Untitled (THE STATE OF THINGS)

Materials: bamboo, paper, string, glue, wood, rattan and Turkish carpet. Edition 1/5 + 1 AP + 1 EP + 1 PP. Dimensions: kite A: 240 × 170 cm, kite B: 88 × 77 cm.
b. 1961 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; lives and works in New York, US; Berlin, Germany, and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Lender: evn collection, Maria Enzersdorf, Austria

Two paper kites are propped against the wall. Paper is stretched on bamboo with gold-coated intersection points; golden stars adorn the paper surfaces. These magnificent kites have organic shapes, almost like leaves. They are part of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s work Untitled (THE STATE OF THINGS) and are also reminiscent of figures. In Thailand, these kite forms are used in royal competitions against each other. The larger one is read as “male,” the smaller as “female.” (1) (2) Tiravanija places two rattan baskets alongside them, one larger and one smaller, containing light-colored kite string. The string is unspooled on a dark-red carpet positioned in front of the two kites.

Vertically, the carpet suggests depth, while the kites point upwards (3). “Imagine you are falling,” Hito Steyerl begins her thought experiment on vertical perspective (4). It is also possible to imagine flying with the kites. Both orientations create a vertical movement across the dimensions of sky and earth, which are often not apparent.

When asked how exhibition spaces could be more fun, Rirkrit Tiravanija answers: “One thing for sure is that you’re not obliged to do anything, and that everything is free, in the sense that nothing is precious or nothing has value as it has been made into being, which means of course without the value you can interact with it without any kind of barrier or distance. (…) It should be a place that is free without barrier or without transaction or certain kind of expectation of exchange.” (5)

Mona Jas