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MAP P I NG S
O F B EIN G
S e l e c ti o nw s i n te r 2003
Maria Bussma nn C hr is t oph Fink Bogdan Hof f m a n n
Program HallamTuckPublication Edward
T h e D r a wl n g C e n te r N o v e m b erl -D e ce mbe r18 , 20 0 3
t t lA P P l N GS OF B E I NG S elec t io n sW i n t e r 2 0 0 3 Maria Bu s s m a n n C h r i s t o p h F in k B o g d a n Ho f f m a n n Intr oduction b y S use tte Min
ln tro d u c ti on an instrumentfor scientifically and transparent, In general,a map is assumedto be clear,objective, As metaphorand the earth'ssurfaceor directingone to a certainlocationor destination. representing to dealonly object,a map is thoughtto be a spatialembodimentof knowledge,but traditionalmapstend map truth-to the depict with the world as it'sbeenorganizedby the State.Wouldit be possibleto visually and BogdanHoffmannare ChristophFink,MariaBussmann, the essence,the purity-of /ivedexperience? of actualplacesand not interestedin creattngliteral,transparentmapsor objectiverepresentations act of mappinga systemof ideasand theirdrawingshighlightthe performative momentsin history.Rather, as linkedto the real.Theattemptto well as and selective in waysthat are at oncesubjective experiences fails,yet the redemptive and Hoffmannultimately reachsuchan end in the mappingsof Fink,Bussmann, "transience" of traveland to sharethe personaland subtlephenomenonof, for example.the imperative and technology cartographlc remains.In an almostconsclousbacklashagainstinformatlon communication diagrammedreadingof science,ChristophFink'shandwrittenpapermapsand notes,MariaBussmann's and BogdanHoffmann's truth), with mapping text that is itselfconcerned Tractatus(a LudwigWittgenstein's and discontinuous, the incidental, and New YorkCity,synthesize sparelandscapeof Bremen,Germany, "charting." "mapping" The artists or of acts throughdecidedlynon-utilitarian contingentnatureof experience Rather. locationsor destinations. are not, however,interestedin chartingor mappingspecificgeographical pause and we that of Wittgenstein, words the in theirart suggests, rationality, in a critiqueof scientific "wonderat the world'spresencein and aroundus: Not howtheworld is'. but fhatit is "' the act of mappingin a moreconventional seriesexemplifies ChristoohFink's"Atlasof Movements" is a meansof observingnature,situatingman in it, of recontext.Finkwrites,"traveling cartographic art contactwith it." Hiscontactwith naturethroughwalkingand movingfollowsthe conceptual establishing by accompanied of nature photographs oracticeof HamishFultonand RichardLong.In contrastto Fulton's of text and Long'ssignaturemarkson the surfaceof the earthand focuson pathsthat he walkson-both on being of travel, transience the on journeys-Fink concentrates of their whichemphasizethe destinations on the road,on the stagesalongthe way. way' Byfoot,bicycle,car,train,and plane,Finkmovesfrom placeto place,takingnoteseverystepof the paper recordings, sound drawings,photographs, carbon-copy or overlayof sketches, His paperlandscapes shapes,sizes,and colorsare culledfrom presented different in notations cutouts,maps,and statistical of hundredsof notesscrawledin a smallcarbonnotebook.Aftersortingthroughand organizinghis array or data.Finktranslatesthesenotesinto a visuallanguage,arrangingthe resultsinto a kind of index (mimetic "graphic images" of making the geometry,and a practicethat combinessurveying, chorograph, with the productionof numericaland alphabetic calligraphy) and coding, color signs, and conventional and texts."' inscrlotions Finkbeginshisjourneyanew by organizinghls experiences ln eachof his movementsand installations, and throughdifferentconfigurations of variedscalesand sizes,creatingvisualtranslations into installations in dexterity and skills as indicatedby layeredlegends.His remarkableorganizational calculations sheeraccumulatlons compressing and at once) trips different three as many material{fromas synthesizing Air Museumin Open Middelheim the at of informationinto an exhibitionspacewas recentlyhighlighted as well a biketour he oncetook from Ghentto Sicily, Antwerp.There,Finkcreateda piecethat represented solar the through another and Middelheim to one aroundthe worldfrom Sicily as imaginaryJourneys, a pluralityof readings,and an experience a systemicfieldof interrelationships, thereby fashioning system, On a more localscale,Finkmakesuse of everynote,recelpt, spatialdisorientation. of overwhelming he found image,and scrapof paperhe collectson hisjourneys.Whilethe thin circularpaperstrips souvenir, reveals makesfrom thesematerialsmay seemmerelylikerandompiecesof paper,a prolongedviewing miles and time signify example, Thewidth and lengthof the paperstrip,for multiplebits of information:
