Les Fables de la Fontaine; it is a very strange feeling, the solace of being read to in bed, as though it was some sort of dream clairvoyance – opening our minds. Artists have time and again revisited the concepts of these childhood nostalgias, such as Zachary Armstrong, the emerging artist who paints replicas of his childhood dinosaur bed sheets. It is clear “the paintings contain a distinct whimsicality and exist within a realm of fantasy and youth.”2 His work invokes a desire to return to the infant feeling of protection and comfort, as well as the imaginative adventures of our unpolluted minds at that age. Entering the bedroom of a teenager is as though you are entering a confetti-like exploration of selfhood, woven with strange music and unidentifiable clothing items. For a teenager, the bed can become a place of protest and self-expression. It is perhaps at this stage in our lives that our bed plays the most important role in our physical and emotional evolution. It is a place of sexual discovery and deep introspection. In adolescence, a bed acts as a shelter, away from parents and pondering the journey of self-discovery. Rauschenberg confided that as a young man at university after he finished creating and painting one of his first Combines – Bed in 1955, his mother wanted to throw the sheets into the washing machine. This invasion of personal space and lack of understanding is a classic reference to the room in which a collection of objects begins to define the young adult. The symbol of the bed and its diversity of meanings have inspired many artists; the

bed that created most controversy was Tracey Emin’s My Bed in 1998, nominated for the 1999 Turner Prize. The messy and dirty bed installation acted as a confessional lieu, exposing who she was, her sexual activities, stripping herself down to her most vulnerable state. In adulthood, evidently the most significant and revealing change is sharing your bed with someone else. It becomes a place of communication, connection, and understanding. On the other hand, it explores the confiding fragility of relationships. John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged provocation with their iconic relationship in the 1969 Bed-In protest. To fight against the Vietnam war, and to promote peace, they held two week long Bed-Ins in which they lay in bed all day and invited press from around the world to come into their bedroom. The signs “HAIR PEACE” and “BED PEACE” floated on the window above their bed. They took the tranquil and warming experience that the bed gives us, and relocated its veins towards a political cause. By reorienting our experience of the bed, it catapulted a media frenzy, and fed power to the fight for peace. Furthermore, the bed and sexuality are inseparable. Its influence is inevitable, taking for example the work of Louise Bourgeois, who demystifies its true essence by revealing both innocence and eroticism. Her sculpture Seven in a Bed (2001), explores the contradictory experiences of the bed, “It is feminine and masculine, terrified and bold, soft and hard (…) [It] is where childhood innocence, fairytale and nursery rhyme are reexamined in the light of adult knowledge and experience.”3 The sculpture evokes the hidden feelings of humans, in which the bed is the recipient. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bed-in for Peace, 1969, performance (Amsterdam and Montreal).

8 Louise Bourgeois, Seven in a Bed, 2001, fabric, stainless steel, glass and wood, 68 x 33 1/2 x 34 1/2 inches, Private Collection. 9 Siri Hustvedt, “Louise Bourgeois: The Places that scare you.” The Guardian, 5 October 2007. <www. theguardian.com/books/2007/ oct/06/art>. 10 George Orwell. 1984. New York: Signet Classic, 1949.

Marchel Proust. Les Plaisirs et Les Jours. Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1896.

As age hinders our movement, the bed becomes a more apparent necessity, and an excuse. Churchill often wrote and worked in bed, which allowed him to escape and be free from his duties. As illness encapsulated George Orwell, he finished the last draft of 1984 in bed, by propping his typewriter on it. The bed is the only witness to our emotions, to our beliefs, to our habits, to our thoughts, to our dreams, and most often, to the start and finish of our lives. The bed is our release. “It is comforting when one has a sorrow to lie in the warmth of one’s bed and there, abandoning all effort and all resistance, to bury even one’s head under the cover, giving one’s self up to it completely, moaning like branches in the autumn wind. But there is still a better bed, full of divine odors. It is our sweet, our profound, our impenetrable friendship.” Marcel Proust, Les Plaisirs et les Jours, 1896.

