PRESENTATION:Rirkrit Tiravanija-Jouez/Play

Trough his real-time experiences, Tiravanija often addresses broader social and political concerns, such as protest movements against the Thai government, that go largely unaddressed in Western media. Over the course of his thirty-year career, he has also come to incorporate into his art and installations a wide variety of media, including painting, printmaking, video, photography, mixed-media assemblage, and music.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: PHI Foundation Archive

Rirkrit Tiravanija’s solo exhibition “Jouez/Play” includes public programming and auxiliary events. Rather than creating art objects for static display, Tiravanija focuses on the interactions between people and their surroundings. As a central tenet of his practice, he encourages visitors to become active participants in the artistic experience, instead of passive consumers of culture. In many of Tiravanija’s artworks, the visitor’s involvement is required in order for the work to be fully realized. In this exhibition and since 2017, he has moved into the realm of illusory speculation, experimenting with technological integrations into artistic forms of practice. During the 1990s, Tiravanija began producing artworks that revolved around his own personal history, through the restaging of his everyday experiences. By presenting such alternative perspectives, he turns life itself into a work of art. As part of the exhibition at the PHI Foundation, two such works that exemplify his relational and playful approach are featured. “untitled 1996 (rehearsal studio no. 6)” (2023), consists of an actual music rehearsal studio based on the one Tiravanija used with friends for band rehearsals. Inside the installation, visitors can listen to recordings from past rehearsal sessions and are also welcome to pick up and play the instruments. The installation will also host scheduled rehearsal sessions and organized concerts with Montréal bands. “untitled 2017 (skip the bruising…)” (2017), consists of an immersive bar installation that was part of the set for Tiravanija’s frame-by-frame re-creation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul”. For the duration of the exhibition at the Foundation, this “set” will provide a place for visitors to meet, dwell, and hang out, while the artist’s recreation of the film plays on a television set within the installation. This work will be further activated throughout the run of the show with a program of workshops and events, as well as an actor “playing” bartender who will serve drinks to visitors on certain days of the week. Tiravanija seamlessly operates across the genres of installation, sculpture, and social practice, which are all perfectly conducive to the reinvention of transnational, urban-based identities, and provide a place for all to play. The exhibition includes an augmented reality work called “untitled 2023 (sitcom ghost)”, a new work in progress, focusing on the metaphysical nature of Tiravanija’s practice of generating imaginative realms. During peak hours, we might ask for your phone number at the reception desk at of PHI Foundation to notify you when you can experience the artwork. The artwork explores the complicated means of art production, investigating the tension between the artwork and the gallery space.

Photo: Rirkrit Tiravanija, Skip the bruising of the eskimos to the exquisite words vs. if I give you a penny you can give me a pair of scissors, 2017, mixed media, variable dimensions. Installation view at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York (2017). Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery

Info: Curator: Melissa Lee, PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, 451 & 465 Saint-Jean Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Duration: 3/11/2023-10/3/2024, Days & Hours: Wed-Fri 12:00-19:00, Sat-sun 11;00-18:00, https://phi.ca/en/foundation/