traveled,and the edge of the paper-untouched,serrated,or sinuated-indicates separatemomentsof experience, transitions of time,and traversals into differentspaces.His interwovenpaperconstructionsholesfrom a paperpunchelthe punched-outpaperitself,stripsconfiguredin all shapesand sizes-serve as comparative diagramsthat aid the viewerin seeinghis differentmodesof traveland the "stratification and diversityof things." At firstglance,the presentation of materialseemsscientific, almostquantifiable, dry,and a tad overwhelming. Thenumberof annotatedand translatednotes,as well as Fink'sintricatelegend,pointto a clearintentto communicate, revealing a prosaicand sometimeshumorousnarrative that'slessabouta place "chronometered" thanaboutthe intervalstagesof movingfrom placeto place.Forexample,Fink's notes,as he callsthem,revelin the mundane,hisshorthanddescriptions rangingfrom accountsof the weatherto observations abouttrainschedules to descriptions of physicalexertionand the findingof sustenance. 6 . l 8 ' 1 6 tr " a ina r r ive s 7. 19'27"sit 8 . l 9 '5 6 "d e p a r t;tr a sh - b inosn th e p la tfo r ma r e empti ed 9 . 2 0 ' 4 0 "a n n o u n ce m e n t yellow lO.2l'45"Brayerto the northeast,bandsof cloudsin a wide fan; sun prettylow, dim clear-white ll.24'40" ticketcheck 12.27'30" leaflesstrees 1 3 .2 8' 3 0 "e a t sa n d wich( fo o d - vo lu m einstim eand space) 14.29'15"brakeson. Tothe north,hereand there band of curledcloud+ open spaces '15. 30'18"stop (Lokerenl 16.30'31"a flightof piSeons;train ratherfull from movement#39 oromenadesMiddelheim lst promenade TuesdayNovember3Oth1999
His minute-by-minute visualtravelogues hint at the absurdityand impossibility of his attemptto "capture," "the pretenseto disinterested as he puts it, instantaneousness...of the moment."In contrastto cartography's observation and scientific calculation in orderto producean idealcorrespondence betweenmap and world, Finksmappingis performative, focusingon the catalogingand indexingof his own personalexperience. WhereasFink'spracticeof mappinginvolvesan amazingeffortto superimpose spatialelementsand gallery, experience onto the wallsof a Bussmann's and Hoffmann's mapsare epistemologically oriented,in that theydeconstruct and explorethe veryformsof knowledgewe employto comprehendmeanings. The "Wittgenstein 90 or so drawingsfrom MariaBussmann's Tractatu{series1.l996-1999) constitutean ambitiousattemptto map her readingof LudwigWittgenstein'sTractatusLogico-Philosophicus. In the only publishedduringhis lifetime,he offerssevenpropositions bookthat the philosopher and numeroussubpropositions for understanding the workingsof language. propositions Cryptic,witty,terse,and profound,Wittgenstein's ultimatelyaim to explorethe difference betweenwhat can be saidand what can onlybe shownand the confusionthat resultsfrom the failureto graspthis difference. ArthurDantohas remarkedthat Wittgenstein was obsessedwith picturesin the "lt was hisviewthat propositions Tractatus: in fact are pictures,picturesof facts,picturesthat showwhat "pictures" must be the caseif theyare true...pictorial equivalents to verbaltruths."'Bussmann's explorewhat Wittgenstein might havemeantwhen he articulated the differencebetweenshowingand saying. juxtaposeswhat she refersto as "artisticconcepts" In eachof her 8 x ll inchdrawings,Bussmann with Wittgenstein's numberedpropositions. At the edge of the right-handsideof the paper,she drawsan arrow from the bottomto the top of the page.Thelineboth standsfor "thought"and actsas a metaphorical divide betweensayingand showing.In reference lastproposition-"Whatwe cannotspeakabout to Wittgenstein's pass we must overin silence"-thereare no imagesto the leftof the arrow.
