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ARTCAT



Christopher Williams, For Example: Dix Huits Leçons Sur La Société Industrielle (Revision 7)

David Zwirner Gallery
525 West 19th Street, 212-727-2070
Chelsea
February 14 - March 29, 2008
Reception: Thursday, February 14, 6 - 8 PM
Web Site


How to start? A door opens. A cash register opens. A can of sardines is opened. A mouth opens. An unzipped zipper opens up a view. Four bottles of beer are opened, with a bottle opener…

That’s good but it’s not our story. Let’s try again.

How to read a tire sidewall? Ratio of height to width (aspect ratio). Width of tire in millimeters. Maximum cold inflation and load limit. Load index and speed symbol. Tire ply composition and materials used.

The Michelin rubber plantation at Dau Tieng, Vietnam was opened in 1925. The Michelin manufacturing plant in Saigon, Vietnam was closed in 1971. 75% of the tires used in the city of Paris in 1968 were composed of Vietnamese rubber…

OK that’s too specific. Let’s try again.

“Williams prefers to distance himself from the gestures typically associated with professional photographers, relocating his practice across a complex series of citations and diversions of modern photographic knowledge. Every camera predicts its user, who is already included in its program. So Williams goes to work on the program itself, confronting it with the potential of his own joblessness…” -John Kelsey

OK. Let’s try again.

One of 406 Ceiling Panels (23 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches each) Covered on the back with striped paper (green and white) Each Stripe is 8.7 cm. From “Frost and Defrost: A Work In Situ By Daniel Buren” Otis Art Institute Gallery, 2401 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California January 28 – March 4, 1979 Hal Glicksman, Gallery Director; Christopher D’arcangelo, Assistant to Daniel Buren Douglas M. Parker Studio, Los Angeles, California May 4, 2006

Let’s try again and again.

A camera opens. A cash register opens.

Open the door. Begin your descent down the ramp. To your right there are four shelves with approximately 40 catalogues representing the work of gallery artists. To your left you see the receptionist (Alexis) and the intern (Silva). As you approach the desk, you are greeted with smiles. On the desk, along with other printed materials, you find a press release, announcement card, etc. On the back of the announcement card for the present exhibition, you find a list, which reads as follows:

1. Kodak three point reflection guide ©1968 Eastman Kodak Company, 1968 2. Release 3. Release 4. Archäologie 5. Michelin XZ, Plaubel, Makina 67 6. Ethnographie 7. Théâtre Verité 8. Varieties 9. Mozambique 10. Tokyo 11. La Palma 12. Bruxelles, van Laack 13. Release 14. Release 15. Release 16. Westkunst, Dziga-Vertov Group, Konrad Klapheck, Turkish moon, Kapitalistischer Realismus 17. The photographic industry that programmed the camera 18. The industrial complex that programmed the photographic industry 19. The socio-economic system that programmed the industrial complex 20. Christopher Williams 21. Couleur Européenne 22. Couleur Soviétique 23. Couleur Chinoise 24. Cartridge Replacement 25. Release 26. Release 27. Program: Views according to which this device and the various theories framing it will function for the artistic production the same way as the artistic production functions as advertising for the order under which it is produced. There will be no other space than this view according to which etc… 28. Cartridge Replacement 29. Release 30. Release 31. Release 32. Release 33. Release 34. Release 35. Release 36. Release 37. Reread this program again and again, become its author, correct and repeat it, distribute it, and when we are all its author, the old world will crumble to make way for… 38. Release 39. Release 40, 69, 70, 71, 72…

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