Martin Walde | Leaving something open to evolution...


		Leaving something open to evolution... \| Jens Asthoff

		...continued from page 5

terms:		The psychogenic quality of certain material or situations that triggers obsessive compulsive behaviour in some people is another of Walde's central topics, and he takes it up in various ways. Tie or Untie and NOFF #4 are clear examples. Single episodes, however, from the two series Enactments and Loosing Control (both begun in 1990), which later were combined into Clips of Slips, are based on obsessive penchants. "There was this girl on the bus poking at that bit of polystyrene in her hand. She'd pull off a bit, hold it to her ear and then slip it in her bag. [...] Simply looking at a particular material can pick a cord in us that subsequently triggers obsessive or ritual behaviour." (13)
Wormcomplex	p.1, 2, 5
Tie or Untie	p.2, 5–7
The Key Spirit	p.2
Woobies	p.2
NOFF#1#2#3#4	p. 2, 6, 7
Handmates	p.4, 7
Jelly Soap	p.4
Clips of Slips	p.4, 6	To a great extent Walde's works are simply given over to the public, and turn into a test case for institutions and individuals. In some way this is expressed by the artist not setting any rules as to the correct way he wants the work to be dealt with, but much rather defines such object alone. The manner in which one is to deal with it, or how it can be dealt with at all is precisely what interests the artist. What is allowed? What should one do? What is not allowed? Walde's works often test the limits of museum codes of behav iour, but they also touch upon patterns of behaviour and habits of thought unrelated to art, yet deeply embedded in our everyday experience. The openness of such questions is always part of the project. In their minutely composed, yet "evolutionary open" relationship between the work and its reception, Walde's works express his interest in research in particular and, so to say, his own style. These are not defined through a primarily specific language of form and/or subject matter, however, succeed instead in their attempt to break free from such formal ways of thinking. Ultimately, says Walde, "every phenomenon [is subject to] other factors and management strategies that you have to develop specifically, in order for them to work." (14) In his Innsbruck exhibition Walde made the aspect of performative interaction, inherent in all of his works, partially even more explicit. In two of them, NOFF #4 and The Thin Red Line (2005), gallery employees were active as "institutional performers". Unlike previous shows, staff would accompany NOFF #4 throughout the entire exhibition, a production running without pause and in which visitors may partake more actively than before. This is also true for The Thin Red Line (2005), a further refinement of the project Can you give me something? (2003). By means of a voluntary gift visitors come to participate in the work. Looking at NOFF first, the title of this open series of works is an abbreviation that stands for "Nature's Own Flexible Facsimile". Walde discovered the slogan on a label for fishing bait, namely plastic imitations of insects and worms. Sometimes he simply calls
Der Regen hat eine angenehme Temperatur
Der Regen hat eine angenehme Temperatur	p.4
Woobie #2	p.5
NOFF #4	p.5, 6–8
Enactments	p.6
Loosing Control	p.6
The Thin Red Line	p.6, 8
Can you give me something?	p.6
The Tea Set	p.8



				(13)Ibid. (14)Ibid.









authors:
Jens Asthoff		the concept "true to life illustration".	(continued on next page)