UNSOLICITED Dear H.U.O. and G.T., I own a copy of "Unbuild Roads". It is exciting that "residuals" and "failures" see the daylight. Going through the book and reading the intro it is obvious that most of the projects, even if unrealized, were based on commissions, a dialogue between artists and institutions, artists and curators. Also, looks like a "Who's Who in Installation Art". And I'm not trying to be critical of your approach. It was a beginning. Obviously, with your open call for "UAP" you are setting the stage for unknown voices. The book has great merits, showing that even well known artists who already had a contract, a budget, an invitation, were not able to finish projects for various reasons: limits of budget, politics, censorship or just changes of the daily flavor. The book it is a point of departure, reflexion at ones own work and various hurdles and momentary failures in ones career. I want to point out, from my personal experience, of another possible category: UNSOLICITED projects/proposals. Easily they can be identified with "utopian" notions. But, at the same time, the project can have a low budget, be self-budgeted, have a high percentage of feasibility and depends only on the institution or the curator for the go-ahead. I never been on "that side of the fence", the receiving one, but I can assume the following situation for an "unsolicited" proposal, especially from a lesser known artist: - discarded, tossed in the trash can by an administrative member of the institution - get lost on some desk in a pile of other unsolicited materials - package being opened and ignored by some assistant or the above administrator - being read but forgotten because of time/space limitations - challenging the curator's strategy and pointing out limitations in his/hers approach From the beginning of my career I burned many bridges. People asked me why? I laugh and I responded that I also have a Master in Bridge and Roads Engineering so I can fix them. No, I did not intend to be a contrarian or obnoxious/arrogant. On a serious note, I envisioned a dialogue between my work and the curator or the institution. I always felt challanged to come up with new work that will fit the new context. I've perceived it as a personal growth just going through the process. Most of the time I did not get an answer or a trace of how was received. But, in some situations, when the positive answer came back, the rewards were imense. One of my first UNSOLICITED proposals on an international scale was made to the "museum in progress" in Viena, for their artist project pages in the newspaper "Der Standard". No response. The direct question will be: what are YOU doing when you are opening, reading and become interested in an UNSOLICITED proposal/project? Are you realizing IT? --------------------------------------------------------------- Conceptually, the above text should be my entry to UAP. But because I want to play by the rules, please find below a copy and partial visual materials I sent to Jens Hoffman on the occasion of an open ended show he curated in 2002 in Los Angeles at The Project gallery, called "A Show That Will Show That a Show is Not Only a Show". In his press release he noted the experimental approach tom this project, the various facets and communities he wants to bring together. That prompted me to send a package even if I was not part of the LA artist lodge. Just as a "passer by" or more exactly as a "driver by". Unsolicited/Unrealized/Unknown. Thank you for your time and for opening the gates for "anonymous" artists to have "unrealized voices". Laszlo Marsch ------------------------------- Jens Hoffman c/o The Project L.A. 962 B EAST 4th St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 August 2, 2002. WARNING: The enclosed letter and materials are a self-invitation and interaction with your curatorial approach. If you can use it as an artistic articulation and form of participation of a "passerby" or more exactly a "driver by" in the cultural dynamic of LA, please do so; or, obviously, you can just ignore and discard the package. Dear Jens, It was refreshing to read the exhibition strategy of your show. I recognized Benjamin’s reference to the flâneur and at the same time I was intrigued by the fact that you are using it in the context of L.A., a city on/of wheels and cruising. I like the fact that you have the opportunity to curate and to show each drive you take in the city; and that the show has so many openings and that the last opening coincides with the closing. I have a great affinity for closings. In 1997 I planned a trip to Munster, Kassel and Venice. Knowing that documentaX will close that week I created some signs with closing, clôture, chiusura and schließung. I was walking around the Fridericianum with the signs in my hand and later I documented myself holding the signs while sitting on the steps of the museum. Closing became a reoccurring theme in my voyages, especially the way I discovered L.A., making a one day stop while driving between San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona. Each drive added to my L.A. archive of maps, announcements, ephemera and printed residuals: the new information became a guiding point for the next trip. Enclosed, please find some copies I made after the materials I referred in the letter, excerpts from my own drives, signs and a CD of Daniel Lentz, a West Coast post-minimalist. His piece "Talk Radio" is an essence of the L.A. pulse. Enjoy. Thank you for the opportunity of gathering these thoughts and materials together.
