Beijing-Based Artist The Dean Kriel Puts the Art in Apartment With His New Live Exhibition [MARS], Apr 1

For an artist, finding an outlet for your work can be a challenge in any city, and Beijing is no exception. Some exhibit in coffee shops, others at hairdressers' salons. But South African-born performance artist The Dean Kriel is taking DIY one step further, by staging his latest installation in his own apartment.

We met up with him to find out more, but we had to begin by asking – what's with the name?

“It started out as a joke,” he told us, “and I ran with it. When I was living in Moscow, I used to introduce myself as The Dean, and I told people I was a prince. It's become a stage name, a moniker, something I'm working with. I've been called a lot of names in my life ... I think either people name you, or you name yourself. I prefer to tell people what I like to be addressed as, I think we're all entitled to that. It says there's only one of me, I have a purpose, I know what I want to do. Those are qualities I like to express in my work, that I like about myself.”

So do your friends call you The Dean, we asked?

“Some of them do.”

Does your mom?

“No.”

So tell us about [MARS]. Is it an exhibition, an installation, a performance ... ?

“You can call it whatever you like it,” Kriel said. “Speaking in technical terms, I'm trying to gain some practical experience in creating a format for people to experience a multi-disciplinary work.

“Different spaces have different rules. So when you walk into a theater, you know you're going to sit down, open a pamphlet, read about the work, and engage critically. If you go to a rave, you get a couple of drinks and feel the vibe. Your experience is culturally defined. Right now I'm trying to take five different cultures, put them in a room and ask people to engage with them. So I'm trying to think about what's the format to get people doing that without feeling inhibited or intimidated.”

“When I was living in Cape Town – the art mecca of Africa – it has the biggest audience for theater, the most international artistic visits, the biggest concerts. However, when you try to take the men or women on the street into an exhibition room, they can't comfortably engage with what's happening. You don't need an art education to give opinions and think critically, it just needs one glance, providing people have a bit of information.”

But the fact that it's taking place in your apartment makes it exclusive in a sense, we pointed out. You're not inviting the man on the street into your home?

“I consider myself to be an open person,” Kriel responded. “I grew up in a rural provincial town in South Africa, where the culture was that new people are welcomed. I would invite anyone to this exhibition, so long as they are considerate of everyone else in the room and the fact that it's my apartment.”

How did the idea of holding it there come about, we asked?

“I started by hosting dinners for friends in my apartment,” he said. “I realized it was a great opportunity to present some ideas for my exhibition, so I might share a song, or a painting, and ask for opinions and advice. Then one dinner I had 30 people confirmed, and I thought, that's an audience. I can hold an installation.

“I made the choice for three reasons. Practically I work from 9 to 6, I run WeChat groups for South Africans to get together, I have to eat ... When am I going to get to the gallery or studio where I can really engage with my work? What I've come to understand about my process is that 90 percent of it is sitting in a physical space, trying to internalize the external. When I remember what happened in this corner, on that wall, it gives me a chance to imagine what I can do with the space.

“In Dakar in 2012/13 there were no Senegalese artists featured in their own Biennale ... so local artists asked around the community, 'Can we use your living room as an exhibition space?' Conceptually it seemed to me such a brilliant solution, using the space and involving the community. If I approach a gallery I have to have a definite proposal of what I want to do, instead of being able to experiment and develop ideas. And there's a lot of politics involved.

“And thirdly, I've never been to an exhibition in someone's house, so I want to see what happens! Some of my friends from South Africa have been very skeptical; my Russian friends understand the context better. Depending on the success or failure of this exhibition, it will tell me what I need to know to bring more artists here to showcase what's happening in South Africa.”

So what's the exhibition about?

“I chose Mars, love, and the number 3 as starting points for developing these ideas. Mars, because science fiction is such a fantastic genre for allowing people to imagine something else. Right from the beginning you are aware it's not real, so people are more willing to suspend disbelief, they won't be caught out.

“I chose love because everyone should experience love, it's something everyone is entitled to. And the number 3 is the perfect number. Everything in China is related to numbers. When I was living in Russia, trying to make contact with art institutions here, I noticed that everyone's email address was a number. You register for everything here with a cellphone number, then there are all the significant dates: 3/15, 11/11 ... It's the first time in my life I've been drawn to math.”

To find out more about The Dean Kriel and his exhibition [MARS], scan the QR code below.

Photos courtesy of The Dean Kriel

Comments

New comments are displayed first.
Giovanni Martini wrote:
Sikaote wrote:

How does one address this dude? The Dean? Your Deanship?? Deaner-ino???

Inquiring minds want to know (not really).

Dirol

Come lad, I taught you better. In proper etiquette, the only response to any individual calling itself "The Dean" is to back-hand bitch-slap it to its knees.

My bad.

Preved

How does one address this dude? The Dean? Your Deanship?? Deaner-ino???

Inquiring minds want to know (not really).

Dirol