Artists Space

Fifth Season Act, Apotheosically
Jutta Koether

Performance
May 31, 2012, 7pm

Jutta Koether’s “fifth season act” at Artists Space Books & Talks is conceived of as a finale to a series of works that have recently circulated in various venues in New York, including Whitney Biennial 2012, the Reena Spaulings booth at Frieze New York, and Koether’s solo exhibition The Fifth Season at Bortolami.

A sculpture consisting of a large rectangular pane of glass, its bottom edge wedged into the center of a square block, is installed in a white-walled gallery space. A small canvas is attached to the center of the glass pane with its wooden backing facing the viewer. String and an orange, mesh-like object hang and drip from the canvas
Jutta Koether, The Seasons ("Summer," Seasons set #3, Reena Spaulings, Frieze New York), 2012. [A sculpture consisting of a large rectangular pane of glass, its bottom edge wedged into the center of a square block, is installed in a white-walled gallery space. A small canvas is attached to the center of the glass pane with its wooden backing facing the viewer. String and an orange, mesh-like object hang and drip from the canvas's lower edge. Three figures are visible behind the sculpture, talking in a small cluster.]

The works in this series are modeled after the seventeenth-century French classical artist Nicolas Poussin’s painting cycle The Four Seasons (1660–64), which are currently displayed in the Louvre, Paris. Koether’s “seasons” overlay this referent with clashing signifiers of contemporaneity, enacted through the medium of painting. In their simultaneous presence across different venues in New York, the works reference each other, but produce clear distinctions in accordance to the relationships (professional, personal, spatial, and socio-historical) implicit to their exhibition contexts.

Employing Artists Space’s 55 Walker Street location as a site for reading and re-reading the shuffling of “seasons” just past, the act is seen as a celebratory, carnival version of the Seasons cycle. Koether will produce a new painting for the act, reflecting on time, passing, expectations, inflations and desires surrounding participation in a multilayered New York art spring; as well as the subsequent exhaustion and disappearance of the body after these productions have taken place.

A sculpture composed of a large glass pane wedged into the center of a square concrete block sits in a gallery space. A painted canvas is installed in the pane, displaying a large number "5" on its surface, surrounded by peach and pink hues. Various ornaments are installed on the painting or drip from it, such as red string, golden tassles, necklaces, and other ornaments. A brown, dirt-like material is spread on the floor around the sculpture.
Fifth Season Act, Apotheosically. Performance documentation, May 31, 2012, Artists Space. [A sculpture composed of a large glass pane wedged into the center of a square concrete block sits in a gallery space. A painted canvas is installed in the pane, displaying a large number "5" on its surface, surrounded by peach and pink hues. Various ornaments are installed on the painting or drip from it, such as red string, golden tassles, necklaces, and other ornaments. A brown, dirt-like material is spread on the floor around the sculpture.]
Close up detail of a sculpture composed of a large glass pane with a painted canvas installed in the pane
Fifth Season Act, Apotheosically. Performance documentation, May 31, 2012, Artists Space. [Close up detail of a sculpture composed of a large glass pane with a painted canvas installed in the pane's center. The back of the canvas faces the viewer, and faint words are penciled onto its surface. A golden tassle and necklce cluster and hang around the canvas' edge.]
A figure in a white suit—the artist Jutta Koether—stands with her back to the viewer in front of a sculpture composed of a large glass pane with a painted canvas installed in the panel
Fifth Season Act, Apotheosically. Performance documentation, May 31, 2012, Artists Space. [A figure in a white suit—the artist Jutta Koether—stands with her back to the viewer in front of a sculpture composed of a large glass pane with a painted canvas installed in the panel's center. Her left hand gestures in the air and grasps a metal wand with a butterfly ornament as well as papers with handwritten text.]
A figure in a white suit crouches on the floor of a gallery space, speaking into a microphone held in one hand while reading from a series of papers stewn about her on the ground. The ground is unevenly covered in a grainy, brown dirt-like material. A flashlight rests on the ground at her feet, pointing towards and illuminating a sculpture composed of a large glass pane wedged into the center of a square concrete block. String, golden tassles, and other sparkling ornaments hang on the glass pane.
Fifth Season Act, Apotheosically. Performance documentation, May 31, 2012, Artists Space. [A figure in a white suit crouches on the floor of a gallery space, speaking into a microphone held in one hand while reading from a series of papers stewn about her on the ground. The ground is unevenly covered in a grainy, brown dirt-like material. A flashlight rests on the ground at her feet, pointing towards and illuminating a sculpture composed of a large glass pane wedged into the center of a square concrete block. String, golden tassles, and other sparkling ornaments hang on the glass pane.]
A crowd if people sit on wooden chairs in a large gallery space. The crowd forms a semi-circle around a portion of the gallery floor covered in a brown, dirt-like material. A woman in a white suit stands amonst the debris and speaks into a microphone in front of a sculpture composed of a large pane of glass.
Fifth Season Act, Apotheosically. Performance documentation, May 31, 2012, Artists Space. [A crowd if people sit on wooden chairs in a large gallery space. The crowd forms a semi-circle around a portion of the gallery floor covered in a brown, dirt-like material. A woman in a white suit stands amonst the debris and speaks into a microphone in front of a sculpture composed of a large pane of glass.]