There are art shows that delight. There are those that challenge. And then there is Everything Is Also Nothing, Probably, an avant-garde exhibition that appears to be conceptually rather a blancmange.
Curated by the relentless Fizz Zamboni, the exhibition bills itself as “a radical dismantling of objecthood through performative epistemic collapse.” What this translates to in practice is 13.5 installations of varying solidity and a lot of confused visitors.
Upon entering the gallery, visitors are handed a single brown crayon and instructed to “unlearn the grid.” There is no map, only a trail of shredded astroturf leading to a large plinth displaying a sculpture titled Untitled (my aunt’s opinions)—a heap of damp tea towels wrapped in dental floss, next to an amp which is gently humming the Monte Carlo national anthem. According to the wall text this piece explores “ancestral tension and the US preference for football over Football.” How it does this is not explained.
Other highlights include:
• “Time Is a Sock Full of Screams” by H.M. Iris: A looping video of an elderly man whispering the word “refrigerator” into a mirror until he forgets why. At the 14-hour mark, a pigeon appears which critics have widely interpreted as a metaphor for vulture capitalism.
• “You Must Participate or It Doesn’t Count” by Sambi Donc: An interactive installation in which viewers are encouraged to climb inside a large clay pancreas while a stranger recites lines from obsolete IKEA instruction manuals. One woman entered and emerged, softly weeping – the artist later said this was exactly the reaction she hoped for.
• “Quantum Croissant (v.3.2)”by Elvei Haddred: A Invisibilism performance piece happening “continuously and nowhere,” which reportedly occurred during the opening, though no one is sure what it involved, or if it did.
The show’s only clearly labeled object, a fire extinguisher, turned out not to be a commentary on emergency, presence, and gallery insurance compliance, but to be an actual fire extinguisher.
Notably, in several rooms Zamboni has eschewed traditional information panels in favour of interpretive haikus scrawled onto vintage undergarments pinned to the ceiling. This leads to a degree of neck strain, but the poem referencing Marcel Duchamp and digestive distress is arguably worth the chiropractor visit.
Many critics scoff. “Nonsense!” Many cry, along with “Pretentious!” Especially when reviewing a piece that is a puddle named Emotion Pool (after Susan). But to miss the point is perhaps the point. Everything Is Also Nothing, Probably is less an exhibition and more a philosophical dare. It does not ask to be liked, or even understood. It asks only to be noticed.
You may leave enlightened or enraged, or simply unsure what constitutes art nowadays. But one thing is clear: Zamboni has created something both unforgettable and unclassifiable. Which, in avant-garde terms, is practically a standing ovation.