Heather Flow on Tino Sehgal’s exhibition at The Salomon R. Guggenheim Museum

NEW YORK - Following the extensive Kandinsky retrospective, the Guggenheim, under the direction of Nancy Spector, exhibited the work of Tino Sehgal. Spector deserves a loud round of applause for organizing such a show in the United States. Non-object based art is severely under appreciated by the ‘ivory-towered’ museums of the US.

The show surrounded me like a fog. When the fog lifted, reality looked and felt different. The work at the Guggenheim is both contemporary and antiqued. Immediately after the preview, I could only describe the show as having a beautiful immediacy similar to Jacques-Louis David’s “Death of Marat.” Sehgal’s work in the show is potently powerful, yet subtle and quiet – a rare balance.

Sehgal at 34 years old is the youngest artist to present work in the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim. No paintings, works on paper, or photographs were hung. No sculptures were placed upon pedestals. 

The work is interactive. Actors serve as living sculptures. As Allen Kaprow's invitations to “18 Happenings in six parts” stated “You will become a part of the happening; you will simultaneously experience them.” Sehgal’s work invites visitors to become a part of the exhibition and the show would not properly function without viewers.

Visitors first encountered “Kiss” (2002), placed in the rotunda. “Kiss,” inspired by Rodin, is a couple performing choreographed embraces. As with Simon Forti's work, “Kiss” is performed slowly and repeated many times. There are no instructions at the museum. After encountering “Kiss” you move through the ramped rooms as you wish. Viewers can interact with the sculptures or disengage from them — Sehgal successfully incorporates the Cagian philosophy of chance or the permissive.

My articles always incorporate pictures. No photographs are included because Sehgal demands his work only be documented orally. Sehgal refuses to compose or sign a written contract. The sale of his work is conducted orally with a lawyer and notary public on hand to witness the transaction. The work is described; the right to install the piece for an unspecified number of times under the supervision of Sehgal or one of his representatives is stipulated; future documentation, which extends to any subsequent transfers of ownership, is banned; the prices are stated. All of these details are organized through Sehgal’s dealers: Marian Goodman Gallery in New York and Jan Mot in Brussels.

The performances of Joan Jonas, Lynda Benglis, Vanessa Beecroft, and Gabriel Orozco (to name a few) are commodified through film and photography. Though the performance is the true artwork, the artists gave way to the bull of the commercial market, which insists on a tangible object to be sold. The result is inauthentic and saddening. For his work to exist in both a museum and a gallery, Sehgal constructed a new playbook. For the future of performance, Sehgal’s playbook will serve as a guide. What the future holds for performance, only time with tell.