
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov
Unfinished Installation, 1995-2015
mixed media
dimensions variable
‘Unfinished Installation’ is an unfinished corner, everything is scattered all about and there is a collection of things that are not connected: crates, ladders, boxes, both empty and with some...
‘Unfinished Installation’ is an unfinished corner, everything is scattered all about and there is a collection of things that are not connected: crates, ladders, boxes, both empty and with some things inside, stacks of cardboard and paper, paint and other such junk. They stand at an improvised barrier made of crates and boards and try to figure it out, glancing at the plans and sketches lying on these boards left by the builders. The viewer’s curiosity is similar to that of a passerby who has paused on the street, having tilted his head back, and who is watching the construction of a new building. The installation was presented for the first time in 1995 in Johannesburg as part of the first South African Biennale. "In the space where the works of other artists have already been hung up and placed all around, one corner is absolutely unfinished, everything is scattered all about and there is a collection of things that are not connected: crates, ladders, boxes, both empty and with some things inside, stacks of cardboard and paper, paint and other such junk. One gets the impression that the construction of some installation was begun here, but everything stopped somewhere in the middle. But all of its details have already been unpacked and are lying on the floor. It is only the author's idea that remains incomprehensible - what will emerge when he finishes his work. This is precisely what attracts the viewer's attention. They stand at an improvised barrier made of crates and boards and try to figure it out, glancing at the plans and sketches lying on these boards left by the builders. In contrast to the already finished works nearby, time exists in this installation, because nothing attracts one's attention more than something not yet done, but that apparently will be finished soon." (Ilya Kabakov). Kabakov experienced and verified this "effect" completely by accident when he was working on the installation "Before Supper" at the Venice Biennale in 1988. "I myself could stand near such construction for hours, forgetting about everything".
Provenance
Exhibitions
Johannesburg, Africus. First South African Biennale, 1995
Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, Ilya Kabakov: Der Lesesaal - Bilder, Leporellos and Zeichnungen (as part of No 90, The Reading Room), 1996
Literature
Ilya Kabakov: Installations 1983 - 2000, Catalogue Raisonné Vol. II 1994-2000, N. 84, Kerber Verlag, 2003 (illustrated p. 66)
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