Otto Berchem, Going Public. January — february, 2002.
Going Public, 2001. Single channel video projection with three text posters, 2001. Video projection: 5:00min, looped, colour, sound. Each poster: 60x42cm, inkjet on paper.
Otto Berchem's Going Public considers the problematic nature of public art as a literal incursion into the everyday world. The video accidents befalling people in their encounters with works by Vito Acconci, Joesph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Alexander Calder, Dan Graham, Richard Serra, and Lawrence Wiener. The video has the tenor of the TV show “candid camera”, eliciting laughter at others misfortune and confusion. The work suggests that the full scope and functionality of public art as conceived by the artist is of nothing compared to how the work actually exists within the public realm. In addition to the video, a three texts posters displayed a fictional discussion between prominent artists as they extolled their perspectives and expectations of public art and the public. Berchem claims that the work is in the spirit of the Ad Reinhardt quote that: “Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting.”
Otto Berchem is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He attended Parsons School of Design, NY; Edinburgh College of Art; and Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam. He has exhibited throughout Europe and USA. Solo exhibitions include: The Dating Market, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam (2001); Everything I know about Liverpool I saw on TV, Fact, Liverpool (2003); and Survivor, Sleeper, Edinburgh (2004). In 2002 he was part of Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea, he has also exhibited at De Appel, Amsterdam; NP3, Groningen; Apex Art, NYC; and Bregenzer Kunstverein, Austria, amongst other places. He is represented by Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam.
