POVODOM IZLOBE MODEL MARTIN

KIPPENBERGER, UTOPIJA ZA SVAKOGA

MODEL MARTIN KIPPENBERGER, UTOPIA
FOR EVERYONE
kunsthaus, graz austrija austria
2007. 2008.
tekst written by ELJKO KIPKE

martin kippenberger

SLUAJ KIPPENBERGER
THE KIPPENBERGER
CASE
Zato je umjetnika strategija Martina Kippen

Why is the artistic strategy of Martin Kippenberger

bergera iz godine u godinu sve interesantnija

becoming more interesting to museums and galleries

muzejima i galerijama diljem svijeta? U oujku

throughout the world from year to year? The tenth

ove godine (2007.) navrilo se deset godina od

anniversary of his death was in March 2007, and

njegove smrti, a ostavtina njemakog umjetnika

the heritage of this German artist born in Dortmund

roenog u Dortmundu (1953.) ne prestaje izazivati

(1953) continues to pique the interest of the

zanimanje struke te istodobno raste broj njegovih

profession, while the number of his admirers visiting

poklonika meu posjetiteljima kulturnih institucija.

cultural institutions is simultaneously increasing. An

Inteligentni strateg koji za ivota nije uspio uvjeriti

intelligent strategist who never managed to convince

velike muzejske kue u svoju osobitost odjedanput

the major museums of his uniqueness during his

je u istim institucijama postao omiljena i poeljna

lifetime has suddenly become welcome and a

osoba. Je li moda u pitanju dobro poznata teza

favourite in these very same institutions. Is it perhaps

kako je mrtav umjetnik najpoeljniji umjetnik, pa

a case of that well-known say that a dead artist is

se njegova ostavtina doslovce moe razvlaiti na

the best artist, so that his legacy can literally be

sve mogue naine, a da pritom hiperproduktivna,

dredged out in every possible way, without additional

ponekad drska i vrlo zahtjevna osoba ne stvara

problems created by a hyper-productive, at times

Martin Kippenberger

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dodatne probleme? U svakom sluaju s mrtvim

even impertinent and very demanding person? In any

virtualne prie. Prva se odnosi na njegov privatni

virtual stories. The first refers to his private museum

umjetnikom lake se izlazi na kraj, pa je stoga i

case, it is easier to deal with a dead artist, and thus

muzej na grkom otoku Srosu, gdje je zaputeni

on the Greek island of Syros, where in 1993 he

razumljiv pokuaj intendanta Kunsthausa Petera

it is easier to understand the attempt of Kunsthaus

arhitektonski skelet nikad realizirane klaonice

proclaimed the dilapidated architectural skeleton

Pakescha da s timom strunjaka na gornjoj etai

manager Peter Pakesch to open a chapter on the

1993. godine proglasio novim muzejom te ga nazvao

of a never constructed abattoir a new museum, and

svoje institucije u Grazu, u vrijeme tajerske

subject of ethical and human values in Kippenbergers

MOMAS (Muzej moderne umjetnosti Sros) s jasnom

named it MOMAS (the Museum of Modern Art Syros)

jeseni, otvori poglavlje na temu etikih i humanih

works with a team of experts on the upper floor of his

aluzijom na newyorku instituciju. S tom razlikom

with a clear reference to the museum in New York.

vrednota u Kippenbergerovu radu. Dakako, takav

institution in Graz during the Styrian Autumn. Such a

to Kippenbergerova akvizicija nije skupljala ni

The difference was that Kippenbergers acquisition

posao nije bio nimalo lak s obzirom na opepoznatu

job was not at all easy, regarding the generally known

producirala umjetnine. Naime, njezina glavna

did not collect or produce art works. Its primary

egocentrinost i snanu samopromotorsku crtu

egocentricity and strong self-promotional trait of the

aktivnost svodila se na tiskanje pozivnica diljem

activity was printing invitations distributed all over

umjetnikova karaktera.

artists character.

