13-10-2009, 04:09 PM
First, the basics:
The B-Thing, by Gelatin
Based on the book's closing credits, the creators of the WTC project who comprise Gelatin are Leo Koenig, Josh Harris, Moukhtar Kocache, Land Niederosterreich, and Land Salzburg.-
Walter König, Cologne, 2001
ISBN: 3-8837-507-9
32 pages, colour throughout, embossed hard covers
Text: Tex Rubinowitz
Photos: Maria Ziegelböck, Thomas Sandbichler, Susanne Wimmer, gelatin
Layout: Johannes Heuer
Reproductions: Byberlab, Vienna
Print: Groebner Druck, boerwart
Binding: Papyrus, Vienna
Translation: Jonathan Quinn
Courtesy: Leo Koenig Inc., New York; Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna
The front endpiece of this rather elaborate little cloth-bound book is comprised of German text by Tex Rubinowitz. It is lengthy and should be read in its entirety and for subtext. I reproduce the opening lines now:
"The loneliness of Raffia. The group Gelatin is comprised of four young men. When one of them speaks or smiles you can see a gap in his teeth and one of them has broken the tip of one his incisors. I once saw one of them in a light blue towelling romper suit, and I don't know the fourth at all. They all have something unaired about them and so-called early morning hairdo. I assume this goes for the fourth one too. I know that the one with the chipped tooth once dropped a vast coffee cup and it broke into a thousand pieces. He painstakingly glued this monstrosity (it was easily big enough to hold two oranges) back together piece for piece like a jigsaw puzzle."
"The Loneliness of Raffia" is, as Tex later reminds us, a short story by Franz Kafka.
From an abebooks.com blurb:
(http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchRe...ng&x=0&y=0 )
which incorporates text from Gelatin's web site (http://www.wtc.window.to ):
The Austrian collective, Gelatin, has gained an international reputation for ambitious projects that thrive on surprise and hyper-real bodily sensation. Each project pushes physical boundaries and audience expectations. The B-Thing uncovers the truth behind the rumours of Gelatin's construction of an improvised balcony on the 91st floor of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2000. Through preparatory notes written by the boys, diagrams and colour photographs, we are finally able to glimpse the pink sunrise over New York from Gelatin's eyes and to see how their home-made balcony emerged like a 'pimple on the building's eelslippery face.' The rumours continued however and Moukhtar Kocache, Director of Visual Art and Media at the WTC, felt the need to deny that the action ever took place, claiming that any documentation 'simply demonstrates [Gelatin's] art of deception.' Although he praised their success 'in addressing the mythological and iconic dimensions of America, New York and the Twin Towers,' and continued, '[they] use the system of the art world, a system they love to critique as a vehicle . And because they are boys and like to play .'
Those crazy kids!
More on this later today. But know that, no matter how you cut it, The B-Thing is an important book.
The B-Thing, by Gelatin
Based on the book's closing credits, the creators of the WTC project who comprise Gelatin are Leo Koenig, Josh Harris, Moukhtar Kocache, Land Niederosterreich, and Land Salzburg.-
Walter König, Cologne, 2001
ISBN: 3-8837-507-9
32 pages, colour throughout, embossed hard covers
Text: Tex Rubinowitz
Photos: Maria Ziegelböck, Thomas Sandbichler, Susanne Wimmer, gelatin
Layout: Johannes Heuer
Reproductions: Byberlab, Vienna
Print: Groebner Druck, boerwart
Binding: Papyrus, Vienna
Translation: Jonathan Quinn
Courtesy: Leo Koenig Inc., New York; Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna
The front endpiece of this rather elaborate little cloth-bound book is comprised of German text by Tex Rubinowitz. It is lengthy and should be read in its entirety and for subtext. I reproduce the opening lines now:
"The loneliness of Raffia. The group Gelatin is comprised of four young men. When one of them speaks or smiles you can see a gap in his teeth and one of them has broken the tip of one his incisors. I once saw one of them in a light blue towelling romper suit, and I don't know the fourth at all. They all have something unaired about them and so-called early morning hairdo. I assume this goes for the fourth one too. I know that the one with the chipped tooth once dropped a vast coffee cup and it broke into a thousand pieces. He painstakingly glued this monstrosity (it was easily big enough to hold two oranges) back together piece for piece like a jigsaw puzzle."
"The Loneliness of Raffia" is, as Tex later reminds us, a short story by Franz Kafka.
From an abebooks.com blurb:
(http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchRe...ng&x=0&y=0 )
which incorporates text from Gelatin's web site (http://www.wtc.window.to ):
The Austrian collective, Gelatin, has gained an international reputation for ambitious projects that thrive on surprise and hyper-real bodily sensation. Each project pushes physical boundaries and audience expectations. The B-Thing uncovers the truth behind the rumours of Gelatin's construction of an improvised balcony on the 91st floor of the World Trade Centre in New York in 2000. Through preparatory notes written by the boys, diagrams and colour photographs, we are finally able to glimpse the pink sunrise over New York from Gelatin's eyes and to see how their home-made balcony emerged like a 'pimple on the building's eelslippery face.' The rumours continued however and Moukhtar Kocache, Director of Visual Art and Media at the WTC, felt the need to deny that the action ever took place, claiming that any documentation 'simply demonstrates [Gelatin's] art of deception.' Although he praised their success 'in addressing the mythological and iconic dimensions of America, New York and the Twin Towers,' and continued, '[they] use the system of the art world, a system they love to critique as a vehicle . And because they are boys and like to play .'
Those crazy kids!
More on this later today. But know that, no matter how you cut it, The B-Thing is an important book.