A plane hideous exhibition
There is a whimsical and absurd trend among German and Austrian artists. While these qualities may characterise much British humour, in recent Germanic art it really isn't half as funny. In fact, it's a bit laboured and depressing.
The madcap culprits include German artist John Bock, or Austrian artist Franz West who makes big, misshapen plaster rings that you're invited to wear around your neck (why? Well, hey, just for a laugh). And now we have the German Andreas Slominski, whose tomfoolery has been rewarded with an exhibition at the Serpentine.
Like Bock and West, Slominski's work has its roots in Dada, the Europe-wide response to the carnage of World War I - an attempt to reflect the corrupt values, the moral void and the anti-reason of a world turned upside down. So Dada artists performed absurd actions and celebrated the notion of chance. It was meant to provoke and disturb, which it did very effectively.
There is nothing, however, provocative and disturbing about Slominski's work. It isn't a reaction to anything but simply a celebration of its own inanity. He has executed elaborate pranks like commissioning a skier to go down a ski-ramp outside the gallery, then making a candle from the wax left on the skis, and moving a glider plane into the gallery and making a dent in a bed of foam with its nose.
We also have lots of self-made animal traps which you are invited to admire, or not, as sculptural forms. Finally, we have huge polystyrene wall reliefs. These have never been exhibited before. So hideous are they, you only hope they are never exhibited again.
Until Jun 12, Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens W2, daily 10am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 7402 6075. Tube: South Kensington
