Monday, Monday...

It’s Monday and we hope to have the objects pretty much hung or in place today. We’ve been working on António’s “On the Margins of the Borderlands.” It’s amazing that he first exhibited this work – which includes a boat broken into two pieces and welded from iron, taxidermied (a.k.a. “stuffed”) crows, TV sets, bricks, bundled papers, and a fish net –in Luanda in 1996, I believe. Since then, it has traveled to the first South African Biennale in Johannesburg (where David Bowie wrote a review of it) and then on to Portugal, London, Jerusalem, and Rio de Janeiro… I am thrilled that we will be the first North American venue ever to exhibit the work, but it is a real challenge. First, we had to get it here and it is BIG, and heavy. I wrote in an earlier entry of the challenges regarding getting the pied crows through customs – we had to prove they were not endangered species – and building the enormous crate, but in addition to that we had to: 1) find the bricks. This required a series of digital images and emails back and forth between António and me as to just how many bricks he wanted, in what condition, color, and so on. Then, Doug Johnston -- whose job I don’t even know how to describe as it includes everything from overseeing construction contracts at the museum to helping me buy bricks -- found a place where we could by used bricks. Again, this was not as easy as it may seem. As a federal institution, we can not pay cash and we can only buy through licensed vendors. In the end, this gentleman Doug knew agreed to part with 200 bricks for the duration of the exhibition, free of charge. He only asked that we return the bricks to him if we do not still need them at the end of the exhibition. Acquiring the net and TVs took a little longer. António had only ever installed “On the Margins of the Borderlands” with matching, black, tube TVs. Finding 2 tube TVs in the age of flat screen is no mean feet, and Doug was not able to find two that matched. He came up with a few options, however. As for the net, António no longer had his original. He thinks a fisherman in need appropriated it. So, I then went on the hunt for fishnets and found they can be found in bright white, blue, green – an impressive range of colors – but all very new and distracting looking. There was also a question of gage. How big should the the string be? the holes? In the end, I was able to find an “authentic” (used) fish net from a decorative web site. António laughed when he saw it because it was so small (9 feet was the largest size they sold). Nevertheless, he said he could use it. António also decided that he wanted to include DC newspapers in the installation, to draw connections between the Angolan papers and the current venue, so I had been gathering up newspapers from various staff members for months. To meet safety codes, we had to fire proof all the papers.

So, we got all the miscellaneous bits in the gallery and started to position the work paying special attention to the location of electrical outlets in the floor, as we would need to plug in the TVs and the DVD players that would play António’s video of light reflecting on the surface of the ocean. Getting the boat out of the crate turned out to be more of a challenge than positioning it. We all agreed on a location fairly quickly. The equipment itself, however, was very challenging. Although we had, in the end, found TVs that António liked, they could not receive the signal from the DVD player – they were too old. And we only learned this after a day of trial and error – different monitors, different converters… the image would go to grey, or worse, skip and all one could see was a series of undulating lines. In the end, we had to go with computer monitors. They caught the warm, silvery quality of the liquid that António was after and played the DVD without any trouble. Since they were smaller than the TVs, however, the Installation guys had to build wood frames. Thanks to Doug for coming up with the creative solution and getting the timing of the two DVDs in sync. We also discovered that our 200 bricks were not enough, so António supplemented with some cinder-blocks concealed under the bricks and monitors. But, I have to say, I love seeing the boat look as though it is moving across the floor toward the new installation. António created “on the Margins of the Borderlands” at a time of real political and economic crisis in Angola. It speaks to memories and opportunities lost, and now it moves in a new direction – facing his latest work, a “fresco” which celebrates the hope he now feels in the Angola of today, a place where democracy and new structures age being built.

Aimé continues to work on painting his playing cards. And, he’s begun to position his installation piece, “Congo, Shadow of the Shadow.” This extraordinary piece consists of a life-size standing figure made of approximately 4, 652 matchsticks – there may be more now, as he has added some new ones to the feet. The figure stands over a grave marked “Congo… 1885” -- 1885 is the year Europe carved Africa into various colonies and Congo became the personal possession of Belgium’s King Leopold II. The grave is supposed to include two wooden legs that bridge between the feet of the figure, and the grave marker itself. Unfortunately, the legs were misplaced during the packing of a previous installation. After several days thinking they were lost for good, we learned today that the gallery has located the legs and will be fed-exing them to us. In the meanwhile, however, Aimé has decided that he wants to craft new legs – ones that are longer and he feels are better suited to the larger space we have provided for the work. So, he will add shellac and position these new legs later today. We’ve just finished positioning the flat silhouettes of a pregnant woman and child, which are also part of the installation.

