MAMCO
Cologne based artist Cosima Von Bonin at The Mu-
displays askes questions rather than supply con-
seum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAM-
clusions. The objects she creates almost can be
CO), Geneva, created a fantastic series of installa-
thought of as actors and are shown more as scenes
tions. The work took up an entire floor of MAMCO
rather than something stagnate. This setup makes
and consisted of objects ranging from neon, large
you second guess the role of object in your life, for
fabric embroideries, found objects, video, pho-
example what is being said when you are shown
tography, and sound. What made all of her work an enormous stuffed animal lazily slouching next so successful in this exhibition was her apparent
to an elevated rundown shack while ambiguous
lack of mediation; this ability allows her to have a club music plays during this scene. The emotion strong control over displaying no control.
that this creates for one could be something to-
This large showcase of work created a strong con-
tally unfelt before and yet very familiar in nature,
versation of conflating ideas such as familiarity,
something very close to that of the uncanny. By
unfamiliarity, and identity through means of the
utilizing and understanding highly familiar forms
everyday and banal. This is what made the instal-
Cosima is able to create extremely unique object
lations so interesting; Cosimo identifies complex
relationships that can produce a strong effect of
ideas in a way that could be recognized by many.
nostalgia, humor, and confusion, which is very ex-
However this could never lead to a conclusion on
citing for the viewer to experience.
any of her work; the sculptures and situations she
Robert Filliou Eins. Un. One..., 1984
Siah Armajani Scheerbart Parlour, 2007
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary art in Geneva was by far the most interesting museum we visited. The space was set up so each of the artists exhibiting could have their own floor. The artists that were currently up when we were visiting were Cosima von Bonin, Nina Childress, Mai-Thu Perret, Markus Raetz, and a collection of objects called Europunk.The Cosima von Bonin floor was mindboggling. . The title of the exhibit was “Cosima von Bonin’s Zermatt ! Zermatt ! Z...ermattet !” Rooms divided the space but each room was more exciting than the next. Her sculptures were all plush cartoon like figures and there was a heavy neon element along with a sound element. One room had a rotating platform with her sculptures on it. She had a lot of hanging plush sculptures, as well, and hanging fabric quilts she had made. If I were to categorize her work I would say it was an exploration of fibers and material studies correlating around the theme of “raves” which was apparent through the sound structures playing techno music and the bright colors of all of her works.
MAMCO was unique to any other museum I’ve been to. Each floor had a specific curated theme. Right next to the elevator, there was a clock ticking backwards, which made me feel like going into another world. The very top floor had optical illusion works that were scientifically researched. It was easy to read what each piece was trying to communicate, possibly too didactically. Every work guided my perception and gave humor to each end. It was like figuring out a puzzle that provides an answer if you move just a little bit around the work. The excitement of this museum did not end at this floor; as I walked downstairs, there was a floor of minimalistic sculptures and paintings. Another floor had text, videos, and animation depicting political statements from the London punk era. Furthermore, there was a floor exhibiting fiber art. Lastly, pieces with the theme of horror, all while the clock ticked away. MAMCO continuously intrigued my feet and mind, “What will the next encounter behold?”. I felt like the museum showed almost every form of art, but curated the pieces in a way as to interact with its spectators. It used most of the provided space uniquely, fusing the content and aesthetic to its surroundings. Not only were each artist’s works creative, but each seemed to resemble the name of MAMCO: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Overall, the museum successfully set a mood for its audience to physically and mentally interact with each piece encountered.
The Nina Childress exhibit was not as exciting, however. Her works, “L’Effet Sissi” were bizarre paintings in each room, displayed erratically on the walls. The only paintings I did like of hers was the series of a woman either being molested by a swan or having sex with it on her own accord. Mai-Thu Perret’s works were called “Spectra.” None of the works displayed were alike, some were sculptures, paintings, light installations, and readymade objects. However, nothing really caught my eye although I did appreciate the use of neon light. Markus Raetz’s sculptures in “Croisement” were particularly wonderful. They were all optical illusions, which was something I had never even thought of before! Unlike the other rooms, the floor on which his work was displayed was all painted white, which was perfect because if it had been any other color I would have gotten too distracted to even notice the fact that these sculptures were not all that meets the eye. He had one iron sculpture that when you look at it from one side it
says “oui” and when you look at it from the other side it said “non” which I just loved. There was a man who was working at the gallery who was kind enough to show me each of the double sided sculptures which was a nice treat as opposed to the majority of security officers in galleries who merely sit there. There were a few mechanical sculptures too that were interesting, like one that looked like two rotating objects but when you looked between them it resembled a female figure walking. His works were truly one of a kind. However, my favorite exhibit in the museum was the Europunk exhibit. The curators had collected various “punk” ephemera from the late seventies to late nineties. There were framed Buzzcocks posters and tacked up Crass posters on the walls and various original punk zines on display. I liked this exhibit a lot because when I was younger I was obsessed with early European punk and I had recognized many of the zines and patches and posters, which was exciting because I had only ever seen scanned versions of them on the internet. They had a lot of objects from the anarcho-punk movement too which was interesting (they had a poster on display that I have in my room, funnily enough). My favorite part of this exhibit was the two shirts they had on display that were “genuine punk” shirts that made me laugh. As much as I liked the fact that I could see all these things in person that I had only seen photos of, I had a small problem with the fact that these objects were on display as “art objects” because the core purpose of the punk movement was basically to say “fuck you” to almost everything (art, politics, parents, etc) so it was truly funny for me to see these things on a formal display. That didn’t stop me from purchasing the book, though.
Our visit to MAMCO in Geneva may have been the most pleasant and surprising stop we made in all of Switzerland. By the time we reached its doors we had attended dozens of exhibitions and had seen pieces likely numbering into the tens of thousands. The work was fresh and engaging, in a way that perhaps only the whole of Basel could compete with. At a point when I didn’t think I could handle another show, I found myself thoroughly intrigued. The Punk exhibition was novel, the collection of prints impressive. The illusion works by Markus Raetz, though a bit lacking in conceptual depth, were very well executed. As I walked through his collection I found myself being followed and encouraged by one of the institution’s security guards. He was passionate for the work and wanted to ensure I didn’t miss any of Raetz’s tricks. This man’s excitement was contagious, and aided in replenishing my weary observational soul.
The remaining floors of the building housed a plethora of colorful contemporary installations and paintings. Aggressive, loud works by Franz Gertz and Nina Childress took the traditional sense of beauty and turned up the contrast, producing a questionable and slightly disturbing space for the viewer. The contributions from Galerie Daniel Buchholz, heavily influenced by the world of cartoons both in palette and allegory, were narrative and encompassing, yet clean and clear. Space played a thematic role through the lower floors. Whether in the way of restriction as exampled in Christo’s “Corridor Store Front,” or the alcoves created by Royden Rabinowitch’s, “Plateau de sculptures.” Several conceptions of the home were present in the Buchholz work, also explored in Sarkis’ “Apres l’hotel.” Even the sensory chaos of Frances Scholz’s “Starlite” installation pushed the comfort bubble of our perception.
Overall I was impressed across the board with MAMCO’s ability to have a true variety of content, without loosing a sense of quality and consistency. From punk, to illusion, to contemporary, this playful yet intelligent space held more power than its relatively small size and odd back-alley entrance would have indicated. The curators of this space should be pleased with their efforts; I certainly was. (Devon)
Maurizio Nannucci Light, 1994