n March 2003, Rainer Ganahl invited people to graffiti a wall with their opinions on US politics, transforming a booth in New York’s Armory Art Fair into a pictorial poll. Visitors were asked to respond to the phrase, “Please write your opinions on US politics…” The resulting dicta show a dawning group awareness of the immanent attack on Iraq. The comments would, at first, seem to be most comprehensible in the context of March 2003’s political circumstances; but as the booth’s walls filled up with opinions, a more reactional rather than reactionary discourse charged the stall into an active space, drawing a direct contrast with the passive viewing spaces traditionally associated with an art fair’s booths. Ganahl’s platform for this expression suggests an experiment rather than a document embodying an interesting non-reciprocal relationship between artist and audience. Maria Fusco (London)
Please, write your opinions on US politics
Published September 2003
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