Review
“The establishment of a trustworthy gallery atmosphere is a theme also humorously considered by Fareed Armaly and Christian Philipp Muller’s Auftakt (1990). The work was originally conceived within the context of the Koln Show, an extensive event arranged by several of the most prominent galleries in Cologne at a time when the city played an important role in the international art market. All of the galleries were located in the same building, and the staircase connecting them became a main arena for socializing. To contrast the silence of the white gallery spaces, the artists piped a piece of muzak, or what they called ‘functional music,’ through the stairwell.
Fora subsequent touring exhibition, the artists then brought the ambience of the Koln Show to a series of galleries in Stuttgart, Graz and Zurich, exporting the sound of the region’s commercial art centre to its relative periphery. While the recording was played in transitional spaces outside of the galleries (Auftakt means ‘prelude’), the work also consisted of a series of five silk-screened, framed texts exhibited in the gallery spaces. The texts were excerpts from sales brochures for muzak about constructing environments for stimulating human behaviour. Armaly and Muller added texts of their own, similar in style and tone, extending their construction of the perfect gallery opening atmosphere: an environment for socializing, networking, spectatorship—and economic transaction.”
(Excerpt)