svijeta distribuirala ih je umjetnikova galerija u Klnu

the world by the artists gallery in Cologne. It also

Model Kippenberger. Utopija za svakoga, kako,

Model Martin Kippenberger: Utopia for Everyone,

no obuhvaala je i druenja na licu mjesta u uskom

included meetings on the spot among a narrow circle

naime, glasi naziv izlobe, pokuaj je uravnoteenja

as the exhibitions title suggests, is an attempt to

krugu poznanika i istomiljenika te ive umjetnike

of acquaintances and like-minded individuals, and live

jedne dramatine umjetnike sudbine nepredvidljive

balance a dramatic artistic destiny unpredictable

projekte koji su se uglavnom bavili zateenom

artistic projects which mostly dealt with the geography

i uvijek drugaije, pri emu je odsustvo stila bila

and always different. A lack of style was a constant in

geografijom i objektima u blizini sablasne graevine

and facilities near the eerie building with neither

njezina konstanta zbog ega svakoj buduoj prii o

all that, and that is why each subsequent story on a

bez zidova i prozora. Skelet MOMAS-a, visoko iznad

walls nor windows. The MOMAS skeleton, situated

modelu treba pristupiti s krajnjim oprezom. Oni koji

model should be taken with a generous pinch of salt.

mora na stjenovitom zemljitu cikladskog otoka,

high above the sea on the rocky terrain of a Cycladic

su za ivota dobro znali njemakog umjetnika bi se,

I believe that those who knew the German artist well

neodoljivo je podsjeao na atensku Akropolu.

island, irresistibly recalled the Acropolis in Athens.

vjerujem, sloili oko toga da izloba u Grazu ne bi

during this lifetime would agree that the exhibition in

Strateki je, nema sumnje, slijedio Broodthaersov

No doubt, strategically it followed Broodthaerss

zadovoljila njegov umjetniki apetit. No, s obzirom

Graz would not satisfy his artistic appetite. However,

Muzej orlova, uz vanu distinkciju - fiktivna institucija

Museum of Eagles, with an important distinction: a

na to da u budunosti nitko od kustosa i direktora

since no curator or manager expects new surprises

gotovo da nije prekoraila granice virtualnog.

fictitious institution almost did not cross the borders

ne oekuje nova iznenaenja od strane umjetnika,

by the artist in the future, it is quite natural that new

U njoj nije bilo mjesta za zbirku reprodukcija ni

of the virtual. There was no room in it for a collection

posve je prirodno da se novi zaini smiljaju tamo

spices are created where it is common today

nomadsku kolekciju koja bi mijenjala lokacije kao

of reproductions or a nomadic collection which would

gdje je to danas uobiajeno meu voditeljima

among managers of exhibition halls and their close

to je bio sluaj s Broodthaersovim antimuzejom

change locations as was the case with Broodthaerss

izlagakih kua i njihovim bliskim suradnicima.

associates.

dva desetljea ranije. Muzej na Srosu imao je fiksnu

anti-museum two decades earlier. The museum on

Na izlobi u Grazu teite je stavljeno na Kippen

The Graz exhibition emphasizes Kippenbergers

lokaciju, na periferiji umjetnikih zbivanja, a prema

Syros had a fixed location, at the periphery of artistic

bergerov graditeljski posao, prije svega na zaudne

construction work, primarily on remarkable objects,

rijeima jednog od sudionika otokih druenja i

events. According to Ulrich Strothjohann, one of

objekte, instalacije i nekoliko platna koja prikazuju

installations and several canvases that represent

ujedno umjetnikova asistenta Ulricha Strothjohanna,

the participants in the islands meetings, and the

neobine arhitektonske tvorevine, ukljuivi i dvije

extraordinary architectural creations, including two

nastao je kao Kippenbergerova reakcija na postojee

artists assistant at the same time, it was created

Dragi slikaru, nas

likaj mi, 1981./
Dear Painter, Paint
for Me, 1981
Muzej moderne
umjetnosti Sros
(MOMAS) / Museum of Modern Art
Syros (MOMAS)

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muzeje, na njihovu strategiju te, izmeu ostalog,

as Kippenbergers response to existing museums,

jer je u percepciji njihovih ravnatelja i posjetitelja

their strategy and, among other reasons, because

smatran autsajderom. Prirodno je da hiperaktivni

he was considered an outsider in the perception of

umjetnik, kakav je bio Kippenberger, nema vremena

their managers and visitors. It was natural that a

ekati na pozornost vodeih izlagakih kua. On e

hyperactive artist, as Kippenberger was, did not have

svoju logistiku graditi zaobilaznim putem, vrlo esto

time to wait for the attention of the leading exhibition

na mjestima bez muzejskog ili galerijskog pedigrea.