systematic, of Wittgenstein's whimsicaldrawingsmay initiallyseemto be visualcontradictions Bussmann's aphorisms: following with the propositions, which opens presentation of scientific-looking L Theworld is everythingthat is the case. l.l Theworld is the totalityof facts,not of things.'
imagesare at onceintriguing, associative writings,Bussmann's And yet to thosefamiliarwith Wittgenstein's "The is the world (S2.04)," facts atomic of existent totality baffling,and quiteapt. In her drawingof Bussmanndrawsthreeround,egg-likecircles.Theouterlayersignifiesthe world,whereshe sketchessmall from havingsexto givingbirthto goingto work to engagingin war. figuresengagedin everydayactivities Shefillsa quarterof the secondlayerwith thin trianglesor segmentsof cakethat signify"facts."Thecoreis of facts:the world is what we thinkit is leftempty,whichI readto saythat the world is a collection that is part of a drawingsfittingintoa grid or systemof coordinates Now imagineeachof Bussmann's that alludes the next,creatinga unitaryvisualconstellation largernetwork,with eachdrawingtransforming one.In the Tractatus, of the worldwith her own, moresubjective to and linksa directexperience in and throughlanguage.In otherwords,all relationsare depictsthe world empirically Wittgenstein and the restof the world can be meditations, Bussmann's thoughts, our containedin the logicof language; and understoodonlythroughlanguage,and not outsideof it. communicated, expressed, these "magic" and the way theyvisualize drawingsliesin theiraccessibility of Bussmann's Thelyrical 4.0.|41: as can be seenin her drawingof proposition internalrelations, ln the fact that there is a generalrule by whichthe musicianis ableto readthe symphonyout of the score,and that the symphonyfrom the lineon a gramophonerecordand from this there is a rule by whichone couldreconstruct the score,hereinliesthe internalsimilaritybetweenthesethingswhichat again-by meansof the first rule---<onstruct first sightseemto be entirelydifferent.And the rule is the law of projectionwhich projectsthe symphonyinto the languageof the musicalscore.lt is the rule of translationof this languageinto the languageof the gramophonerecord
drawsa recordplayerand two handscenteredat the bottomof the page,a recordwith little Bussmann stickspushingoutwardon the left-handsideof the page,and an ear on the rightside,with a needle-like wordsand largecloudof squigglydesignslocatedin the upperhalfof the drawing.Wittgenstein's pictureof a be the to not appear score does notation or imagesremindus that a musical Bussmann's (or musicalpiece-instead,when we seea musicalpiece,we seea record CD),a recordplayer,or if lucky,we remindsus of the natureof the Bussmann of the conductorand his/herorchestra. seea liveperformance phenomenon-theeuphoriaas well as the internalmusicalrelations-oflisteningto a pieceof music. drawings. to the mysteryof Bussmann's cryptic,almostriddle-likeaphorismscorrespond Wittgenstein's psychoanalysis of the founder imagine, and Freud-in which,one might In a graduateclasson Wittgenstein behindthe would haveappearedthe morealluringof the two to an artistinterestedin the motivations propositions that Tractatus's of the writing gestureto draw-it was the mysterioussubtextof the spare her riSorouscalculus, YetdespiteBussmann's to mergeart and philosophy. initiallyinspiredBussmann onto language mapping task of impossible and in its endless projectultimately-andconsciously-fails himselfin his laterwritingswould refutethe mainthesisin lhe Tractatusby reality.Wittgenstein for example-that languagedoes not mirror realitybut g-in tnvestigations, Phitosophical acknowledgin that,rather,the meaningsof wordsare understoodaccordingto theirsocialcontextor use.Despitethese Mel Bochner's shortcomings lif they can be calledthat),in the traditionof JosephKosuth's"investigations," on Color, Remarks Wittgenstein's countingdrawings,and GaryHill'svideoof hisyoungdaughtermisreading of ordinary for the viewerto explorethe intricacies drawingspresentan open invitation Bussmann's languageand the everyday. what is not saidlor seen)that enablesone to seethat In the worksof BogdanHoffmann,it is specifically Tractatus, on Wittgenstein's are commentaries drawings is, if Bussmann's That which can be saidor seen.
