ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Ryan Gander’s installation “Ghostwriter Subtext” consists of two single channel videos, one shown on a 16:9 projection, and one on a monitor. The projection documents an interview organized by Gander between the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and the architect Rem Koolhaas being interviewed by an anonymous ghostwriter on the subject of interviewing. Most of the questions put to Obrist and Koolhaas concern their own practice of interviewing artists and architects. The video is edited so that only shots of the participants listening to one another are visible. The spectator never sees anyone speaking during the interview. The monitor displays a subtext rendered in white text on a black background, documenting an internal debate as to the significance of the work, the appropriateness of the subjects and chosen methodologies. There are two voices, one of which refers to himself as “the artist,” although no indication is given as to which speaker is which. It is often unclear which voice we are reading. At times, the conversation offers a commentary on the first video, but it digresses into argument and counter-argument. Indeed, the conversation seems mostly concerned with the failure of the artist’s original intentions with respect to the first film, which is, in essence, an interview about interviewing and the potential erasure of meaning as soon as words are spoken. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ryan Gander (born 1976, Chester, UK) lives and works in Suffolk and London. He studied at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, Netherlands. The artist has been a Professor of Visual Art at the University of Huddersfield and holds an honorary Doctor of the Arts at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Suffolk. In 2017 he was awarded an OBE for services to contemporary art. Recent solo shows have been held at TARO NASU, Tokyo, Japan (2018); gb Agency, Paris, France (2018); Dazaifu Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan (2017); Remai Modern, Saskatoon, Canada (2017); The Contemporary Austin, TX, USA (2017); the National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka, Japan (2017); Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2017); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2016); Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, USA (2016); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (2015); Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia (2015); Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, Singapore (2015); and Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK (2014). Major projects include Liverpool Biennale, UK; Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia; British Art Show 8, Leeds, UK; Performa 15, New York, NY, USA; Panorama, High Line, New York, USA; Imagineering, Okayama Castle, Okayama, Japan; “The artists have the keys,” 2 Willow Road, London, UK; Unlimited, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Parcours, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Esperluette, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany; “Locked Room Scenario,” commissioned by Artangel, London, UK; ILLUMInations at the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; “Intervals” at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA; and “The Happy Prince,” Public Art Fund, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, New York, NY, USA. 

Special thanks to Artpace San Antonio, Emily Bryson of Ryan Gander Studio, Chad Dawkins, Stacey Hill, Reagan Johns, Amada Miller, Period Modern & Josh Welker. MVP goes to Chris Sauter.

Image: Still from Ghostwriter Subtext - (Towards a significantly more plausible interrobang), 2006; Courtesy of Ryan Gander’s Studio; © Ryan Gander