2009 : THE OBSTACLE IS TAUTOLOGY, FRONT DESK APPARATUS, NEW YORK

Description : Front Desk Apparatus is pleased to present the second iteration of the “The Obstacle is Tautology,” an ongoing project organized by Benoît Maire and Amir Mogharabi. Originally held in Vilnius, Lithuania, “The Obstacle is Tautology,” is repeated in different forms and locations. Each iteration, takes as its organizing principle, the successive content of an overarching conversation between the two artists. A tautology (both a symbolic statement that is true by way of deductive logic, and a superfluous statement rendered arbitrary by its repetition) poses problems pivotal for commencing a paradigm shift away from the tenets of conceptual art. Although the existence of a tautology cannot be empirically asserted in the world, it is still apprehended by reason as an idea, as an object of intellect, as pure referent repeated into being. As such, there exists a disparity between reason and experience, whereby reason serves the imperative for what is otherwise impossible to define, impossible to objectify. And yet, we go on lying, we go on defining, we go on asking and answering why, we go on categorizing; when our responsibility may precisely b, to undermine the logic of experience, undermine the logic of love and the disambiguation of poetry. To resolve our ongoing dissatisfaction with explanation, by not asking for any more than what art has to offer as a limitless medium in itself, or beside itself.

Organizers : Benoît Maire and Amir Mogharabi

Artists : Jesse Cohen; Guy de Cointet; Lucie Fontaine; Joelle Leandre; Benoît Maire; COCO DU NOM; Jeffrey Perkins; Adrian Piper; Soma Wingelaar