then BogdanHoffmann's drawingscouldperhapsserveas applications of someof Wittgenstein's propositions, examplesof the natureof his philosophy. Hoffmann's installation is comprisedof a large-scale map of the areabetweenBremen(thecitywherehe currentlylivesand works)and NewYorkCity.In the centerof his installation, Hoffmannpresentsa map madeout of hand-laidpaperbrushedwith blackacrylic paintcut intoten thin verticalstrips,eacha few inchesapart.On the blackenedareasof the paper, Hoffmannhas scratchedwith an etchingneedle,creatingfragmentedlinesof longitudeand latitude.The presentation staircase-like of the stripssuggeststhe artist'simaginedflightpatternoverthe AtlanticOcean (hisvisitto TheDrawingCenterwill be hisfirstto the UnitedStates)or the geographicpositioning of Germanyand New Yorkthat one mightfind in any schoolbook,atlas,or geographytext.Thesimple topographicelementsof his map are accessible and easyto read,yet alsofar from the sortof precise graphicrepresentations notingrelativepositionsand elevations that one mightfind on a surveymap. Basinghis drawingson promotionalimagesborrowedfrom maps,postcards, and travelbrochures, Hoffmannpresentstwo drawingsof panoramicaerialviewsof the citiesof Bremenand New YorkCityon eachbookendof the installation. Althoughthe Domeof Bremenis recognizable, NewYorkCitylookslikea genericmetropolitan areacomprisedof a denseclusterof buildings. Theimagenextto it mightbe Staten lsland,but the absenceof any recognizable landmarkleavesone uncertain. Hoffmann's drawingsof Bremenand NewYorkCityare conceptually and visuallyabstract;theyact as mnemonicpointsof departure.Hoffmannremainsdistantfrom his mise-en-scene. Hisdecisionto keephis mapssimple,handmade,off-scale, and deadpandefiesany ideological functionthe map mighthaveas an instrumentfor the State.WhileSimonSchamahas observedthat "...somanyof our modernconcernsempire,nation,freedom,enterprise, and dictatorship-haveinvokedtopographyto givetheirrulingideasa naturalform,"'Hoffmann's personalized mapsare what theyare:abstracted, representations of arbitrary placeshe hasvisitedor imaginesvisiting-Paris,Warsaw,Hamburg-ratherthan politicaltools. EdwardSaiddescribesWittgenstein's writingas lessa deliveryof finishedthoughtthan a seriesof momentsfullyembeddedin experience. Onecouldarguethat Bussmann's ambitiousbut impossible engagementwith Wittgenstein, Fink'sattemptto "illuminate the mysteryof our existenceand the meaning "leavethe world as it is,"in the wordsof the of being,"and Hoffmann's spareand open-endedlandscapes philosopher StanleyCavell.In so doing,theyencourageus to look at the grammarof mapping-not in order to reacha place,but to refreshhow we seethe world. -S usette
,ti i n
quotedby EdwardSaidin, "Labyrinth 1.LudwigWittgenstein of lncarnationsi TheEssays of MauriceMerleau-Ponty," in Reflections on Exileand Otherfssals {Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press,200216. "lntroduction: 2. DenisCosgrove. MappingMeaning,"Mappings.Ed.DenisCosgrove(London:ReaktionBooks,Ltd,1999)12.His introduction, a discursivereadingof mappingand maps,is excellentand veryuseful. 3. ArthurC. Danto,"lllustrating a Philosophical Text:Mel Bochner's Wittgenstein Drawings,"in Philosophizing Art:SelectedEssays University of CaliforniaPress,1999)104-105. {Berkeley: 4. All the propositionsare quotedfrom LudwigWittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, trans.C.K.OgdenlLondon:Routledge & KeganPaulLTD,1988,first publishedin 1922). .l7. 5. SimonSchama,"lntroduction" lo Landscape and MemorylNewYork:Vintage,1995)