Roya Sachs

Interview WITH THE ARTISTS

Tell us about your installation and work for Come To Bed!, how did the idea come about? Michelle Jaffé: I entered a room that had extraordinary resonance and I knew immediately I would make sound works there. Because it was far from home was, it was a year later that I returned to speak and record there. The work and idea came into being intuitively. A long gestation, it evolved out of my previous large complex sculpture and sound installation Wappen Field. That work is about many things, among them- the Collective unconscious, logos, branding and belonging, as well as armor, borders, boundary, psychic housing of body and mind, us and them, and the other. The new work was compelled to be the opposite – naked, vulnerable, exploring personal truths and how those, create the pathologies of society at large. During the recordings, I spoke extemporaneously, recording thoughts arising and emerging from my subconscious. At the beginning I did not understand the scope of the work. It was in its making and realization that I came to comprehend it. The sound works are called Neural: Cleave. Our most private selves unfold in bed: sleeping, dreaming, reading, sex. The drawings capture passages from favorite books, passages etched in my mind, jumping off the page. Deeply resonant, humanity witnessed in all its failings and promise. Marta Jovanović: When my first month long performance was over, it took me some time to “get out of the piece”. It was so intense that it became like a drug, all of a sudden, I wanted to be present night and day, every day, all month all year, for many years in one work. When the work lasts a long time, the performer becomes the work fully and absolutely, there is no more control over the work, it is the work that dictates the rules, the performer simply becomes the tool. When I read the synopsis for Come to Bed!, there was no doubt for me that I would be present in the bed, in the gallery, for the duration of the show. On the other hand, the relationship with my audience became very intimate in the two performances I recently did: Clairvoyant (New York) and Secret (Beirut). Both were about sharing deep feelings without a buffer, without any constraints. The bed is where one is the most vulnerable, I believe, on so many levels. Pillow talk is a post-coital conversation between two individuals, the moment of great intimacy beyond the physical one as it just happened; it is spiritual, mental

and emotional closeness. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: ... No Moreâ&#x20AC;Ś appropriates the most natural of all activities that occur in a bed, sleeping, in a metaphor that explores the tension that new technologies and virtual modes of communication have brought in the exercise of our human nature. Neither learnt through experience nor practiced consciously, the act of sleeping is an inherent physiological need require for survival, a time of physical and emotional recuperation. The bed is the locus of this intimate moment, the safe and private harbor where, sheltered from the sight of others, the sleeper can remove him/herself from any conscious living and social activity with complete confidence. New technologies have brought a new culture of hyper-connectivity and continuous overflow of information that come to challenge the intimacy of the bed and the act of sleep itself. Every night, the hashtags #breakingnight, #notsleepingatall and #vamping come to haunt social media feeds. How can we isolate ourselves from the world when a myriad of new ways to socialize directly from our phone bring the public space directly inside the privacy of our bed? How can we allow ourselves to sleep without becoming irrelevant to those who are awake? How can we balance our basic biological need and our Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)? ... No More... asks the audience by inviting them to lay on an austere prison-like bed covered by an oversized chandelier made of 35 dazzling fluorescent tubes. When looking up, the blinding lights form the word #SLEEP. A hashtag has come to predispose the five letters of the word SLEEP, challenging their authority this basic human need. Placed above the bed, #SLEEP becomes a quasi-divine order, but an order that can no longer be achieved. Where do you get most inspiration for your work? Michelle JaffĂŠ: Inspiration for my work principally comes from an interior monologue. It has always been thus. Invariably something emerges that is very hard for me to confront, look at, and deal with. Neural: Cleave (sound installation) and Neural: Soul Junk (video installation) are the most difficult works I have ever

made. They spring from such an intimate, empathic well. My work is driven from the inside out. Personal necessity is interwoven with conceptual, political and aesthetic intention. Marta Jovanović: People that I encounter, books that I read, my travels and my nomadic lifestyle. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: The way the creative process operates is so complex and I still have a hard time putting my finger on it. There will be a sound I hear one day when walking on the street that will (for some obscure reason) remind me of an interesting article I read a month ago online and maybe also a sign I see everyday in my local deli, an image that stroke me on a magazine last week, a poem I learned in school when you were a teenager and though I had forgotten everything about… and suddenly all these elements will come together and make absolute sense (at least for me) and from there, the new work will start taking form. Which position do you sleep in? Michelle Jaffé: On the side Marta Jovanović: On the side, spooning with my husband. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: My husband calls it the “mummy position”: on my back, body straight, totally still, a pillow on my head and the cover on top of it. Creepy, I know. Is your bed exclusively a place of rest? Or do you utilize it in other ways? If so, in what ways (i.e. eat/sleep/read/work.. etc.)? Michelle Jaffé: Sleeping, reading, sex obviously Marta Jovanović: I could do everything in bed. Eat, read, work, make love, talk on the phone, see people, and sleep. I do so whenever I can. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: When I was a kid, I hated sleeping but, paradoxically enough, loved staying in bed for hours – reading, chatting on the phone or just daydreaming. Not much has changed today, except that I am never alone in there

