3. 5
Ideally, the artists should have an important position
in our society as free and independent minds that can
produce vital reflections about sociopolitical condi-
tions of the time we live in.
Unfortunately many times artistsâ critical and impor-
tant reflections are being used or misused for other
purposes such as promotion of products, gentrifica-
tion, and cultural colonialism. In that case, the unique
role of the artist, as the one independently and criti-
cally reflecting our society, becomes a simplified and
bounded function with a purpose and task dictated by
others.
The only way the artist can avoid that his/ her role
becomes a function is by constantly questioning the
structureshisorherartisbeingpresentedwithin.Bien-
nales and big-scale exhibitions like Documenta should,
as the most influential contemporary art structures,
be a natural object for investigation.
The necessity for questioning the structure
- a text by Tijana Miskovic
DocumentaisconsideredtobeaVaticanofcontempo-
rary art today, carried by a belief in the critical poten-
tial of art. Documenta promotes itself as the optimal
art platform for critical thinking and political postures,
which is why decision makers and intelligentsia of the
art world, pilgrimage to Documenta in search of latest
tendencies. Documenta and other big art events such
as Venice Biennale have thus an enormous interna-
tional impact and a great power to influence the pub-
lic opinion. This influence should be evaluated by par-
ticipating artists as well as the audience, who should
not only absorb the messages communicated to them
through the curatorial strategies, without being skep-
ticalabouttheirmotivation.Theyshouldnotfallasleep
but be critical and constantly question the structure.
A show labeled as âcritic showâ can give the public a
feeling of being critical, but it can, at the same time,
be drawing the public attention away from big and se-
rious issues that authorities donât want to create critic
4. 6 7
around. There could be a diversion taking place in the
curatorial choose.
Curating goes hand in hand with filtration. Certain
topics, artworks and artists get highlighted as cen-
tral while others get a peripheral position or even go
unmentioned. Furthermore curating always includes
an educational element, which facilities learning and
achievement of knowledge, values and beliefs. The
person or the institution teaching would naturally also
have the power to shape the knowledge and thus be
in a superior position. The choice of content and the
methods is influencing the interpretation of the artis-
tic message and the receivers are being led in a prede-
fined direction of thinking.
Faking the intention can be another method for diver-
sion also used in the world of contemporary art. Often
a profile based on inclusion and interaction is being
created in order to give an image of openness. Most of
the contemporary art exhibitions are thus considered
open, good and even humanistic platforms and are
as such wrapped in a certain kind of unquestionable
goodness, which keeps the critique away.
imposed censorship coming from specific authority,
and thus more sophisticated and complex one, which
often has an even stronger control effect.
A âcritic showâ can thus be a setting for fake criticism
that gives us an illusion of being critique and having
the freedom of thinking when we, in reality, are direct-
ed in a certain direction controlled by external forces
and often interests of economic or political nature.
This fake criticism within the contemporary art today
could be the source of apathy in our society. If the
lack of real concern or interest in making a change in-
filtrates the art community, and what we consider to
be the avant-garde force in our society falls asleep,
we might risk that our world takes a direction of nar-
row-minded and almost totalitarian thinking.
Since 1988, Thierry Geoffroy/ COLONEL has been
questioning big staged art events like biennales, art
fairs, and Documenta, with critical art formats such
as BIENNALIST â an art format that responds to and
questions, through artworks the motivations of bien-
nials and other global art events. He looks into the art
events and their motivations asking questions such
as: Could 860,000 visitors have been intoxicated by
A delay in contemporary art could also be seen as a
diversion strategy. Even though we believe that the
contemporary artists should react on the important
issues and emergencies of todayâs world, we are not
giving the artists appropriate platforms for immedi-
ate expression and impact in time. The artists cannot
show art connected with the pulsing and unpredicta-
ble present, since all the exhibited artworks have to
be defined, produced, and explained in advance. Either
because of the practical and curatorial planning or be-
cause of a wish to control and have a possibility to cen-
sure, most of the contemporary exhibitions are from
the beginning in delay.
To navigate within these contemporary art struc-
tures, the art institutions, the artist and the art think-
ers are furthermore recurrently victims of an ongoing
self-censorship. The self-censorship makes it difficult
to reach the authentic and honest artistic intention.