galleries. He would construct his logic in a detoured

Svoje loe postavljao je u poznatim lokalima i

way, very often at places without a museum or gallery

restoranima u Berlinu, Beu, Parizu, Klnu i Grazu,

pedigree. He situated his lodges in well-known bars

zbog ega je teko bilo slijediti logiku njegovih

and restaurants in Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Cologne and

umjetnikih poteza i preokupacija. Nepredvidljivim

Graz, thus making the logic of his artistic moves and

postupcima, u rasponu od angairanja asistenata

preoccupations hard to follow. With unpredictable

koji bi slikali po njegovoj narudbi do pozicije kustosa

procedures, ranging from the engagement of the

koji je radove kolega koristio za vlastite projekte,

assistants whom he would commission to paint

opirao se sustavu koji je umjetnike dijelio u dvije

to the position of a curator whereby he would use

kategorije u one s povlasticama, ukljuene u

his colleagues works for his own projects, he

sustav i one bez tih povlastica, meu kojima je vidio

resisted the system which divided artists into two

i sebe. S druge strane, nisu svi muzeji poetkom

categories, those with privileges and incorporated

90-ih godina 20. stoljea gajili sline predrasude. U

into the system, and those without privileges, himself

jednom od njih, rotterdamskom (Musem Boijmans-

included. On the other hand, not all museums at the

Van Beuningen), bio je u prigodi 1994. postaviti vrlo

beginning of the 1990s had the same prejudices. In

zahtjevnu instalaciju pod nazivom Sretni zavretak

one of them, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in

Franz Kafkine Amerike. Zanimljivo je kako su

Rotterdam, he had the opportunity in 1994 to exhibit

osobni Kippenbergerovi znanci rotterdamsku

a very demanding installation entitled The Happy

instalaciju opisali kao dosadnu i brbljavu, dok se

End of Franz Kafkas Amerika. It is interesting that

povjesniari umjetnosti i kustosi uglavnom slau

Kippenbergers personal acquaintances described

kako je rije o izuzetnom projektu. No bez obzira

the Rotterdam installation as dull and chatty, while

na to, silna koliina razliitih sjedalica i stolova

art historians and curators mostly agree that it was

araniranih u formacije tipinoj za intervjue, dakako

an exceptional project. Regardless of everything,

Paris Bar, Berlin, 1993.

/ Paris Bar Berlin, 1993

bez ivih sudionika, u drugom je planu, iza galerijske

the exhibition consisted of numerous different

prie o Kafkinu nedovrenu romanu, bila je, zapravo,

chairs and tables arranged in a manner typical of

aluzija na intervjue koje umjetnici moraju voditi

interviews, but of course without live participants,

s ravnateljima muzeja prije dobivanja propusnice

formed the background to the galler y stor y of

u povlateno drut vo ili njenog uskraivanja. U

Kafkas uncompleted novel. Thus, it was actually an

Sretni zavretak Kaf

kine Amerike, 1994.,
instalacija, Museum
Boymans-Van Beunin
gen, Rotterdam / The
Happy End of Franz
Kafkas Amerika, 1994
installation, Museum
Boymans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Grazu je instalacija na temu

allusion to the interviews which

Kafkina romana predstavljena

ar tists had to undergo with

skromno i dekorativno s dvije

museum directors before being

istovjetne plastine sjedalice i

admitted to or barred from

jednim stolom.

the privileged society. In Graz,

Druga virtualna pria tie se

the installation on the theme

postavljanja globalne mree

of Kafkas novel was presented

za njegov privatni metro, a cik

modestly and decoratively, with

ladski je otok predstavljao prvu

two identical plastic chairs and

kariku u tom lancu. Na imanju

one table.

