Fondation

In this essay, we reflect on Rirkrit Tiravanija’s installation untitled 1996 (rehearsal room no. 6) (2023) through the theme of resonance. This piece is a good example of how the artist circumvents the idea of creating sacred objects for display on a pedestal or a wall. Instead, he favours the creation of places for people to meet and spaces for social interaction where the public can take part in one or more actions that activate and complete the work.

Indeed, the title of the exhibition, JOUEZ/PLAY, evokes this element of participation and collaboration. Tiravanija invites us to explore the theme of play and leisure in a variety of ways. Participation becomes more accessible through play: everyone instinctively knows how to play with something, and in this case, the focus is on playing with sound and music as a way of connecting with people.

These types of relationships often rely on resonance. Resonance can be thought of in two ways: as a sonic and musical phenomenon, or as having a social dimension.

The installation breaks with conventional and classical music patterns to transform our relationship to the rehearsal studio and the concert hall. The public is typically passive in a hall, but the opposite is true in this installation. Visitors are not only spectators, they are an integral part of the work. It is through their actions that the work becomes complete.

A reversal also occurs within the rehearsal studio or jam space—this intimate, quasi secret space where musicians produce their final product: an album. Here, that space is on public display, and as such, our preconceived ideas about music composition are overturned.

Installed, in the middle of the gallery, this sometimes chaotic and noisy sound box shakes up the conventional notion of the museum as Temple; a silent, elitist, white-walled space that feels cold and unwelcoming. Like the traditional concert hall, this type of space induces passivity. We immediately sense a certain timidity and cautiousness from viewers who know they cannot touch the artworks.

By contrast, through collaborative play with sound and music, Rirkrit Tiravanija’s installation allows people to express subversive behaviour within the institution and carry this sense of boldness into their daily lives as they leave the Foundation.

Movements: Rirkrit Tiravanija is a tool designed by the PHI Foundation’s Department of Education to encourage visitors to develop and elaborate on some key concepts of the exhibition Rirkrit Tiravanija: JOUEZ/PLAY.