Maria Bu ssm a nn I 2 3 4 5 6 7
that is the case. Theworld is everything Whatis the case,the fact.is the existenceof atomicfacts. Thelogicalpictureof the factsis the thought. proposition Thethoughtis the siSnificant of elementarypropositions are truth-functions Propositions Thegeneralform of truthJunctionis: lp'6,N(E)l Thisis the generalform of proposition. Whatwe can not speakaboutwe must passoverin silence
was done between1996and 1999.Altogether,the seriesconsists Tractatu!'series The"Wittgenstein of 95 dr aw i n g se, a c hl 0 l /4 x 8 5 /1 6i n c h e s,and i s one of threeseri esI havedone on the w ork of E ach (th eo th e rtw o b e i n gS p i n o zaand Merl eau-P ontyl . seri escombi nesa phi l osophi cal philos oph e rs text with a givenartisticconcept.I beganthis seriesrelativelyunprepared,havingkept awayfrom the on the groundsthat it would have enormousamountof secondaryliteratureon Wittgenstein itself,the TractatusLogico-Philosophicus project. Ihe Aside from preventedme from completingmy most characteristic only "help"I usedwas an indexthat documentedthe frequencyof the Tractatus's in the pivotal expressions the graphic representing forms of a system terms.Stepby step,I developed (resembling "world," a a segmentof a circle text. Forexample:A round,egg-likecirclerepresentsthe pieceof cake)standsfor "the fact,"a squarefor a "thing." text,whichstatesthat "Theworld is the totalityof In thisway,the secondsentencein Wittgenstein's nicht der Dingel,could easilybe facts,not of things"lDie Welt istdie Gesamtheitaller Tasachen, my listof signsbeganto grow.An arrow Soon square. expressedby a dividedegg and a crossed-out "states of affairs,"a darkened stoodfor "thought,"a mandorlafor "atomicfacts,"bracketsfor "is "white" "is case," and so on. Wittgenstein not the field for or backgroundfor the case,"an empty assigneda decimalnumberto everysentencein the book,and when I draw a sentence,I notethat numberon the rightor left handsideof the paper'sedge.Eachdrawingis meantto fit into a sentence's thoughts.As was to be expected, in a networkof transformed and to participate systemof coordinates soonbecametoo limitedto liveup to my ideaof artistictranscription. my simplesign-system the seriesdevelopedits own dynamic. Nevertheless, Tryingto revealthe divisionbetweensayingand showingby meansof drawingand by meansof made himselfin the lractafus'sfamouslast language,one inevitablycomesto the pointWittgenstein sentence:"Whatwe can not speakabout we must passoverin silence."Toshow this division,I useda thin arrow on each side of the paper.lt "moves"from the veryedge to the middleof the paper.A "simple"sentencewould fill the paperalmostall the way to the right.A "difficult"one would increase t he s pac eo f w h a t c o u l dn o t b e d ra w nto t he ri ght. one, locatedbetween All in all, I had to changemy methodto a more open and text-associative c ont em pl a ti oann d d i s ta n ti ro n Y. explicitlysaidthat the purposeof the book would ln the prefaceof the Tractatus,Wittgenstein alreadybe fulfilledif someonetakes pleasurein readingit with understanding-even,I might add, if t he r eadin gh a s b e e n" v i s u a l i z e d ."
Born 1966,in Wue zb urg ,Ge r m any ;liv es and wor k s in Vienna ,A u s t r i a .