svog prijatelja izgradio je prvi

The second vir tual stor y

ulaz u podzemlje koji nikamo

concerns his establishment of

ne vodi. Michel Wrthle, vlasnik

a global network for his private

imanja, sjea se da je radnicima

metro. The Cycladic island was

davao naputke za gradnju

the first link in the chain. He

stepenica u spremite za vodu

built the first entrance to the

kako ne bi morao objanjavati

underground railway, which

pravu svrhu radova i slabiti im

leads nowhere, at a friends

motivaciju. Kasnije e se u Kanadi od drva graditi

drugi ulaz bit e to u Dawson Cityju, takoer 1993.
godine. Posve je jasno da metro nije vodio nikamo, a
sastojao se od ulaza i ujedno izlaza te ventilacijskih
ahtova, meu kojima se naao i onaj filmski iz
Sedam godina vjernosti, nad kojim se digla plisirana
suknja Marilyn Monroe. Ulazi i ahtovi pojavit e se
jo na kasselskoj Documenti X, parku skulptura
u Mnsteru 1997. te posthumno u Njemakom
paviljonu u Giardinima, u sklopu Venecijanskog
bijenala 2003. godine
U stratekom smislu njemaki se umjetnik nije libio
upotrijebiti manje ili vie banalne vizualne obrazce
bez obzira na to jesu li spadali u red opeprihvaenih
ili potpuno nepoznatih. Originalnost koritenih
slika ili objekata svakako ga nije muila, to je vrlo
rano pokazao kada je krajem 70-ih od majstora za
oslikavanje reklamnih panoa naruio deset velikih
slika te ih kasnije izlagao pod nazivom Dragi slikaru,
naslikaj mi. Prije etiri godine europskim sreditima
Parizom, Beom, Frankfurtom kruila je izloba
aktualnog slikarstva istoimenog naziva. Dakle,
dvadesetak godina poslije Kippenbergerova drskog
poteza tri su kustosice (Alison M. Gingeras, Sabine
Folie i Blaenka Perica) isti koristile kao lajtmotiv
slikarske prakse na poetku novog tisuljea.
tovie, za potrebe izlobe Trijumf slikarstva u
Saatchijevoj galeriji prije dvije godine iskovan je
novi termin Kippenbergijana. Njime se nastojala
objasniti privlanost otvorene i nepredvidljive
umjetnike prakse meu nadolazeim naratajima
europskih i amerikih umjetnika. tovie, sam je
umjetnik za ivota vrsto vjerovao i ponavljao da
njegovo vrijeme tek dolazi.
Dakle, u tom pogledu simptomatina je bila globalna
mrea privatnog metroa koja je, zapravo, odraavala
njegovu umjetniku tatinu. Ventilacijske reetke
i ulazi, jedan drugaiji od drugoga, odraavali su
njegove krajnje razliite i na prvi pogled nepovezane
umjetnike istupe. No, kao to su svi ulazi u metro bili
slijepi, u skladu s motom tajne loe Lord Jim koju je
METRO-Net pokretni
ulaz u podzemnu
eljeznicu, Documen
ta X, Kassel, 1997./
METRO-Net Transportable Subway Entrance,
Documenta X, Kassel,
1997

Ulaz u METRO-Net,
podzemnu eljeznicu
u Srosu, Gr~ka / The
METRO-Net subway entrance in Syros, Greece
Pokretni ulaz u po
dzemnu eljeznicu,
Mnster, 1997. /
Transportable Subway
Entrance, Mnster,
1997
Marilyn Monroe, scena
iz filma Sedam godina
vjernosti, 1955. /
Marilyn Monroe, Scene
from The Seven Year
Itch, 1955

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osnovao zajedno s kolegama i suradnicima i koja je

glasila: Nitko ne pomae nikome tako su i projekti
predstavljali zatvorene sustave ili slijepe ulice. Oni
su, jednako ulazima i reetkama fiktivnog metroa, bili
povezani nevidljivim kanalima, odnosno energetski,
te su na zaudan nain bili usmjereni jedni na druge.
Zbog toga je umjetnik na uenje kustosa objekte
iz jednog programa nonalantno koristio za drugi i
pritom im mijenjao znaenje i kontekst. Zbog toga je
opet na uenje kustosa s lakoom svakodnevicu
preobraavao u umjetniki kontekst izjavljujui
usput: Ja sam ja i ja sam mnotvo ljudi. Zbog toga
je mimo ustaljenih pravila izlagake prakse ve
krajem 80-ih slagao temelje budue metro mree

estate. Michel Wrthle, the owner, remembers that

he gave instructions to workers to build stairs into
the water tank, so that he would not have to explain
the real purpose of the works and diminish their
motivation. The second entrance, made of wood, was
later built in Dawson City, Canada, also in 1993. It is
quite clear that the subway did not lead anywhere,
and it consisted of the entrance, which was also
the exit, and ventilation manholes, including the
one from the film The Seven Year Itch, above which
Marilyn Monroes pleated skirt flew up. Entrances and
manholes would also appear at the Documenta (No X)
in Kassel, a sculpture park in Mnster in 1997, and
posthumously in the German Pavilion at the Giardini,
as part of the Venice Biennale in 2003.
In the strategic sense, the German artist did not
hesitate to use more or less trivial visual patterns, no
matter whether they were part of the commonplace
or the completely unknown. The originality of used
images or objects certainly did not bother him, which
he demonstrated very early on when, by the end of
the 1970s, he commissioned ten large paintings
from painters of large billboards and exhibited them
later under the name Dear Painter, Paint for Me.
An exhibition of the actual painting of the same
name circulated in European centres Paris, Vienna,
Frankfurt four years ago. Thus, about twenty years
after Kippenbergers impertinent move, three curators
(Alison M. Gingeras, Sabine Folie and Blaenka Perica)
used the same move as the leitmotif of painting

practices at the beginning of the new millennium.

