Garage Sale, California, 1973 Courtesy of the artist Martha Rosler London Garage Sale "It is easy to state that a work of art is a commodity. It is much more difficult to determine which commodities are works of art." (Boris Groys) From the early 1970s the influential American artist Martha Rosler has utilised the apparatus of vernacular culture and the minutiae of daily experience to investigate and comment on contemporary society. Shopping, cooking, cleaning, and even the daily commute, have all been objects of her attention. In an artistic practice that encompasses performance, installation, video, photography and critical writing, Rosler also takes on such global issues as modes of transport, housing and homelessness, war, and the role of visual appearance in the subjugation of women - all themes as pertinent today as they were at the start of her career. In a version organised especially for the Institute, Martha Rosler brings her seminal work "Garage Sale" to the ICA. Over the six-week duration of this "exhibition", visitors to the gallery are invited to rummage through piles of junk and clothes, bargain with the sales assistants and buy items on display in the gallery. All the proceeds from this cash-only "Garage Sale" will go to charity. "Garage Sale", a now iconic installation and performance work, originally took place in 1973 in the Art Gallery of the University of California, San Diego. Advertised as a jumble sale in local newspapers but also as an art event within the art community, this work took the form of a house-hold sale where second-hand goods - clothes, books, records, toys, costume jewellery and personal letters and mementos - were displayed on racks and tables and sold off over the course of the exhibition. "Garage Sale", with its reference to the status of the art work, art history and art audiences, is interested in examining art as a fetishised object and commodity. It is also a representation of a subjective history and a way of thinking, and it works as a potent metaphor for personal and social relations - especially given its genesis within the highly politicised context of the women's movement in the 1970s. Through her examination of domesticity, suburbia and family and the circulation of domestic material objects, Rosler evokes a powerful feminist discourse, which gives clear expression to the anthem of the personal as political. The arena of domestic experience becomes here the focus for a charged artistic, social and cultural exploration, but there is a dry humour in the way that this "art" can be rummaged in, discarded, fought over or treated with a delightful insouciance not usually found in the traditional museum/gallery context. Over the past 30 years, Rosler's "Garage Sale" has travelled extensively - from the artist-run La Mamelle Gallery, San Francisco (1977) to, more recently, the Generali Foundation, Vienna (1999), Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, the New Museum, New York (both as part of Rosler's retrospective in 2000) and the Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2004). Although the work takes elements from each venue, "London Garage Sale" will be specifically adapted for the ICA to reflect the particularities of London, its narrative and present reality. In the Upper Galleries, to accompany "London Garage Sale", the ICA will present a selection of Rosler's films from throughout her career most of which have not been previously seen in London. Martha Rosler was born in Brooklyn, New York where she is also living today. Since graduating from the University of California in 1974, Rosler has exhibited widely. "London Garage Sale" at the ICA will be Rosler's first London solo exhibition. With special thanks to TRAID. Exhibition: 4 June - 17 July 2005 Opening hours: daily noon - 7.30 pm (during exhibitions) Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) The Mall GB-London SW1Y 5AH Telephone +44 (0)20 7930 3647 Email jensh@ica.org.uk www.ica.org.uk |
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