CD Reviews | CTD (Briefly Noted) | JFL (Dip Your Ears) | DVD Reviews

29.9.04

Gregor Schneider

In an article (Houses of horror, September 22) for The Guardian, Gordon Burn describes the new work of German shock artist Gregor Schneider (profiled by Noemi Smolik in 2000):

Die Familie Schneider, his new show in London, features living, breathing, wanking people and represents a startling, and hugely risky, change of direction. It has been made possible by Artangel, an organisation Schneider has long admired for its determination to "think outside the museum". Adjacent houses in a Victorian terrace in Whitechapel in east London have been acquired. The houses have been decorated and "distressed" to the artist's exact specifications. Down to the tiniest wallpaper tear and ceiling stain, they are identical. For the duration of the show they will be occupied by two "families" of identical twins, one in each house, whose movements throughout a seven-hour day will be co-ordinated precisely. Only one visitor will be admitted at a time. Nobody under the age of 16 will get in. The address is available only on application.
Die Familie Schneider opens on October 2. You can also check out Schneider's major project, Totes Haus Ur (1985–2004) in Rheydt, an installation project Schneider has been constructing inside his childhood home (last shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles this past summer).

UPDATE:
See also Sukhdev Sandhu, Where angels fear to tread (The Telegraph, October 9).

No comments: