Thomas Hirschhorn: Universal Gym at Gladstone Gallery

By: Diane Vivona

 

 

Installation View of Thomas Hirschhorn’s  “Universal Gym. ” Photo David Regen. Copyright Thomas Hirschhorn. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York.

Thomas Hirschhorn literally creates cohesive structures.  With industrial brown packing tape as one of his primary mediums, he uses its functionality to bring disparate objects together and produce new forms as social-political commentary.  His recent work Universal Gym (2009) transforms the Gladstone Gallery into an apocalyptic workout zone.   Augmented nautilus equipment and modified anatomical models and mannequins co-exist in an atmosphere littered with large quantities of plastic globes, tubs of protein powder, televisions, wires, fans, mats and empty drink containers.  The materials presented are all easily recognizable as well as completely strange, as Hirschhorn has kept their original context and then altered their use value to something indefinable or, perhaps, nonexistent.

Hirschhorn’s gym is “customized”, but the function devised for each piece of equipment is difficult to discern.  A treadmill is immobilized.  Barbells are fastened to the floor.  A leg press machine has been taped-up and repositioned to eliminate activity.  Unrelated monitors display animated EKG-style simulators and graphs.  Machines originally designed for strengthening the upper body are distorted and revised.   Pulleys, seats, and armatures have been removed.  Styrofoam pads, cardboard tubing, tennis balls and plywood have been added.  The new systems are uninviting and barrier-like in their presentation.  Their functionality has been eliminated and replaced with an overactive structuring.  In this gym, there is no room for active participation.

Amidst the abundant array of equipment is an oversized black sphere.  It is also the only object not literally held down by adhesive.  Over 10 feet in height, the ball anchors the room and breaks up the space, blocking visual and physical passageways.  Counter to its size, its common shape and familiar color makes it easy to categorize and then forget. Quickly it becomes the giant unseen elephant in the room.  Visitors walk around it but they don’t look at it.  The multifaceted items located around this great black hole appear to be the ones of importance, linked by the packing tape applied to their surfaces.

       Installation View of Thomas Hirschhorn’s  “Universal Gym. ” Photo David Regen. Copyright Thomas Hirschhorn. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York.

Hirschhorn’s “action–taping” produces much to see and experience. Presented at the mere edges of the installation are a patterned shower curtain, inexpensive white fans, a mirror with a clipping of a bikini-clad volleyball girl attached, a wall clock, a rack of red rubber fitness balls, sports trophies, mirrors, monitors, a rack of towels and shoes, globes, weightlifting posters, and more. To the right of the installation’s entrance are four mannequins on plinths, encased in box-frames of plastic sheeting outlined with packing tape.  One is a medical teaching model and we see his muscles and tendons.  Another is an unclothed female holding an anatomical model of a heart.  A third, a tracksuit-wearing female, presents what appears to be a large pill made out of two globes. An athletic suited man holds out a gallon container of protein powder.  All four figures have large holes in the left torso, where their hearts would be.  

Despite its unruly appearance and maximized density, Universal Gym is founded on organization.  Hirschhorn’s compositional choice is to give all forms  - and there are great quantities of them in this work – equal value and this decision blurs the surface order.  Hierarchical selection is stifled by sheer variety and abundance.   Instead, the work’s synergy is created through repetition of color and geometry.  Red, blue, white, and light brown are the primary hues.  Spheres, rectangles and tubes are the selected shapes.  Hirschhorn’s application of traditional formal techniques reveals non-traditional effects.  Perhaps to amuse himself, or to ironically highlight his conservative methods, across one wall Hirschhorn has lettered in red tape the word “SCULPT.”  In a gym that can never produce a sculpted body, Hirschhorn has sculpted his own type of aesthetic fitness.

 

 

Thomas Hirschhorn: “Universal Gym” at Gladstone Gallery runs through April 11th

 

Gladstone Gallery

530 West 21^st  Street

Take the A, C or E trains to 23^nd Street and/or the M23 bus to 23^rd and 11^th Avenue

Hours: Tues – Sat, 10 am - 6 pm

Website: www.gladstonegallery.com

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