© Martha Rosler
Explore photographs depicting everyday life in airports, alongside words and phrases which draw attention to the built environment of those spaces
The images are from In the Place of the Public: Airport Series, which Rosler has taken with a 35mm camera since 1983, while in transit though airports. Alongside the photographs sit texts written by the artist. These explore the psychology of flying and the architectural aesthetics of airport terminals. Rosler also looks at the role of the flight passengers, the economics of flying and the strategies adopted by airlines. The sentences draw attention to the ways in which airport advertising, signage and architecture promise to take the visitor elsewhere, mentally and physically. The series as a whole represents Rosler’s sustained concerns with invisible labour, class, capital and the production of public space.
After governments tightened border and immigration controls in 2001 following the 9/11 airline hijackings, Rosler added texts to focus more strongly on the politics of scrutiny. 20 years on, with the climate of surveillance and security even more heightened, the series takes on fresh meaning and relevance. Rosler notes that the concerns she began exploring in the 1980s now resonate ‘especially powerfully in Europe and the UK in this period of historic refugee flows, Brexit, still expanding work, familial, and leisure travel – and now politically fraught forced deportations.’
Also included in the display are two single-channel videos Rosler created at airports and during her air travels. Nearby vitrines include a selection of in-flight menus the artist has collected, and Rosler’s artist book In the Place of the Public: Airport Series: Observations of a Frequent Flyer.
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Standing Man 1962,1982
Standing Man is a typical example of Pistoletto’s Quadri specchianti or mirror paintings. It comprises a mirrored surface made of highly polished steel measuring more than two and a half metres in height. A life-sized image of a man wearing a dark grey suit and standing with his back to the viewer has been attached to the mirror. The work is intended to be hung flat on, or slightly above, the floor, enhancing its illusionistic possibilities.
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artworks in Martha Rosler
Hervé Télémaque, The Weathervane 1969
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Tetsumi Kudo, Portrait of an Artist in Crisis 1980–1
Portrait of an Artist in Crisis 1980–1 is a sculptural assemblage that takes the form of a mass-produced animal cage painted a lurid green, inside which are the disembodied face and hands of a man rendered in wax. In the figure’s right hand are two paint brushes; the left hand grips a scatological form. Four smaller wire cages are suspended from the ceiling of the main structure. These contain, respectively, the small painted maquettes of a grey mouse, a yellow canary, a red heart and a yellow phallus. On top of the wax head and around the base of the cage is a tangle of multi-coloured wool and a number of smaller items including pills and coins. The original French title is written in cursive script on a small panel affixed to the front casing of the main cage; on the bottom right-hand side is inscribed the artist’s surname, each letter occupying a space between the thin wire bars
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artworks in Martha Rosler
Martial Raysse, Necropolis I 1960
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Art in this room
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Standing Man
1962,1982
Hervé Télémaque
The Weathervane
1969
Tetsumi Kudo
Portrait of an Artist in Crisis
1980–1
Martial Raysse
Necropolis I
1960