WHITEWALL

This week in Switzerland, Lawrence Weiner’s 2016 interactive work OUT OF SIGHT has been installed for the occasion of Art Basel, selected as this year’s special outdoor Messeplatz project. Through June 19, the language-based piece invites passersby to interact with the late artist’s creative take on the game of hopscotch, which has been exhibited in multiple languages at art spaces and events across the world.

“We are delighted to feature OUT OF SIGHT by Lawrence Weiner as this year’s Messeplatz project. Lawrence ranked among the greatest artists of his generation and was a frequent visitor to our fairs,” said Art Basel’s Global Director Marc Spiegler. “The way Lawrence led his life as an artist, mixing rigor and humor, was and continues to be an inspiration to younger artists.”

OPEN GALLERY

Lawrence Weiner, "OUT OF SIGHT," courtesy of Art Basel.

Instead of the typical hopscotch board, Weiner’s iteration is an oversized display filling the succession of boxes with type meant to inspire viewers through movement. Here found in four languages (German, French, Italian, and English), the witty installation winds across the Messeplatz, painted directly onto the ground. Passers-by the path will find themselves met with words like, “Assume a position,” and, “The destination is straight on,” in the work’s largest iteration to date.

With hopes of lending encouragement that can be applied to life situations lend Weiner has said of those viewing it, “With whatever situation they find themselves in, the minute they have any thoughts about themselves going FROM HERE TO THERE, they first have to imagine themselves doing it, that is, ASSUMING A POSITION.”

By Pearl Fontaine