The Joy of Being The Cause, Arthur Boskamp Foundation

Scroll Down for German

Zuzanna Czebatul covers the M.1 with a scaffolding tarp. The building is closed off to the outside, while the exhibition opens up into the public space and is always accessible; thus asking what happens to art when it is no longer perceived in frames and on plinths, but as an everyday-looking reconstruction phase. So if Czebatul’s work suggests placing the institution in a state of transition by covering the building, what does this change imply?

THE JOY OF BEING THE CAUSE initially breaks with an apparent transparency: No one can look directly into the foundation’s exhibition space any more. At the same time, this insight is covered by what is already underneath: The outlines of the house are repeated on the tarpaulin. This almost comic-like tracing raises the building to a fictional, narrative level. Only who is telling whose story – and for whom?

By obscuring the building, THE JOY OF BEING THE CAUSE points to an institutional agenda that is always up for debate; to the future goals pursued by art institutions as well as to their original rationale and condition for pursuing a public mission. Between these poles, the work stretches out like a net that denies insights and at the same time makes new views possible. Private art institutions are involved in political and social processes from which a public interest emanates. Czebatul’s work thus shows what makes institutional exhibition spaces exclusive: the personal signature of individuals in relation to the participation possibilities of many. In this sense, the M.1 is not only wrapped up, but entangled in the relationships it represents. The architecture becomes a canvas – but who or what does it actually represent?