UNSOLICITED Dear H.U.O. and G.T., I own a copy of "Unbuild Roads". It is exciting that "residuals" and "failures" see the daylight. Going through the book and reading the intro it is obvious that most of the projects, even if unrealized, were based on commissions, a dialogue between artists and institutions, artists and curators. Also, looks like a "Who's Who in Installation Art". And I'm not trying to be critical of your approach. It was a beginning. Obviously, with your open call for "UAP" you are setting the stage for unknown voices. The book has great merits, showing that even well known artists who already had a contract, a budget, an invitation, were not able to finish projects for various reasons: limits of budget, politics, censorship or just changes of the daily flavor. The book it is a point of departure, reflexion at ones own work and various hurdles and momentary failures in ones career. I want to point out, from my personal experience, of another possible category: UNSOLICITED projects/proposals. Easily they can be identified with "utopian" notions. But, at the same time, the project can have a low budget, be self-budgeted, have a high percentage of feasibility and depends only on the institution or the curator for the go-ahead. I never been on "that side of the fence", the receiving one, but I can assume the following situation for an "unsolicited" proposal, especially from a lesser known artist: - discarded, tossed in the trash can by an administrative member of the institution - get lost on some desk in a pile of other unsolicited materials - package being opened and ignored by some assistant or the above administrator - being read but forgotten because of time/space limitations - challenging the curator's strategy and pointing out limitations in his/hers approach From the beginning of my career I burned many bridges. People asked me why? I laugh and I responded that I also have a Master in Bridge and Roads Engineering so I can fix them. No, I did not intend to be a contrarian or obnoxious/arrogant. On a serious note, I envisioned a dialogue between my work and the curator or the institution. I always felt challanged to come up with new work that will fit the new context. I've perceived it as a personal growth just going through the process. Most of the time I did not get an answer or a trace of how was received. But, in some situations, when the positive answer came back, the rewards were imense. One of my first UNSOLICITED proposals on an international scale was made to the "museum in progress" in Viena, for their artist project pages in the newspaper "Der Standard". No response. The direct question will be: what are YOU doing when you are opening, reading and become interested in an UNSOLICITED proposal/project? Are you realizing IT? --------------------------------------------------------------- Conceptually, the above text should be my entry to UAP. But because I want to play by the rules, please find below a copy and partial visual materials I sent to Jens Hoffman on the occasion of an open ended show he curated in 2002 in Los Angeles at The Project gallery, called "A Show That Will Show That a Show is Not Only a Show". In his press release he noted the experimental approach tom this project, the various facets and communities he wants to bring together. That prompted me to send a package even if I was not part of the LA artist lodge. Just as a "passer by" or more exactly as a "driver by". Unsolicited/Unrealized/Unknown. Thank you for your time and for opening the gates for "anonymous" artists to have "unrealized voices". Laszlo Marsch ------------------------------- Jens Hoffman c/o The Project L.A. 962 B EAST 4th St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 August 2, 2002. WARNING: The enclosed letter and materials are a self-invitation and interaction with your curatorial approach. If you can use it as an artistic articulation and form of participation of a "passerby" or more exactly a "driver by" in the cultural dynamic of LA, please do so; or, obviously, you can just ignore and discard the package. Dear Jens, It was refreshing to read the exhibition strategy of your show. I recognized Benjamin’s reference to the flâneur and at the same time I was intrigued by the fact that you are using it in the context of L.A., a city on/of wheels and cruising. I like the fact that you have the opportunity to curate and to show each drive you take in the city; and that the show has so many openings and that the last opening coincides with the closing. I have a great affinity for closings. In 1997 I planned a trip to Munster, Kassel and Venice. Knowing that documentaX will close that week I created some signs with closing, clôture, chiusura and schließung. I was walking around the Fridericianum with the signs in my hand and later I documented myself holding the signs while sitting on the steps of the museum. Closing became a reoccurring theme in my voyages, especially the way I discovered L.A., making a one day stop while driving between San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona. Each drive added to my L.A. archive of maps, announcements, ephemera and printed residuals: the new information became a guiding point for the next trip. Enclosed, please find some copies I made after the materials I referred in the letter, excerpts from my own drives, signs and a CD of Daniel Lentz, a West Coast post-minimalist. His piece "Talk Radio" is an essence of the L.A. pulse. Enjoy. Thank you for the opportunity of gathering these thoughts and materials together.