 | Andrea Fraser (USA)
You Are Here
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You Are Here, 2010
Maps at the sites of the works in the exhibition
Large map: sign board at Tummelplatz 9 smaller maps: sign boards at the exhibition sites All maps published in the exhibition guide available for free at the “dummy salesman” at all exhibition sites and at various locations in Graz.
Combining sociological research with techniques of urban mapping and information design, “You Are Here” consists of nine graphic representations of “Utopia and Monument II” project sites, presented on sign boards at each of the exhibition’s locations throughout the city. A tenth map providing an overview of the project can be found at the exhibition pavilion at Tummelplatz. All ten of these maps are also reproduced in the exhibition guide.
Taking the form of public maps, which typically mark the viewer’s location with a symbol indicating “you are here.” “You Are Here” attempts to represent the viewer’s location, not in the space of the city as a built environment, but in the networks of social and institutional relationships that visitors enter as they intentionally or unintentionally encounter art works in public space. “You Are Here” interprets and represents aspects of these relationships as they are suggested by the urban sites, the art works, and the biographies of the artists.
Using available data as well as data generated by research specifically for the project by collaborating sociologists, “You Are Here” reflects on “Utopia and Monument II”-exhibition sites a places of encounter of social agents and institutions as well as of cultural phenomenon. Like most public art, viewers of “Utopia and Monument II”-projects include people who just happen upon the art works while using the city as well as those who intentionally seek them out. Unintentional viewers may thus find themselves entering into relations specific to the art field, such as competitive struggles among artists. Intentional viewers may be led to unfamiliar areas of the city, and thus find themselves entering into sites of urban struggles. All viewers will find themselves addressed not only by the artists, but also by the exhibition’s private and public patrons, who attempt to reach new customers and constituents through the activities they sponsor. Project sites may thus become implicit fields of political conflict and market competition. As an exhibition featuring artists from four continents, viewers of projects of “Utopia and Monument II” will also find themselves entering into global networks that extend far beyond the project sites.
The leitmotif of steirischer herbst 2010, “Masters, Tricksters, Bricoleurs: Virtuosity as a Strategy for Art and Survival,“ specifies that virtuosity “does not necessarily manifest itself as mastery.” Rather, virtuosity can be “rendered democratic and thus becomes the art of collaboration, interaction, creative combination of discourses and contexts.” For “Utopia and Monument II,” therefore, it is appropriate that “You Are Here” does not have a single author, but was rather the product of collaboration between artists, designers, and researchers, each with their own areas of expertise and each giving over a degree of mastery to the others. In addition to the collaborators credited above, Reinhard Braun, Sabine Breitwieser, Maximilian Lechler and Annika Strassmair all played central roles in the development of the project. I am grateful to everyone who contributed to “You Are Here” for the hard work that made it possible.
“You Are Here” was inspired by a proposal originally conceived in 2000 for “Arte Cidade,” a program of urban interventions in São Paulo, Brazil. The 2000 proposal, which was never realized, was initially adapted for “Utopia and Monument II” and then further transformed in the process of production by the specific conditions of the exhibition, the project sites, and the available data. The complete adapted proposal can be found in the exhibition catalog of “Utopia and Monument II.”
Andrea Fraser
Commissioned by steirischer herbst
In co-operation with the Center for Social Research at the Karl-Franzens University Graz & Institute for Contemporary Art (IZK) of Graz University of Technology
With thanks to Hans Kupelwieser
Project supporter Land Steiermark
Project sponsor Think!, Gebrüder Weiss & Alpenländische Schilderfabrik
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