“Laboratory Life”, Andreas Bunte

Besides the Bartholl, there are other works to enjoy using smartphones. Andreas Bunte’s “Laboratory Life” is an artwork that plays movies on a smartphone by loading the QR code printed on the wall poster with a special application. WiFi can be used in nearby areas so that even travelers without cellphone reception can enjoy them. It is very much like the idea of 2017 that the virtual structure can be experienced at that place where people actually visit. While it is difficult to experience without an application like Bunte’s work, an application for Pierre Huyghe’s “After ALife Ahead” was more so an additional feature.

“After ALife Ahead”, Pierre Huyghe

Huyghe’s artwork that created a magnificent scenery of the Sci-Fi world with large scale modification using a place which was once an ice skating rink is one of the highlights of this year. Due to the nature of the artwork, the number of admissions was limited and people had to wait close to two hours to get inside. With an application, audiences were able to do a simple AR experience, but because the scale of the artwork has a huge impact, the application did not stand out so much. In fact, nearly half of the audiences gave up using the application. Seeing such difference in attitude was interesting. For artists, using a new technology in their work is always a challenge. Therefore, it is one of Skulptur Projekte Münster’s pleasures to feel such different ideas one by one.

A line for “N. Schmidt Pferdegasse 19 48143 Münster Deutschland” by Gregor Schneider

Like Huyghe, Gregor Schneider’s work “N. Schmidt Pfer degasse 19 48143 Münster Deutschland” constantly had a long line as well. Gregor Schneider is a German artist who has been active since 1980’s. By actually making walls and duplicating the room elaborately, he has made work that shakes recognition of audiences. People can see his masterpiece at Skulptur Projekte Münster this year. They grow a feeling of eerie as they go through the room, actually go up the stairs and open the door with their own hand. Schneider uses such audiences experience as a constituent element of the work, so there is feeling which cannot be transmitted in the literature or materials. Because of the nature, the number of visitors is restricted like Huyghe’s work. Although there was always a line, after going through his work, audiences were deeply moved by it to even blow away their tiredness. Despite of many new works, Skulptur Projekte Münster is also appreciated as a place where people can meet artworks that they wish see that they had known for a long time.