anymore… as there is always a screen (or two) not too far from it to keep me company. I wake up at 7am. Thirty seconds after I open my eyes, I am already on my cellphone checking emails; Ten minutes later, my laptop is open and I am starting my work day. I rarely leave my bed before 11am. A similar reversed routine applies at night. Describe your bed today…. Michelle Jaffé: Nice mattress, simple sleek frame, Good lamp, bedside table full of books which over flow to the floor in several layers/piles. Fairly masculine sheets & bed cover: An array of greys Marta Jovanović: I don’t have my bed today as I live between hotels and short term rented apartments between Europe and the US. Sometimes I stay in the same hotels, exactly because they have great beds and pillows, and comfortable, crisp cotton sheets that I like. My ideal bed, on the other hand, is the one set up for the performance. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: … Messy, unmade, crowded with stuff that has no reason for being on it. Describe your bed as a teenager… Michelle Jaffé: Utterly uninteresting: I inherited my brother’s bedroom furniture. Absolutely nothing about my bedroom was my choice. My bedroom was a very private space, as there was distance between my room, my parents & brother. My bedroom was always my private world. I had forgotten how MUCH time I spent in it, since I was a very young child. I have memories of this going back to age 5. It was clearly the space where I could be myself. Marta Jovanović: Messy. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: … Messy, unmade, crowded with stuff that has no reason for being on it. Not much has changed now, except that stuffed animals and pink sheets full of hearts and “my little pony” characters (sadly) had to go.

If you could listen to anyone’s thoughts, dead or alive, who would they be and why? Michelle Jaffé: Primo Levi for his extraordinary humanity, for his ability to express himself so Compellingly, so beautifully, so richly after such a profoundly horrible experience in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Noam Chomsky because he has a great mind: he dissects & decodes culture & politics so articulately. Marta Jovanović: It would definitely be Josip Broz - Tito, long time dictator of exYugoslavia, my home country. There is a thick veil of secrets around his persona, his background and history. Pillow talk would definitely be a great opportunity to find out some juicy political and diplomatic details that influenced not only the region, but the entire world. A conversation with him would make many things clear about the fall of Yugoslavia and the recent war. Tito was also a great dandy, immaculately dressed and groomed man at all times. His friends were Sofia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I am sure he would have many fun and sexy tales to share. If you were to tweet one last time, what would you say? Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Veni, vidi, vixi Flash Round: Deep sleeper or light sleeper? Michelle Jaffé: Deep Marta Jovanović: Deep Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Extra light Pajamas or no pajamas? Michelle Jaffé: Naked Marta Jovanović: Pajamas Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Information classified

Sheets or duvet? Michelle Jaffé: Duvet Marta Jovanović: Duvet even in the summer! Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Duvet Talker or listener? Michelle Jaffé: Talker, who does listen! Marta Jovanović: Depends. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Talker Dreams or nightmares? Michelle Jaffé: Dreams Marta Jovanović: Crazy dreams. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Dreams Sleep walking or sleep talking? Michelle Jaffé: Sleep Talking Marta Jovanović: None. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Sleep... eating Breakfast in bed or breakfast in the kitchen? Michelle Jaffé: Kitchen, running around as I get ready in morning. Marta Jovanović: Breakfast in bed! My ultimate favorite thing in the world! Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Rule #1: no food in bed... so by default, kitchen. Snoozer or early riser? Michelle Jaffé: Snoozer Marta Jovanović: Snoozer Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Early

Morning coffee or morning tea? Michelle Jaffé: TEA Marta Jovanović: Coffee Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Tea TV or book? Michelle Jaffé: Book Marta Jovanović: Book always! Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Phone... to read books or watch videos Fiction or non-fiction? Michelle Jaffé: Both, but favorite is fiction. Marta Jovanović: Depends Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Fiction Late night or early night? Michelle Jaffé: Late night. Marta Jovanović: Laaaaaaateeee. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Depends what you consider late. Cold room or warm room? Michelle Jaffé: Cold. Marta Jovanović: Very warm. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Cold. Daytime or nighttime? Michelle Jaffé: Night time Marta Jovanović: Night. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Daytime. So much more to do.

Unconscious or conscious? Michelle Jaffé: Unconscious Marta Jovanović: Unconscious Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: Conscious. Freud or Jung? Michelle Jaffé: JUNG Marta Jovanović: Freud. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos: My whole practice is based on finding, appropriating and transforming archetypes that are part of our collective unconscious so, of course, I will go for Jung.

INSTALLATION SHOTS

EXHIBITED WORKS

Michelle JaffĂŠ

CHILDLIKE 2015

mixed media on paper 8 ¼ x 6 ½ in

Conquest & Conquered 2015 mixed media on paper 8 ½ x 7¼ in

Contagion 2015

mixed media on paper 8 1/16 x 6 13/16 in

Flood 2015

mixed media on paper 9 x 8 Âź in

glacier 2015

mixed media on paper 8 â&#x2026;&#x153; x 8 Âź in

shame 2015

mixed media on paper 9 x 8 in

snow 2015

mixed media on paper 8 1/16 x 7 â&#x2026;&#x153; in

spent stars 2015

mixed media on paper 8 â&#x2026;&#x17E; x 8 in

stand on end 2015

mixed media on paper 8 Âź x 7 Âź in

neural: cleave - ink - come to bed / full installation 2015

vellum, Watercolor, Cold Rolled Paper 47 drawings amongst 8 Groupings of Drawings variable size

Neural Cleave: Like Alice 2015 stereo audio 9:50 min

Marta JovanoviÄ&#x2021;

Pillow Talk 2015

long durational performance (March 25 - April 25, 2015)