Kiosk

Society operates under a multitude of unspoken rules that define what is considered normal and what falls outside of it. With its own set of invisible regulations, the art gallery serves as a prime example of the impossibility of a singular normative understanding. On one hand, the boundaries seem strict: what can be touched and what cannot; where one is allowed to go and where not. Yet, these rules are almost never explicitly written down. Instead, it is usually the role of the gallery attendant to clarify them. This is a person who spends a significant portion of their life within exhibitions. Quite literally, they are someone exceptionally close to art.

In the first room, the artists have placed an installation reminiscent of a kiosk. The exhibition space is, first and foremost, a staged setting, thus, sketches and markings are enough to convey ideas. Everything is an illusion, which is why the kiosk needs nothing more than a façade to be exhibited. Positioned between the gallery attendant and the visitor, the kiosk highlights their distinction: who is inside the realm of art and who is not. A television placed on the kiosk’s counter plays a video depicting a series of failed handshakes. Despite the best intentions of artists and curators, there will always be room for miscommunication and failure between art and its audience. However, this should primarily be understood as a fundamental characteristic of art – as a language of imprecision. To paraphrase a forgotten author, art is born, above all, through misunderstanding. It is in this endless ambiguity that its greatest value lies.

See also: façade; “Twenty-five ice creams, quickly, I beg you!”; border zone; checkpoint; a hole in the wall; guard booth; control center; propriety; red line; art world; outsiderism.