Tomorrow, we want to have everything in place, as the artists will be going to University of Maryland first thing Wednesday morning to begin outreach activities with students. Thursday, they meet with students from Gallaudet, and Friday, Howard University. So, we can be working on lighting and cleaning the gallery while they are so occupied.

the new installations are pretty much finished!

I picked the artists up at their hotel this morning, after having a bit of a scrape with a DC taxi. Aside from this unfortunate incident, the work has not turned out to be quite as much as we feared and the day has gone well. We’ve even managed to get the artists’ laundry done! – a pile of dirty clothes is a definite peril of an extended stay. But the better news is that António has finished his installation. It has been pretty amazing to watch. The melted aluminum we found dirty and in a pile under some signs at the scrap yard now looks like it is pouring out from the hand of a pictographic figure on a bright orange traffic sign. I just love the placement of this detail. Other fascinating things to watch happen include watching António work with Keith Conway, Kevin Etherton, and Andy Sutton from the Design department. They are cutting plastic, wood, and all sorts of odd bits that António then places quickly and confidently into his composition: a bit of green here, amp up the orange there… And my favorite part, the addition of orange and red pictographic images from the DC tourist map. The left side of the “fresco” consists of the maps António brought from Angola, and the pairing of the abstract map images with actual maps is wonderful. Of course, I am making it all sound pretty easy when it has required a lot of measuring, re-cutting, etc. to get each piece to fit just right. In fact, it's a bit of a miracle that we managed to put this together in just two weeks -- from finding the "junk," to Antonio conceiving his layout, to cutting, fabricating, painting and in all ways crafting this work.

Aimé spent the morning working on a new element for “Rail, Massina 3.” He would like for it to be interactive – a dialogue with the public, as well as António and me. He wants visitors to be able to write messages on playing cards, one side of which has been made blank. And so, he spent the morning painting over the numbered sides of cards. The message he wants people to be able to write is something that scares them, particular fears in relation to the Unknown. Once the fears have been written on the cards, he wants them placed in one of the boxes that stand in the foreground of his installation. The particular box holds a flag of Congo, and bears the words “fulu awa,” or , “trash here.” Aimé is proposing to have school groups come in, write their fears, and then reach in the box, remove the fears one at a time, and re-write them on a chalk board. We have been moving the chalkboard around in the gallery this morning to get the position just right. Initially, he had it closer to “Ici on crève.” I suggested that he move it farther away, so that it would be clear that it was part of “Rail Massina 3” and not one of the painted squares. He moved the piece, but also commented that to him, the works are one and the same. They are in dialogue with one another. He also chose to hang the black board quite low, so that it would be easily accessible by school children. You can see the realtionship between the 50 squares, the black board, and the facade of the new wall and boxes in the photo. Now, we just have to reach out to some local schools and see if they can come in and do this project with the artist.

Seeing the two artworks so near completion is pretty amazing and has me wondering about the difference between visual and verbal dialogues. Over the past two or so weeks, Aime and Antonio have really become friends. You can see a real camaraderie between them. This comes out, of course, in their verbal conversations, but they have been here as part of a visual dialogue. Their colors resonate with one another, both address issues of territorialism (in very different ways)... Anyone else's thoughts on the differences -- or lack thereof -- between visual and verbal dialogues are most welcome!

Later this afternoon, the artists will be going gallery hopping with Stephanie Hornbeck, one of the museum’s conservators, and tomorrow they get a much deserved break!

Art beyond the walls!

The good news today is that more art is coming into the gallery. While Aimé waits for his plastic table to arrive, he is working on hanging his piece, “Ici on crève.” It is a composition of approximately 50 square panels of painted and carved wood. The artist has made more than 100 of these squares and they have been exhibited in other configurations at other venues internationally, but this is the first time he has made this assemblage. Crèver is a French verb which means simultaneously “to die,” “burst” and “wear out.” To get this idea across, Aimé uses his adze to carve the images, as well as paint them, and often breaks through the surface altogether.