Maria Bussmann t J n t i t l e d d r a w i n g s fr o m th e " Dr a win g s to wittg e n stei n's Tractatus" seri es, I996-99 G r a p h i t eo n p a pe r l0 5/]6 x 8 l/4 in.
Mar la Eu3s m ann, Unt it leddr awingsf r o m t h e 'D r a w i n g s t o Wi t t t e n s t e i n 's T r saec rt a i et su1,{9 9 6 - 9 9 . G r a p h i t e o n p a lpO5 e r ,/1 6 x8 l /4 i n
C h rist op h Fi n k A selectionof notes gathered between 1995-2003: (inthe broadestsenseland,more Up to noq my researchhas beendirectedtowardthe landscape particularly, towardhow my bodystandsin relationto it-its reactionto and mutualexchangewith the lt is ableto showthe I usetravelas a researchmethod.Travelcan broadenone'shorizons: landscape. and the meaningof being. the mysteryof our existence of thingsand illuminate and diversity stratification as possiblewhat is happeningaroundme as precisely Thatis why I try,duringmy trips,to understand or strategythat I useduringparticularly and insideme as I go. In so doing,I havedevelopeda discipline continually Thisstrategyinvolves travelperiodsll callthem "movements"). and condensed intensive clouds, the changing across: the I come everything literallydescribing makingnotesand sketches, of people,animals,and goods.Thusarisepilesof notesas well as precipitation, the movements of spaceand my experiences whichI useto reconstruct photographic materialsand soundrecordings, of the drawings,and soundpieces.I try to giveform to the complexity time throughsculptures, experienc+-apoeticalinvestigation. A part of our storYin our time. of humanscale,measuringitselfagainstthe earth. Therelationship the of existence; of the "layered-ness" the experiencing I thinkit hasto do with experiencing, the historyof a with my own history, history;confronted of color,smell,light,sound,activity, experience pleasantthings, quiet, rich, the cheap, loud, whispering, years shouting, of history, squaremeter,a million the immense the thingsI hate,the water,the earth,the swarmingof peopleand animals,the landscape, it light...as eternal changing clouds, the drizzle, the the the downpours, system, the weather of complexity I am here,I am here,as it was,as lt is. of existence, was,as it is.Theconsciousness As cyclingis one of the waysin whichI get around,herewithsomenoteson the effortof a long (onthe occasionof an homagefor veterancyclingheroPinoCerami): distancecyclingexperience {whetherin sportsor a featthat has beenaccomplished ...Despite the factthat one can relativize perhaps cyclists, too, are overcomewith afterwards, ridiculous and that winningoftenseems otherwise) exhibition... and the openingof a successful thisfeelingof emptiness-likeus artists,afterthe installation And evenif the heroeswe mighthappento becomeare forgottenin the foldsof history,it is all All these a partof our age,our own durationin time,renderingliferichin experiences. momentarily that,amongotherelements,givemeaningto our effortsbelongto our memory.lt is our experiences feeling,the smellof Nothingcan makeus forgetthisfeelingof beingon earth,thisterrestrial existence. one'slegs.Tohave wheator asphalt,the feelingof ridingintoa headwind,the morningfog caressing "feet within us; awareof what is force human/animal on the ground":awareof the body,of the one's ar oundus . to whichone belongsand,at the sametime,of being intothe landscape Thefeelingof disappearing of old initiationrites, veryawareof oneself.Perhapsthis leadsus towardthe significance there,decidedly, Beyond for the universe. ultimate: earth and the for the for the other, for oneself, towardresponsibility bread,beyondstudY.HaPPiness. aloneunited the one who decides alonedecisive, and controlat the sametime submission initiation involving the searchfor and the forgettingof self for the other a responsibilitY, , elgiu ml i;v e sa n dw o rk si n Gh e n t,B e l g i um. Bo rn1 963,i n G hentB
