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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Jordan Wolfson\u2019s Body Sculpture<\/i> goes through an elaborate range of gestures in a half hour cycle, from the sexually suggestive to the suicidal. The National Gallery of Australia has invested $6.67 million in this work and waited five-and-a-half years for it to be delivered.<\/p>\n
Conscious of the magnitude of the gamble he has taken, NGA director Nick Mitzevich tells us \u201cBody Sculpture <\/i>is a historic acquisition for the National Gallery, marking a milestone in contemporary art. As with other works in the national collection, it will continue to reverberate into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past, Mitzevich has suggested the piece is of comparable importance to Jackson Pollock\u2019s Blue Poles<\/i>. It\u2019s a big rap for Wolfson, a 43-year-old New Yorker who has made an international reputation with large-scale animatronic sculptures and installations that dabble dangerously with sex and violence.<\/p>\n
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Jordan Wolfson\u2019s Body Sculpture.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>David Sims<\/cite><\/p>\n So what exactly does the Australian taxpayer get for $6.67 million? Answer: a large gizmo, 17.98 metres long, 4.29 metres high, with a depth of 11 metres. A rivetted metal cube is suspended on the end of a heavy chain, manipulated by a robotic device attached to a gantry. The cube itself spouts a pair of robot arms with which it caresses its surface; beats out a staccato, like a gorilla thumping its chest; makes the delicate gestures of a dancer; flaps its hands like wings; wags a finger at the viewer; and forms a mock gun, which it points at itself.<\/p>\n The robot crane lifts and lowers the cube, dragging it from left to right and back again. At one stage it has a tantrum and begins bashing the chain against a metal column.<\/p>\n Unlike Wolfson\u2019s two previous animatronic sculptures, Female Figure<\/i> (2014) – a masked woman in a dance costume, and Colored Sculpture<\/i> (2016) – a leering Pinocchio doll, the new work is as featureless as a hunk of industrial machinery. The metal cube becomes a surrogate body through the movements of the robot arms, inviting the spectator to identify with the sensations it mimics.<\/p>\n Jordan Wolfson\u2019s Body Sculpture on display at the NGA.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s by no means obvious what\u2019s going on. After the cube rubs its \u201cchest\u201d for a while, it scrapes back and forth against the floor in sexual fashion. Wolfson refers to this as \u201cthe assault\u201d, although there\u2019s no apparent victim. When the cube points two fingers at its own \u201chead\u201d, at the end of the half-hour cycle, we are presumably expected to take this as remorse. I must stress, the chest and head are purely imaginary, as all we are seeing is a metal box with two agile appendages.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all folks! If this is the future of sculpture, the medium is in trouble. This mechanical pantomime, broken only by a few thumps and swooshes, may be \u201cextraordinary\u201d to some, but I suspect many viewers will find it dull fare.<\/p>\n I thought I was beyond the point of secretly wanting to be shocked by a work of contemporary art but watching Body Sculpture<\/i> go through its paces I realised I\u2019d been hoping for something a bit more outrageous, more challenging and provocative. By Wolfson\u2019s usual standards this massive work is almost demure.<\/p>\n At first glance it looks as if this imposing pile of factory hardware might turn on the audience in the ultimate AI nightmare, but one soon realises that Body Sculpture<\/i> is completely self-involved, a victim of its own pre-programmed choreography. Go along certainly, but don\u2019t expect to be thrilled and titillated. There is nothing in this work more shocking than the price we paid for it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n