In this Snapshot video we have a look at John Bock’s installation Appeldorn, 2014. The work was exhibited at Art Basel in Basel 2014, in the Unlimited sector.
Official description:
He didn’t drive. He was driven. Driven to any- thing but a dull velocity. His harddrive was even harddriven which had nothing to do with the fact that his software was not softdriven, nor softworn, no. He wears me out. Driven to despair, driven by strong autobiographical allusions, driving me insane. Driven insane: it doesn’t happen. I was driven insane. No. It drove me insane. Driven to extremes. Driven to distraction. He didn’t drive. He was driven. By what? Watch.
The term which John Bock employs most often in relation to his works is that of ‘Kunstwohlfahrt’ (art welfare). The idea of artistic social services seems to stand in stark opposition to Bock’s oeuvre, which violates all certitudes and conventions. But the artist is serious in this matter. Quite aware that no ideal viewer exists, he endeavors with his highly invasive works to attack each viewer individually, to shake them up privately, inducing them to reconsider the terms and ideas which have uncritically established the foundations of life.
Snapshot: John Bock: Appeldorn, 2014, Art Basel in Basel 2014, Unlimited sector, June 17, 2014. Sadie Coles HQ; Anton Kern Gallery; Gió Marconi; Regen Projects; Sprüth Magers.
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