What is exhibited is just one part of the story while the
other, at least as important, part has been auto-cen-
sured. Auto-censorship is more difficult to localize or
fight then the direct censorship, since it is an embed-
ded control function the contemporary art is carrying
in the DNA of its structure. It is more invisible then
an apathetic gaze that keeps them away from react-
ing? Are global art events designed to make people
cry about something in order not to make them see
something else? Is there a strategy for being delayed
in order to create a distraction from the present and
avoid debating important topics of today? If the most
important contemporary exhibitions in the world like
Documenta focus solely on past- or few present relat-
ed issues contextualized by curators or art historians,
how can we then expect art to be avant-garde?
For decades artists have questioned the canvas, the
pigment, and since the1960-70s conceptual artists
like Marcel Broodthaers have questioned the structure
of the museum which led to Institutional Critique in art
with artists such as Daniel Buren, Andrea Fraser, and
Hans Haacke. With his art format BIENNALIST, Thierry
Geoffroy/ COLONEL questions the global art events.
Hetakesthethemeofeachbiennialseriouslyandstud-
ied in order to contribute to the debate the biennales
want to generate. The artist is with this format often
on-location testing the pertinence of the biennales.
In 2007 Thierry Geoffroy/ COLONEL did a project
called âThe Next Documenta should be curated by a
5. 98
carâ and âThe protest schoolâ. In 2012 The BIENNAL-
IST project was respectively supported by the ZKM
Museum Museum of Contemporary Art for conducting
operations at the Athens Biennale curated by Nicolas
Bourriaud and by the Sprengel Museum for operation
done at the Venice Biennale.
In dOCUMENTA 13 he realized the project âThe Emer-
gency will replace the contemporaryâ which got a
strong attention in the media and among art critiques.
With a UN blue helmet as an artistic metaphor for inno-
cence, Thierry Geoffroy/ COLONEL appointed himself
to be âa peace-war researcherâ and discovered the
enormous presence of an active weapon industry in
documentaĂtat Kassel. The message was communi-
cated as text on a tent placed under the Joseph Beuys
tree on the lawn in front of the Fredericianum just af-
ter the press conference June 6th, 2012. The tent
with a statement âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE
THE CONTEMPORARYâ was removed and confiscated
by the dOCUMENTA organizers. Ironically enough this
kick started, the same days, a growing occupy move-
ment dOCCUPY, that made a tent encampment in the
same area and which was welcomed by dOCUMENTA
13 curator.
From March 30th to June 24th, 2017, Thierry Geof-
froy/ COLONEL, lookes closer into the Documenta 14
and VeniceBiennale 2017 in the exhibition#documen-
tasceptic, on location, in a specially designed online
platform and in the gallery SABSAY in Copenhagen.
dOCUMENTA (13) - June 6th 2012
6. 1110
âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ; 3 kilos, 230 cm x 170 cm; spray paint on
tent; in the art collection of Museum for Contemporary Art - Roskilde - Denmark; 2012; Statements
on each side: âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ, âFĂHRUNG, GUIDANCE AND
NAVIGATION IS A THREATâ, âTHE CONTEMPORARY IS ALWAYS TOO LATEâ
7. 12 13
âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ; 3 kilos, 230 cm x 170 cm; spray paint on
tent; 2012; Statements on each side: âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ,
âFĂHRUNG, GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION IS A THREATâ, âTHE CONTEMPORARY IS ALWAYS TOO
LATEâ; in the art collection of Museum for Contemporary Art - Roskilde - Denmark.
9. âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEM-
PORARYâ;3kilos,230cmx170cm;spraypainton
tent; 2012; Statements on each side: âTHE EMER-
GENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ, âI
AM NOT WORKING FOR THE TOURISM OFFICEâ,
âART IN DELAY CAN NOT HAVE IMPACTâ, âTHE
CONTEMPORARY IS ALWAYS TOO LATE, NEVER
IN TIMEâ
12. 22 23
âTHE NEXT DOCUMENTA SHOULD BE CURATED BY TANKSâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint
on tent; 2012; Statements on each side: âFAKE CRITICS CREATES APATHYâ, âTHE NEXT DOCUMEN-
TA SHOULD BE CURATED BY TANKSâ, âCAN ART BE IN ADVANCE OF THE ARMâ, âART DISTRACT YOU
FROM REALITYâ
13. 25
âTHE NEXT DOCUMENTA SHOULD BE CURATED BY
TANKSâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint
on tent; 2012; Statements on each side: âFAKE
CRITICS CREATES APATHYâ, âTHE NEXT DOCU-
MENTA SHOULD BE CURATED BY TANKSâ, âCAN
ART BE IN ADVANCE OF THE BROKEN ARMâ, âART
DISTRACT YOU FROM REALITYâ
14. 26 27
âDOCUMENTA FAILLED TO DEBATE ABOUT WARâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent;
2012; Statements on each side: âDONT CENSURE DOG WATCH ARTâ, âDOCUMENTA FAILLED TO DE-
BATE ABOUT WARâ, âULTRACOTEMPORARY ART IS THE FUTUREâ, âKNOWING WHAT I KNOW MAKES
ME A MONSTERâ
15. 28 29
âDOCUMENTA FAILLED TO DEBATE ABOUT WARâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent;
2012; Statements on each side: âDONâT CENSURE DOG WATCH ARTâ, âDOCUMENTA FAILLED TO
DEBATE ABOUT WARâ, âULTRACOTEMPORARY ART IS THE FUTUREâ, âKNOWING WHAT I KNOW
MAKES ME A MONSTERâ
16. 31
âDOCUMENTA IS DANGEROUS BECAUSE IT HIDES
THE REAL EMERGENCIES LIKE THE TANKSâ; 2,2 ki-
los, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; white
spray paint on tent; 2012; Statements on each
side: âDOCUMENTA IS A FLEA MARKET NOT ABLE
TO REFLECT ON TODAY EMERGENCYâ, âIS DOCU-
MENTA IN KABUL TO SELL TANKSâ, âDOCUMEN-
TA IS DANGEROUS BECAUSE IT HIDES THE REAL
EMERGENCIES LIKE THE TANKSâ
18. 34 35
âALWAYS QUESTION THE STRUCTUREâ; 2,2 kilos, 200cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2015;
Statements on each side: âALWAYS QUESTION THE STRUCTUREâ, âIS DOCUMENTA IN ATHENS TO
SELL TANKS FROM KASSELâ, âULTRACONTEMPORARYâ.
19. 36 37
âALWAYS QUESTION THE STRUCTUREâ; 2,2 kilos, 200cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2015;
Statements on each side: âALWAYS QUESTION THE STRUCTUREâ, âIS DOCUMENTA IN ATHENS TO
SELL TANKS FROM KASSELâ, âULTRACONTEMPORARYâ.
20. 38 39
âWHAT DOES DOCUMENTA WANT TO EXPORTâ, ; 2,2 kilos, 200cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent;
2015; Statements on each side: âWHAT DOES DOCUMENTA WANT TO EXPORTâ, âULTRACONTEM-
PORARYâ, âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ,âCAN POETRY BE FRONTALâ
21. 40 41
âLA PLUIE NâABOLLIRA PAS LES QUESTIONSâ; 2,2
kilos, 200cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2015;
Statements on each side: âLA PLUIE NâABOLLIRA
PAS LES QUESTIONSâ, âINNONDE PAR LâINSPIRA-
TIONâ
23. 44 45
âCAN THE REVOLUTION BE SELFISHâ; 3 kilos, 230
cm x 170 cm; spray paint on tent; 2015; state-
ments on each side: âCAN THE REVOLUTION BE
SELFISHâ, âNOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATEâ
âART= RETARDâ; 3 kilos, 230 cm x 170 cm; spray
paint on tent; 2015; statements on each side:
âTHERE IS NOT A GOOD BIENNALE WITHOUT BIEN-
NALISTâ, âART= RETARDâ
25. 48 49
âI COMMITTED SELF CENSUREâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2013; statements
oneachside:âISCLIMATECHANGESTILLANEMERGENCYâ,âICOMMITTEDSELFCENSUREâ,âSHOULD
ARTISTS QUESTION THEIR COMMISSIONERSâ
26. 50 51
âIS CLIMATE CHANGE STILL AN EMERGENCYâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2013;
statements on each side: âCAN A NATION WELCOME ANOTHER NATIONâ, âIS CLIMATE CHANGE
STILL AN EMERGENCYâ, âIS ART FLEXIBLEâ, âDEMANDING PALACEâ
27. 52 53
âIS CLIMATE CHANGE STILL AN EMERGENCYâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2013;
statements on each side: âCAN A NATION WELCOME ANOTHER NATIONâ, âIS CLIMATE CHANGE
STILL AN EMERGENCYâ, âIS ART FLEXIBLEâ, âDEMANDING PALACEâ
28. 54 55
âNOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATEâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2013, statements
on each side: âTHE EMERGENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ, âIS AMBIGUITY THE NORM
HEREâ, âARE BIENNALE DANGEROUSâ, âNOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATEâ
29. 56 57
âKNOWING WAT I KNOW MAKES ME A MONSTERâ;
3 kilos, 230 cm x 170 cm; spray paint on tent;
2013; statements on each side: âNOW BEFORE IT
IS TOO LATEâ, âEMERGENCY VENICEâ, âKNOWING
WAT I KNOW MAKES ME A MONSTERâ, âTHE EMER-
GENCY WILL REPLACE THE CONTEMPORARYâ
31. 60 61
âARE BIENNALES DANGEROUSâ; 2,2 kilos, 200 cm
x 140 cm; spray paint on tent; 2015; statements
on each side: âARE BIENNALES DANGEROUSâ,
âNOW IS NOWâ, âNOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATEâ
33. 64 65
Welt Online, June 8th 2012 Journal of curatorial studies, June 8th 2012 Artribune, Reportage Documente2013, July 14, 2012art Das Kunstmagazin, November 11, 2011
34. 66 67
Kunstforum, 2015 C&, Reportage from 55th Venice Biennale 2013 Huffpost, May 30, 2013 SV1, Reportage from 55th Venice Biennale 2013
36. 70 71
Thierry Geoffroy/ COLONEL has been using tents sin-
ce 1991. Tents can be both looked at as paintings and
as sculptures. The artist uses the sides of a tent as a
canvas for painted statements. After, each tent be-
comes a mobile sculptural object. Some of Thierry Ge-
offroy/COLONELâs tent artworks have been exhibited
in The Maldives Pavilion, Venice Biennale, IT; The ZkM
Museum, Karlsruhe, DE; Marta Herford - Museum fĂŒr
moderne Kunst, Herford, DE; Kunsthalle OsnabrĂŒck,
OsnabrĂŒck, DE. The tents are also in the collection of
Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark as well as pri-
vate collections in Paris, Copenhagen, and SĂŁo Paulo.
Thierry Geoffroy/ COLONELâs artistic praxis is driven
by the vision of creating awareness about dysfuncti-
ons in the world through art. He has since 1988 been
working with art formats that can support the pro-
duction and presentation of artworks produced in the
now. One of the earliest formats Ultrafast gave the
setting for a line of exhibitions that were changing in
different ways. Either they were moving in space, for
example exhibitions on clothes of people who are mo-
ving; or they where changing the same place but with
new artworks daily replacing the old ones.
This ultrafast pulsing way of working has not only to
do with speed, but also with time. This is why the ar-
tist later introduced another term Ultracontemporary,
which links more to the notion of time and carries on a
criticalpositioningtotheestablishedunderstandingof
contemporary art. Contemporaneity is an interesting
phenomenon because it forces us to make a connecti-
on between us and the time. Con âtempo (with time) is
alluding some kind of togetherness or closeness to the
present moment. To express with time (Con âtempo)
would thus mean to express while you are still with in it.
Todayâs understanding of contemporary has become
so open that it basically covers all kinds of art made in
Tent on the roof, Nancy 1978
Tent on the roof,
Nancy 1978
and after 20th century, or art made and produced by
artists living today independently of its pertinence for
the present moment. By using the word Ultra and crea-
ting a new term Ultracontemporary, the artist brings
the focus to the time aspect and insists on contempo-
rary being in the now.
Apart from the speed and time Thierry Geoffroy/ CO-
LONEL also focuses on the content, which has to be
in the now too, relating to what is happening in the
world at the moment. There are many burning topics
EMERGENCY ROOM,
Moma PS1, 2007
that need to be addressed on the spot before it is too
late. The artist calls this kind of art Emergency Art. It
is art produced by artists who are alert, who recognize
dysfunctions and grab the most urgent ones that can-
not wait to be expressed about. This way of working
includes ranking of emergencies. Like in a real hospital
emergency where the doctor would have to priorities
between the different patients based on the level of
emergency.