For this installation, Aimé had initially suggested scattering the paintings across the back wall of the gallery, surrounding the door and creating the effect of them “bursting” across this large expanse. Now that he is here, he has decided to position them in the corner, radiating out in two directions. It is going to be quite powerful. We are also working to position a standing figure by Aimé, called simply “Nude.” We’ve had a problem with this piece because, in the past, Aimé has always installed it directly on the ground. We can’t do that here for safety reasons – if a wheelchair backed into it, it could potentially fall over and someone could be hurt (and the artwork could be hurt). And so, we need it to be on a base. How to conceal, or minimize, this base has been an issue. Originally, we proposed putting it on a small, low pedestal painted grey – the color of the floor—with a red edge. Aimé did not like this. And so, now, we are placing it on a metal plate painted a lovely golden bronze. It picks up the honey tones of the wonderfully striated wood. Aimé has proposed that we light the pedestal, instead of the figure.

António is not having such a good day. His foot has been troubling him a bit and so today we debated whether or not to take him to a doctor. He has insisted on working on, but we are all pushing him to take it easier. He has also insisted on carrying on with happy hour tonight. But, I have learned my lesson. We will not wander so far afield but meet at the National Gallery Sculpture Garden tonight and watch the ice-skaters.

The slow pace of progress

Well, it is Thursday and it looks like we will need to come in on Saturday after all. Both artists are hard at work; it’s just that there is a lot to do.

António’s windows are now in place, but he is still busy cutting the corrugated plastic and metal, painting the doors and pacing his colors. Also, the wood shop is still working on cutting some shapes that he would like to integrate into the composition. The windows do look great, however. António decided to keep them dirty so they have a smoky, opaque look to them. It’s nice because one see the light, without be distracted by the light fixtures.

Aimé’s wall is also coming together. Initially, he was troubled by the presence of the white platform in front of the wall. He wanted visitors to be able to walk straight through the open doors, but now he is reconsidering. António is similarly troubled by the platform in front of his wall, though he has said that he will keep his mind open to it as he works. He would prefer it be grey, so that it just look like floor. The problem is, then it would be a tripping hazard. As it is now, it frames the work in progress, and keeps it clear that visitors shouldn’t get close enough to the work to touch it. But, back to Aimé’s platform. We talked about whether or not to remove it, and I had the Installation guys all ready to pull it out, when Aimé decided that he liked seeing the scuff marks left by his feet on the once-pristine, white platform. He liked them patterns enough, in fact, that he stepped on some paint and then shuffled his feet through the doors – to leave traces of how one has, or could, move across this deck to the other side of the wall, to António’s side of the dialogue. The white platform also provides as great contrast to the crumbled bits of wood, plaster, and paint that have fallen as Aimé has carved images of overturned tables and a skull into the surface of the wall. These chips have now become part of the installation and reflect the artist’s ongoing interest in artworks that illustrate or embody the creative process.

So, we will be back tomorrow, and Saturday, as we hurry to have everything finished on Monday. That leaves the artists a little time to themselves before next week, when Aimé and António will be meeting with students from local schools and universities .

The walls are rising

Barack Obama is now president, and we are all exhausted. The artists and I came to the museum last night for an Inaugural ball – and no, we didn’t get to meet the president. Alas. We did see AKON and actor Jeffrey Wright, however! We also did not get to our respective homes/hotels until past 1am. So I have to say that I am very impressed by the dedication of these two men, as they were back at the museum bright and early this morning.

Aimé and António are both aiming to have their installations finished by Friday. It is going to be challenging, but possible. Aimé has finished painting his wall and has begun working its surface with an adze – a trademark feature of his work. For him, the making of the work of art – the process – is the essence of the artwork. Thus, he works in a manner that leaves a trace. As he explains it, the adze is the tool of his forefathers. It is the tool used by so many of Africa’s artists; it is also a symbol of power. He is also intrigued by the tension between the surface of a work of art, and what is going on behind, or beneath the surface – and so one can see how he works his way through the surface to what is behind. He will be pairing this façade with three boxes that were used by street vendors in Kinshasa, Congo. The artist bought them from the vendors, then carried them back with him to Brussels. The museum then shipped the three boxes along with his other artworks to the museum. He will add flags from Angola, Congo, and the USA to the boxes. He’s got flags for the two African nations, and we have been shopping around to find the best place to get an American flag of the right dimensions. That’s not the only shopping we have been doing, however. Aimé would like to include plastic tables and chairs in the installation – the kind that you find on patios and street corners all over the world when the weather is warm. The problem is, the weather is NOT warm. It’s about 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and none of the stores we’ve been able to think of (not to advertise for anyone, but Ikea, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc) has them in stock or on their websites! There are some staff members willing to part with their own personal plastic chairs – which is actually great as they will look a bit dirty or used (just as the artist wants them) – but we aren’t having as much luck with the table. A couple of people on staff have leads they are looking into, however. Aimé says that you just find chairs like these in the streets of Kinshasa. People sit in them for hours, talk, and watch the day go by. He wants the museum visitors to have something of this experience – slowing down, talking, engaging with art. He also wants playing cards, one side of which he is talking about painting over, but these should not be so hard to find.