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B o g d a n H o f f m a nn forms,whichthe artistthen motifsintosimplified drawingstransformtopographic BogdanHoffmann's needleetching,and drawing.Afterselectingmotifsfrom maps, uponthroughwoodcutting, elaborates the imagesto his postcards, and publicitymaterialsfor townsin Germanyand Poland,he transfers photographs, Hoffmannhas useof prefabricated impersonal etchingplates.Buildinguponthe seemingly developeda repertoireof signsthat hasallowedhim to createa uniquelanguageof drawing.Overthe and it is drawingthat years,hisexperience as a graphicartisthasinformedhiswork as a draftsman, York."In the series,Hoffmann techniquein the series"Bremen-New comesto the fore as an autonomous which he delvesin his prints.After problems into of foregroundand background the same addresses areaswith an etching intothe blackened largeareasof the paperwith ink,he scratches blackening white lines,breakingthrough paper's The scratched-in smooth surface. the handmade needle,destroying the blacksurface,alsolie withinthat surface,creatinga deepsenseof spaceand texture.Thelarger liftedfrom an atlas. whitesurfacesof the untouchedpaperare intendedto denotecontinents journey locations betweengeographical simple:Takinga possible approachis comparably rloffmann's motifsintoeithersinglesheetsor general map and landscape as hisstartingpoint,he processes but ratherin the graphicstructures or touristichighlights, He is not interestedin historical compositions. in some TheDomeof Bremen,for example,is recognizable of material. createdthroughsuchprocessing pictures into smooth blurry aerial relatively turns those workingmethod tmages,and yet Hoffmann's graphictextures.Hisgraphicprocessremovesfrom the depictedtopographyanytraceof pathos,any
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Hiddenbeneaththe abstractgraphicqualitiesof his or of far awayparadises. illusionof either"homeland" is the de factosignlanguageof a humanityrulingthe world. worK,thereliesan odd idea:Topography has becomecommonknowledge-viaschoolatlases,illustrated language this sign only because And the artistapplyit in sucha naturalway. et cetera---<an dailynewspapers, magazines, Hoffmandeniesany loftyclaimsfor his drawings.By usingthis sign languageof powermore or less casuallyfor his graphicand drawingcycles,the artisttransformsthe semioticsof powerinto something from the dramaof immigration with the historical muchmore modest,thus removingany association geometry geographic and "Bremen-New impersonal between the relationship The mutual York"series. of the motif. the casualness abstracteddrawingintensifies Hoffmann's -A ri e
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TheDrawingCenter's documenting a seriesof publications Thisis number4l of the DrawingPapers, providing of drawing. public programs a forum for the study and and exhibitions to the in part,throughcontributions The2003-2004seasonof theDrawingPapersis madepossible, by EllenGallagher. Additional supportis provided Program. TuckPublication Edward Hallam "Mappings in part,withthe supportof the Flemish Winter2003"is madepossible, of Being:Selections Artsfor Foundation fortheVisual The Andy Warhol also thanks The Drawing Center of Belgium. Community season. in the 2003-2004 art exhibitions its supportof contemporary de Zegher Catherine ExecutiveDhector
GeorgeNegroponte President Boa rd of Dlr ec t or s
BeattyAdler Frances 12
Chairman
EricC.Rudin Vice-Chairman
DitaAmory MelvaBucksbaum Frances Dittmer ColinEisler Factor Elizabeth BruceW.Ferguson lV JamesR.Hedges. WernerH. Kramarsky* AbbyLeigh William S.Lieberman MichaelLynne lrisMarden Catherine Orentreich Elizabeth Rohatyn* Sadaka JaneDresner AllenLeeSessoms MichaelSteinberg JeanneC.Thayer* AndreaWoodner 'Emeriti D r a w l n g C e ntsr Pu b llca tlo n s Adam Lehner,ExecutiveEditor Luc Derycke,Designer Ann Tarantino.Coordinator The Drawing Center 35 WoosterStreet N e w Y o r k ,N Y l 0 0 l3 Iel: 212-219-2166 Fax: 212-966-2976 www.drawingcenter.org
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Christoph Fink, Overview:Bicyclelrip Studies,Movements #6, 7, 8, 12,28, 35, 37, lrom the "Atlas of Movements" series, 2003 {detail).Ink on paper, l6 3/g x l40 9/16 in