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LAWRENCE WEINER
By Karlyn De Jongh & Sarah Gold Lawrence Weiner (*1942, Bronx USA) has been making what he calls ‘sculptures’ since the 1960s: wall installations consisting of words, often in bright colors. The basis for his installations is the idea that language is material. Weiner’s installations are flexible: size, language and color are variable; how they are depends on the location. Weiner maintains that: “ART IS THE EMPIRICAL FACT OF THE RELATIONSHIPS OF OBJECTS TO OBJECTS IN RELATION TO HUMAN BEINGS & NOT DEPENDENT UPON HISTORICAL PRECEDENT FOR EITHER USE OR LEGITIMACY.” Making art is Lawrence Weiner’s way to judge his relationship to the rest of the world. It is a need. Placing his sculptures into the world and letting them adapt into their situation, gives him an insight in how things work. For Weiner, art is about this: somebody noticing a structure. It is this conversation with one’s times that the artist considers to be his most important task. He remarks: “the whole point of an artist is to develop not as themselves, but develop in their practice with a relationship to the world as it is changing.” Making an installation, for Weiner, is about finding a work that is in dialogue with the world at that particular moment. It is about finding a basic, universal problem. Making an installation is asking a universal question in a way that, once people realize that it is a question, they can answer it in relation to themselves. Weiner notes that when creating an installation, he does know what to say. The problem for him consists in finding out how to phrase the question; the problem is to find out what syntax to put it in. Each situation is new and requires its own syntax. According to Weiner, an exhibition is a placement in the world; it is a participation in the world. This participation is two-sided and concerns not only the making of the work, but the viewing as well. Weiner’s installations challenge the viewer to think about how he can incorporate the work and the questions they provoke into his own life. The questions posed by the artist, should be answered by the viewer. For Weiner, this conversation with the public is most important. The reason being: when the viewer incorporates the work into his life, it functions as art. Weiner chose to become an artist, because he wanted to be useful for society. He wanted to change people’s perceptions of themselves and their own values. However, making work that changes people’s perceptions of themselves comes with a responsibility. Weiner seems to feel this responsibility every day. He struggles with the problem of finding the right way to say what it is you want to say as well as having the awareness that what you say can have a great impact. He adds that art is a fight: it is about taking people’s dreams away. The artist feels that when you change a basic perception of reality, you change somebody’s entire sense of themselves. Weiner believes that his work made – and continues to make – it possible for people to have a better appreciation of the world and a better appreciation of their life. Weiner’s installations are open for interpretation: each person understands the work differently and that is exactly what he wants. Keeping it open, the viewer can adapt it to his own abilities, by trying to place it into his life. Weiner says his work is about creating an awareness that you too can understand the world. The greatest joy for him is “when somebody enters an exhibition and goes on: “what is this shit?” and then all of a sudden you hear this strange: “oh, I get it.”” To Weiner, it does not matter what the answer of the viewer is or whether he likes the work or not. It is about there being an answer. Because: when there is an answer, the work is successful: it the work becomes part of the place.
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