Intentional Disobedience, 2020
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I’m not sure that all works of art are the result of an artist’s intention.
I think there are unintentional, casual works of art created in public spaces like the subway and the streets by multiple artists who leave an “expression,” a “gesture,” or their trash, in a way that could be read within an artistic discourse.
I’ve often come across a mattress thrown away, Sarah Lucas-style, with food scraps casually placed there, as if Butler’s response to this piece.
Recently, the Potsdamer Platz subway station was covered in a beautiful lilac and white plasterboard. I’ve also seen several paintings, as if they were being exhibited inside different wagons.
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Acts of transference occur in words, colors and images that have been lifted from urban public spaces. In ‘Intentional Disobedience’ Sandonis recreates graffiti and markings from metro cars and stations throughout Berlin, bringing them together in a single installation — forming an aesthetic topography of the city. The installation is a collaboration with anonymous participants, opening up questions of artistic authorship.
Moreover, the gesture of transposing reproductions becomes a mode of preservation, capturing a particular moment in the city’s public aesthetic — monumentalizing what is only able to exist in these spaces of transit on a temporary basis.
Julianne Cordray
