Concept

-2008-

Dienstbesprechung was produced for the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart during the run-up to Jankowski’s eponymously titled survey exhibition. Following the tombola technique, a kind of lottery system, each member of the staff was instructed to switch jobs with another employee in preparation of the exhibition. In this way, Jankowski’s work had dramatic consequences for his show, but also for the entire institution.
A security guard became the new curator and chose which works would go on view, while the curator kept watch over the museum from within the confines of the video surveillance room. The director dealt with technical questions related to the installation of Jankowski’s artworks, and the technical director focused on writing the introduction to the catalogue as well as the opening speech.
In the resulting installation, 12 pairs of monitors screened videos recorded early on in the process, when the pairs who swapped jobs met for short, intimate briefings about their job descriptions. Another video, projected on a large screen, was commissioned from a film director and his camera team who hadn’t been told about the charade – and who accompanied the members of the staff as they undertook their new positions. It profiled the institution in the style of a corporate video. In this way, the museum was no longer simply the place where art is exhibited; it constituted the entire substance of the work itself.

Video