Included among the special artists projects of the 53rd Venice Biennale, Mike Bouchet’s American suburban home sits in the canal outside of the far-end of the Arsenale. Mildly inconspicuous in it's position, the structure is far enough in the distance, removed from the banality of much of the art display, that it could nearly be overlooked or not seen at all. However, upon noting it's presence, the erection becomes quietly spectacular, not quite the pink elephant in the room (or water) but certainly in the realm of the novel and outlandish.
A two-story family house, the garage and front-steps are on level with the water’s surface. The nearby surrounding are small boats and a large ocean vessel. In the not-too-far distance is a docking platform in front of an old warehouse building (presumably once used for trade and currently serving as additional venues for various exhibitions). The prefabricated structure is physically inaccessible, only to be viewed from a distance. Displaced and made impossible to closely examine, the visual impact derives an iconic image of the U.S; odd and lonely, lost in it’s lack of sameness typical for such a suburban staple.
The piece is essentially a ready-made, removed from it’s original context and re-posited in an unaccustomed setting. Possibly it begs the question of place, a distinctly American house resting in Venice, Italy (a city built on water and steadily sinking). Through it’s objectification, it’s utilitarian purposes removed through it’s subsequent display, it can still be recognized for precisely what it fails to be by a definition of location: American/suburban/home. Albeit, it can still very much be recognized for what it logistically defies, calling attention to simultaneous acknowledgment of place and placelessness.
In as much as we can define Bouchet’s work as an American suburban home, it would be an impossibility to clarify such a statement. In the inexplicable perception of perceived infinity that is the U.S. suburbs, an individual structure such as one implemented by the American-born Bouchet becomes unidentifiable beyond it’s most basic understanding. In it’s recognizability exists it’s lack of significance, a complete absence of awareness beyond the definitive façade.
A large latex sheet becomes subjected to the poetic action of document and study through cleaning by artist Jorge Otero-Pailos. Utilizing a yet-to-be restored wall in the historic Doge Palace of Venice, Italy, a certain residual history is recorded effecting a striking resemblance to an afforded mass despite the materials given thinness. The work presents a forward gesture of discussing a building, it’s history of time and use as well as it’s capability to produce a visual mark outside of it’s self.
To portray the wall, Otero-Palis acted directly towards it, addressing it through essentially a version of rubbing. The scale of the final piece is such that a skin has been peeled off the entirety of the walls surface and hung for display. It can be viewed from all sides, it’s visual heaviness far outweighing it’s actual physical weight. The process involved in it’s making is a transference of layers, a depository of information to a blank front.
In evidencing an accumulation and use, this work becomes another layer, another surface which also manages to acquire yet further purpose through it’s application. An immobility and uninterrupted preservation of the architectural space is advantageous to the artist. This leads to the suggestion that spaces such as facades can become collections by themselves through unmediated subsistence, that through sitting they can begin to reveal a language and account of prior circumstance.
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