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You guess, {ths} is mostly NOT very excited about. Ohh, don’t get that wrong, there are great moments when you have a show. You know: the free beer at the opening, seeing your work on the wall, speaking with the audience, or the best thing: watching people looking at the artworks and finding all the little disgusting things in it, and may I remind you of the wonderful moment, when the gallery owner offer you his couch for sleeping? Really great moments!

But yes, it also means a lot of arrangement, damn much work with the shipping of your artworks, struggling with strange gallery behavior and such. If you are not in the position of having some drug filled up entourage working for you and manage everything, you are in a somewhat stressful position.

Anyway, the best thing at all is, when you travel to another country to present your work. That can mean a lot to an artist. People often ask, if {ths} could show his work in their country. So, how it is possible to display the artworks to a lot of people, in different countries as gallery space (without using the website as gallery space) and without the hassle of arguing with galleries? (It’s really arguing, because art is a damn business, you know.)

The goal was to have a solo show in different cities all over the world, at the same time. Sure, you can’t be at the same time on different places in the world, only if you have a clone army of yourself. But it isn’t important to be there, it is important that people can see the artworks.
The process of showing artworks in galleries is mostly just something that has nothing to do with the artworks itself. You manufacture a product, a supermarket tries to sell it (change “product” with “artwork” and “supermarket” with “gallery” here). Sometimes artworks are created exclusively for a show, but again, “showing” is not art, it’s business.

Why not using the world as gallery, placing artworks in countries instead inside galleries?

GOODNIGHT TRAVEL WELL: the show itself is the artwork

{ths} asked people in different countries to be part of the project. As part of the art itself, those who accepted where “elected” to be curators. Nice people I never met in person. Every curator got an artwork from {ths}, send by mail (real mail, remember?). Some where lost, some hit the ground.

Typically art is displayed inside galleries or in the streets (this is called “street art”). As much as I like the white walls of a gallery, I don’t like the limited space, the commercial feeling inside those cold rooms. My idea of having a show in – for example– Tokyo is to have a show somewhere inside Tokyo, not in a gallery, not in a predefined space that was made for showing art.

As part of the project the curators had to pick a location in their county, placing the artwork and take a photo of it. They could leave the artwork at place for other people to watch or just sell it, burn it, take it, whatever.

Those people aren’t gallery owners. The don’t have the experience presenting art to people. So, the places they chose where more or less special. Some where selected during lunch, some where selected while shopping in a supermarket, some where selected to show the beauty of their country, some because they were located on a route from home to their workplace. Everything was possible and I had no control about the selection.
In the spirit of my art, that was exactly what I was looking for. Things that happen randomly or without your control and you have to deal with it. Wonderful shit.

Oh yeah, we need to be conform with the mainstream, and so those places where called “Gallery”. Ever heard of the “Gallery Waianapanapa” in Hawaii or the “Gallery Niagara Fall ” in Canada? No? Because they just exist for a short moment in time. Just between the placement of the artwork and the creating of a photograph.

Have the artworks and the short moment of the show available for everyone, photos from the gallery places where published into Google Maps. This is probably the by far biggest exhibition or let’s say that you need to travel a whole day to see another artwork of the show in real life.

The show took place at 14 different locations: France, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Greece, Australia, USA (Hawaii and Los Angeles), Russia, Norway, Brazil, Argentina, China and Turkey. 3 additional artworks got somehow lost or never arrived their destination: UK (London), Chile (Valparaiso) and USA (New York City). Goodnight travel well.

View GOODNIGHT TRAVEL WELL in a larger map

The artworks

All artworks are mixed media/collage on paper, Dimensions: ca. 105 x 148 / 148 x 148 mm

TO LIFE
France, Paris
Gallery Centre Pompidou
Curator: Mathieu Puyau

HOT LUNCH
Canada
Gallery Niagara Falls
Curator: Jarek Mcjwsk
There are also two additional photos. First one is in the CN Tower, approx. 446.5 m high. Second one is in the Air Canada Centre during a game between Raptors vs. Celtics. Don’t know which team won. Two events on one place, wonderful!

FOUNTAIN OF LOVE
Japan, Tokyo
Gallery Senso-ji temple
Curator: Hosoo Fumihiko
I was told that each of the signs in the photo has a different purpose. Some are for good health, some for a happy marriage or traffic safety. The most popular one is for success in an entrance examination. So, FOUNTAIN OF LOVE fits great into the surroundings.

MA-A-A-AN
The Netherlands, Amsterdam
Gallery Red Light District
Curator: Tom Lawrence

ROCKET
Greece, Athens
Gallery Filopappou Hill
Curator: Tind

LOVE GOD
Australia, Melbourne, Victoria
Gallery Luna Park
Curator: Ben John Smith

BLITZ
USA, Hawaii, Maui
Gallery Waianapanapa
Curator: Christopher Raykovich
I couldn’t resist to show two additional photos of other Gallery places on Maui. One is the artwork somewhere in a restaurant during lunch (it’s up to you to find the artwork in the photo) and the other one is a good example on how to sneak the artwork into a local gallery. Full of nice artworks from local artist, ha! You see, BLITZ is sold out! This should be a trend. I invite everyone to place his own artwork into a gallery. Just leave it there and confuse the owner. “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”

MATILDA! …DON’T
USA, Los Angeles
Gallery S Durango Ave
Curator: Jeremy Goldberg
I was told that there’s is an In N Out burger at that place, a famous burger chain in Los Angeles. No place could be better for a show!

NO SOUL
Russia, Moscow
Gallery Red Square
Curator: Vas Probelov
This one is very exciting. First, the exhibition took place during the russian presidential election in march 2012, so we have a lot of army vehicles here at the Red Square. The fact that the artwork was flipped (we see the back side here, with the German words: “Mein kleiner Bagger” / “My small digger”) and that the actual artwork looks towards the Moscow Kremlin is very exciting and argue some irony. Especially if you have in mind, that we have Elvis on the front.

THE LOST
Norway, Oslo
Gallery Vigelandsparken
Curator: Bard Hole Standal

FAILURE LESS
Brazil, Sao Paulo
Gallery Juquehy
Curator: Eduardu Bellotto

SO ADULT ONE ‘X’ ISN’T ENOUGH
Argentina, Santa Fe, Rosario
Gallery Parque de España
Curator: Silvia Armentano

7-DAY TRIAL
China, Beijing
Gallery Tiananmen Square
Curator: Fabio Thile
In the photo we see Chao holding the artwork. Thanks Chao.

PART MAN-PART ELEMENTAL FURY!
Turkey, İstanbul
Gallery Karaköy
Curator: Mehmet Gemalmaz
Photography: Ezgi Özgül
First photo is from Gallery Karaköy, the others were made at different places.

BANG!
UK, London
This artwork reached London but is missing in action.

IT’S EASY! IT’S FUN!
Chile, Valparaíso/Santiago
This artwork is lost and never reached it’s destination. Where are you?

ALL NEW SHOCK!
USA, New York City
This artwork is lost.

Photos: by the Curators