When does interpretation become misinterpretation? When an artist writes ‘Some of this is untrue’ at the bottom of a text panel describing his work, perhaps?
That’s what the New York artist Darren Bader did at the Ralph Rugoff-curated Lyon Biennale, where he is exhibiting two works, one at mac LYON and another outside the museum in the Parc de la Tete.
Speaking to New York’s Hyperallergic site, Bader said: “The text was fun and silly in a non-native-speaking English sort of way. But it misrepresents both works it’s supposed to represent… I don’t know who first did it, but we were told to mark up the labels if we saw things that weren’t correct.”
He added: “There has been a lot of dissatisfaction. None of us were consulted on this. Not even the curator.”
Other artists, such as Berlin-based Johannes Kahrs, have been more expansive with their pens, rewriting sections of text and striking through words and sentences they don’t agree with. Photographs posted on Twitter by the Belgium collector Alain Servais reveal the full extent of Kahrs’ spidery additions.
There have also been more concise amendments – text for the Beijing artist Guan Xiao simply has the word ‘painstakingly’, used in relation to the process of sourcing images for her work, crossed out. Twice.
The 13th Lyon Biennale, which features work by 60 artists from 28 countries, continues until 3 January 2016.
More on a-n.co.uk:
“Interpretation should never tell us what to see, think or feel” – Simon Martin, director of Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, explains the organisation’s approach to accessible and informative text