We might also need to do some more “dumpster diving” with António – a different form of shopping, I suppose. He may want more doors, shutters and other materials to complete his massive fresco. Right now, there are squares of brown paper positioned on the wall to mark where 5 windows will be hung. They have not yet been fitted into place as the designer and guys in the wood shop have been figuring out how to build light boxes behind them. This isn’t as easy a process as it may seem. First of all, there are no electrical outlets along the wall, and so the museum has brought in an electrician today to run the wiring. Then, Don Llewellyn and Melvin Vega from the Installation Department will custom craft wooden frames from which to hang the windows, and in which will be concealed the lights that Jim Minor managed to find in a local hardware shop. The effect should be startling, however – glowing open windows looking on to the installation by Mpane.

It is pretty wonderful to see the two artists talk to one another, observe one another’s work, and continue with this process of creating a visual dialogue. They are around and happy to answer questions from any of you, as well!

Inuagural madness

I had planned to write a post yesterday, but came into the museum and there was some kind of bizarre power outage that seems to have been localized to my office. I was in the middle of writing when zap both computer and lights went out. It took the electricians awhile to remedy the situation, so I gave up my effort for the day. Both artists remained valiantly at work, however.

Poor António nearly froze to death Friday night when I walked the artists to Fádo’s, a local pub, for happy hour. The last time I walked there it was warm, and hadn’t seemed nearly so far! But, he came to work first thing Saturday morning and got right to work laying out his large wall “fresco” – the installation he is creating in the gallery on the wall opposite Aimé’s. The only glitch came up today, however. After I left the museum yesterday, António grew the installation about 6-8 feet wider than we had previously discussed. So, today, I ran around making sure it wouldn’t be a security issue to have the exposed metal and other elements of his installation so close to the edge of the platform where visitors could touch them. It’s all worked out in the end, and António’s artistic vision will remain uncompromised.

Aime has made a lot of progress with his wall, as well. The first word he painted on it is “dialogue.” I will have to ask him about it, or better yet – you ask him! This blog is meant to be interactive! Please send any kind of questions or comments…

And, for the picture today, rather than sending an update of the artists at work, I’ve decided to upload a scene of what’s going on around us on the mall. People are everywhere, and so are port-a-potties. I believe some 5,000 port-a-johns have been delivered to the mall, although I have no idea how accurate this number is. All I can attest to is that there are a lot.

Today, both artists are really anxious to get their work underway. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get their badges yesterday, so they will need to return to the Smithsonian Security office this afternoon. Plus, it turns out Aime forgot to pack a pair of work shoes. In his hurry to get to the airport after getting his passport back from the US Embassy in Brussels, he forgot to pack more than his good shoes. So, he will sneak out at some point this afternoon to get something cheap and canvas.

António’s installation, “Allegories of Construction II” is now finished and so we hope to get the lighting set on it today, as well as putting some paper labels in place for the Inaugural weekend. The final labels will be rubbed directly onto the wall – a form of decal – and these labels are not yet in from the printer as we are still about 2 weeks ahead of the opening.

Aimé’s goal is to have one section of his wall painted in by the end of the day, so he is busy taping and getting things set up. After work today, we are heading out for happy hour at a local bar. Hopefully, this will be a chance for local folks interested in African art and artists, as well as just everyone getting to work with these two talents, a chance just to hang out and talk. We won’t be able to stay out too late, however, as we are planning to work Saturday and Sunday. Monday is a holiday (MLK Jr. day) and Tuesday the Inauguration – and we’ve been asked to not come down to the mall at all. Should be an adventure for the artists to see, at least!