Modern Painters

FROM TOP: GARY SIMMONS AND ANTHONY MEIER FINE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO; BETTINA POUSTTCHI AND BUCHMANN GALERIE, BERLINBLOUINARTINFO.COM JUNE/JULY 2016MODERN PAINTERS 31Bettina Pousttchi in D.C.ABOUT TIMEDOUBLE VISION``````IT WAS INWashington, D.C., at theInternational Meridian Conference of 1884that a single prime meridian wasdesignated, along with the adoption of auniversal day, synchronized worldwide. It’sapt, then, that the city’s HirshhornMuseumZLOOEHWKHÀUVWWRVKRZ*HUPDQIranian artist Bettina Pousttchi’scompleted “World Time Clock” series—24photographs of public clocks taken in eachRIWKHVHWLPH]RQHVDWH[DFWO\ÀYHPLQXWHVbefore two. Of the images, the artist says,́WKHVSHFLÀFWLPHKDVQRV\PEROLFPHDQLQJbut it is important that they all show thesame time and therefore create togetheran imaginary synchronism, a manifesto ofa global now.” At the Phillips Collection,from June 9 through October 2, anotherseries of work—twisted, illuminatedsculptures made from street barricadesand crowd barriers, and dually dedicatedto Dan Flavin and Vladimir Tatlin—engages with D.C.’s status as a town almostconstantly overrun with unwieldy groupsof people, from tourists to protesters.—JULIET HELMKE``````TB::KHQGLG\RXÀUVWXVHWKHGDUN,QWHUQHWDVDWRRO"FM: In ’94.TB: &RROFM: No, that’s a joke. It was not called theGDUN Internet, it was called the Internet.EM: Today’s dark Internet very much resemblesthe Internet of the 1990s, when it felt like amuch wider place than it is now. That’s whenwe started doing art online.FM: It’s like going home.TB: 2YHUDOOKRZKDYHWKHFKDQJHVWRWKH,QWHUQHWRYHUWKHWZRSOXVGHFDGHV\RX·YHEHHQZRUNLQJDIIHFWHG\RXUSUDFWLFH"FM: There was a lot of idealism connected tothe Internet in the ’90s, even, I would say,XWRSLDQLVPWKDWZH·GÀQDOO\IRXQGWKHtechnology that was centralized and free andopen sourced, that would bring aboutdemocracy, if not anarchy, on planet Earth.You could share information with the rest ofthe world for free in real time without anycopy restrictions, without any monetaryinterchange. Of course, we’ve realized that it’snot that simple.EM: We were young kids trying to make things.:HERWKFRPHIURPYHU\QDUURZPLQGHGprovincial, small places, so the Internet seemedlike a place where you could get to a wideraudience than you could normally if you weretrying to show your work in a gallery. Youcould bypass traditional institutions and get incontact with audiences directly. It was reallyinspiring, in a way.FM: And it’s gone.TB: +RZGRHV\RXUZRUNUHDGLQDJDOOHU\DVRSSRVHGWRRQOLQH"FM: On the Internet you have absolutely nocontrol over the context, whereas the artworld is almost the opposite. The whitecube acts as a frame that tells you, “Be careful,this is art.” Whereas on the Internet youstumble upon a video or an image completelyrandomly. Another difference is that the artworld is very respectful. However stupid thething you do is, it’s unlikely that people willactually WHOO you. On the Internet it’s the otherway around.TB: +RZGR\RXUHODWHWRWKHLPSOLFLWSROLWLFVLQ\RXUZRUN"FM: Well, we’ve always been more interestedin the psychological layer than the politicallayer of what we work with. Maybe we’re moreinterested in people than structures, systems,the government.EM: I love the work of artists like Laura Poitrasand Simon Denny. Somehow I feel like we’relooking at the same thing, but from anotherpoint of view, like from a lower point of view,that of the workers.FM: You could say that, instead of dealingwith The Man, we’re dealing with a lot of littlemen and women. We’re kind of not ready toface The Man. MP``````QUOTEDStreet posterswere and are an analogform of communicationused to alert the publicto an event or a concert.They recall a timewhen fanzines and DIYsubculture shapedthe way we got to knownew music. For thisshow, I use posters as acolor palette or a type of paint—ripping andtearing them, layering them, as I would with thetraditional painted surface of a canvas.—Gary Simmons on his exhibition opening June 7 at Anthony Meier Fine Arts in San Francisco,for which he’ll repurpose show flyers by the likes of Youssou N’Dour and the Butthole Surfers.‘‘‘‘Gary SimmonsYou Spin Me Right Round,2015. Mixed mediaon panel, 48 x 48 in.Bettina PousttchiDouble Monumentfor Flavin andTatlin XIV, 2014.Powder-coatedcrowd barriersand neon,9½ x 5 x 3 ft.