The Modern House

of Believing or Not,
1985. / The Modern
House of Believing or
Not, 1985

Furthermore, for the needs of the exhibition The

Triumph of Painting in the Saatchi Gallery two years
ago, a new term was coined Kippenbergiana. It
was used to explain the attractiveness of open and
unpredictable artistic practice among the coming
generations of European and American artists. During
his lifetime, the artist himself firmly believed and
repeated that his time was yet to come.

Studentski dom
u Riadu, 1985. /
Studentenwohnheim
in Riad, 1985
Pogled na izlobu,
Kunsthaus, Graz,
2007. / Exhibition
view, Kunsthaus,
Graz, 2007

bi svoje realno uporite. To vie to je djelovanje

which it is connected by invisible threads. In this

njemakog umjetnika svojedobno bilo povezano s

way, the key words from the exhibitions title, the

Grazom. Rije je o Forum Stadparku, gdje je 1987. u

model and utopia for everyone would secure their

okviru tadanje tajerske jeseni organizirao skupnu

real foothold. All the more so because the activities

izlobu razliitih autorskih usmjerenja pod nazivom

of this German artist were once related to Graz. It

Broken Neon. Naavi se u ulozi kustosa, vjeto

was in the Forum Stadpark in 1987 where, as part of

ju je preobrazio u svoj umjetniki projekt i ve tada

a that years Styrian Autumn, he organized a group

je, posve konkretno, pokazao kako djeluje ta veza

exhibition of various authorial orientations entitled

izmeu njega i mnotva ljudi u njemu.

Broken Neon. Finding himself in the role of a curator,

In this respect, a global private subway network was

he skilfully turned it into his own artistic project, and

symptomatic, which actually reflected his artistic

already then, quite concretely, he showed how the link

vanity. Ventilation bars and entrances, each different

between himself and the lots of people in him works.

from the other, reflected his utterly different and

at first sight unconnected artistic performances.
However, just as all of the subway entrances were
dead-ends, in line with the motto of his secret Lord
Jim Lodge, which he founded together with colleagues
and associates: Nobody helps anybody, thus his
projects also represented closed systems or blind
allies. They were connected, in the same manner
as the entrances and bars of the fictitious subway,
by invisible channels, or energetically, and were
directed towards each other in an astonishing way.
That is why the artist, to the amazement of curators,
nonchalantly used the objects from one programme
for another, changing their meaning and context. That
is why, again to the amazement of curators, he turned
everyday life into the artistic context with ease, stating
offhandedly: Im me and Im lots of people. That

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kada je lokale, od Cafa Alt Wien u Beu do Paris

is why, contrary to the established rules of exhibition

Bara u Berlinu, ukljuujui i naputenu benzinsku

practice, he arranged the foundations of a future

crpku u Brazilu koju je kupio i nazvao po Martinu

metro by the end of the 1980s, when he turned bars,

Bormanu, pretvarao u poprita umjetnikih zbivanja.

from the Caf Alt Wien in Vienna to the Paris Bar

Organizatori izlobe u Grazu su slijedom iste logike

in Berlin, including a deserted gas station in Brazil

bili na dobrom putu kada su umjetnikovu ostavtinu

which he bought and named after Martin Bormann,

stisnuli na gornju etau, no propustili su izmijeati

into venues for artistic events. The Graz exhibitions

njezin sadraj na provokativan i duhovit nain, kako

organizers, following the same logic, were on the

bi vrlo vjerojatno to uinio sam Kippenberger da je

right track when they squeezed the artists heritage

kojim sluajem iv. Kada je ve na Kunsthausovu

on the upper floor, but they missed mixing its content

prateem letku nekoliko puta istaknuta sintagma

in a provocative and humorous way, as Kippenberger

Ja sam ja i ja sam mnotvo ljudi, prava je teta

himself probably would have done if he were alive.

to u skladu s tim nije radikaliziran postav same

Since the Kunsthaus leaflet stresses the phrase Im

izlobe. U okolnostima kippenbergerovskog metea

me and Im lots of people, it is truly a pity that the

taj bi moto meu izlocima glasio otprilike ovako:

exhibitions display was not radicalized in this regard.

svaki je objekt specifian po sebi, no istodobno se

Under the circumstances of a Kippebergerian chaos,

u njemu odraavaju svi drugi s kojima je povezan

the theme running through all of the exhibits would

nevidljivim nitima. U tom sluaju kljune rijei iz

go something like this: every object is specific unto

naslova izlobe model te utopija za svakog imale

itself, but at the same time it reflects all others with

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