The Scaffold / Das Gerüst
‘The Scaffold' is a text-based, installation in the open ground of Museum 1, Luzern. This public-art work was created through people’s participation, during Parvez’s six months long performative, solo show ‘COMMODI-FICTION’ in 2021. The exhibition with eight interventions playfully explored concepts proposed by Karl Polanyi – a Hungarian-Austrian economist, historian and thinker – who wrote 'The Great Transformation' an analysis of the industrial revolution and its impact on the world in 1948.
‘The Scaffold’, the central work of the show, refers to Polanyi’s concept of ‘false commodities’: land, human labor and currencies. The banality of the text ‘DIE ERDE IST EINE WARE’ serves as a provocation by stating the obvious in the face of the current environmental crisis and its relation with our highly industrialized and materialistic world.
Museum 1 has no walls, fences, roof, security or tickets. The installation remains visible and accessible 24 x 7 to all passing by.
CH-6043 Adligenswil LU
Published in: _957_Independent Art Magazine #123_COMMODI-FICTION_PARVEZ. September 2021
2. Parvez’s performative gestures: The subversion of the capitalist art economy - by Deeksha Nath (Art historian, Art Critic, Independent Curator)
First published in: Critical Collective, India. July 2021.
Reprinted in: _957_Independent Art Magazine #123_COMMODI-FICTION_PARVEZ. September 2021
Kunstwerk(e)
1. The Edifice a Live Art intervention where visitors built the Scaffold based on Parvez’s design, while he cooked and served a meal to thank/repay their labor with his labor and food.
2. A Game of Alphabets Visitors help the artist create alphabets through a game-like process. The letters with gold spray and colored glitter are installed on the Scaffold to read: DIE ERDE IST EINE WARE – referring to Karl Polanyi’s idea of ‘commodification’ of the land/planet.
Bright neon colors were applied on it later to give it a fresh look against the greyness of winter.
The material (wood) was chosen to match the surroundings and also to reflect upon the materiality and valuation of art works.
It is also easily reachable by public transport.
(Das Museum1 ist erreichbar in 20 Minuten mit dem Postauto 73 ab Bahnhof Luzern, Richtung Udligenswil oder Rotkreuz. Posthaltestelle Chliäbnet. Ebenso ab Postautohaltestelle Bahnhof Rotkreuz, Richtung Luzern.) This public-art work will stand till it is either destroyed/uprooted by nature or taken down by the artist/Museum 1. As the first set of words is handed to the Collecto
