P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center

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P.S.1 Newspaper

2007 Fall

Everything is Vertical!: Antoine Guerrero speaks with Adel Abdessemed

Translated from French by Beatrice Johnson

Adel Abdessemed

Bourek

2005, fuselage d’un avion Aerojet Commander, 226 x 274 cm

Installation view "Art Basel Miami", 2005

© Adel Abdessemed. Courtesy the artist.

Private collection.

In 2001, Algerian-born Adel Abdessemed came to New York to take part in P.S.1’s International Studio Program, realizing a project called Adel has resigned. Returning to the U.S. for his New York debut, six years after his so-called resignation, Abdessemed speaks with Antoine Guerrero, P.S.1’s Director of Operations and Exhibitions, about racial profiling and transforma­tion in a post-9/11 world.

Antoine Guerrero: In 2001, you said “I quit.” What did you mean by that? I know you weren’t producing a lot of art during that time, but I do know you were talking, listening, looking, walking, and much more. What was go­ing on in your head when you came to New York after deciding to quit?

Adel Abdessemed: When I arrived in New York in 2001, I was often asked “Why New York in particular?” An artist friend of mine had told me that it was really a trip, and that I had to see it for myself. So I said “Why not?”

AG: Was it as crazy as you expected?

AA: Have you seen the architecture? [Laughs] Every­thing, everything is vertical!

AG: This is what our friend Chen Zhen would say: Surrounded by water, the city can only grow in height.

Let’s talk about your current show at P.S.1. The exhi­bition isn’t a survey or a retrospective, but a much more personal project, and all the works have been chosen by you. After your Studio Program residency, your deci­sion to quit in 2001, and the events of 9/11, what does this return to New York mean to you?

AA: For me, 9/11 is not part of my work. My work is a structure, like a tree. It has roots, a trunk, branches, and leaves. This new show at P.S.1 came when I was in a time of solitude, and of preparation of such a structure, a body of work. It was a happy coincidence.

AG: A lot of people say, and I think they are wrong, that your work is related to the events of these past years, and that you present a vision of 9/11. I feel like your work had already gone through a process before then, and you were already conscious of your work before that memo­rable date.

AA: You’re right, 9/11 was not a stimulator for me. It was tragic. I know terrorism and experienced terrorism in Algeria. That is why I left. But 9/11 did not wake me up. 9/11 was not the reason why I created the Bourek plane.Not at all. That would be a very literal interpretation of my work, and of those events.

AG: That’s exactly why I am happy that this exhibition and this article is happening. In the art world things move so fast and people often label artists after only a quick overview. A profile is set, and it is hard to move away from it. I have noticed that when people speak about you, they often refer to you as a “tough” artist.

AA: As you said Antoine, people have profiled me, labeled me. They are used to artists who represent the icon of the happy slave. On the other hand, I am a sort of cyclone, and people tend to drown with me. Indeed I am tough, and thankfully! The people who think I am tough are fascinated. [Laughs]

AG: It seems to me that a lot of people don’t want to approach you. Of course, a lot of them do but many seem to be intimidated. Do you often receive invitations for projects or exhibitions which are then canceled because people become afraid of what you might do?

AA: I try not to think about those people. To me, we are not part of the same world. I see myself as the assis­tant of Adel Abdessemed. I work for him. And the most important part is to work with him. It is very rare for me to refuse artistic hospitality. If someone invites me to do a project, they want an adventure, an idea, and having an idea is a very rare moment. If I have an idea, propose it, but the person wants to take power over the project, what am I supposed to do? [Laughs]

AG: On an unrelated topic, you started your career with painting. What is your relationship to it today?

AA: Fantastic. Beautiful. I love painting, and I love drawing. At P.S.1 I am also showing drawings. They were the last addition to the show.

AG: And the knives. You welded them here, cor­rect?

AA: Yes, a good half-day and we were done with all of it.

AG: Actually these knives present one of the most interesting aspects of this project. They arrived in crates as knives, but then will leave the building as something entirely different. It’s funny to think of the person watch­ing them go in, and seeing them again on their way out—not as a hundred plain knives, but these beautiful floral creations! [Laughs]

AA: Yes and I have knives from Morocco and from Turkey, but it was extraordinary for me to find some in New York as well.

AG: I’m really very happy that the exhibition presents only a small selection of your pieces, and that there isn’t an attempt to create a show on an excessively ambitious scale. This leaves the opportunity for someone else to do a larger project with you afterwards—a “serious” project.

AA: Well to say something about this Antoine, in the art world, the most important thing is the work we do. The opportunistic aspect of it all, we can just throw away.