Rental United
Happening, surveillance cameras and live video installation
2010
"Rental United "was a happening and live video installation by Rental United during Fotanian Open Studios 2010. It was also the 1st showcase by the three artists under "Rental United". The installation consisted of a few surveillance cameras in Rental United's studio. The TV installation outside the studio shows the artists' activities inside. The audience could therefore see the artists and their belongings and the studio simultaneously "without" visiting the site.
The installation blocked the audience from entering the site, and they were not allowed to enter the studio space. Still, they could only "visit" the entrance area by watching the TV installation showing activities inside the studio.
RU's refusal to turn their studio space into a visitor-friendly zone may suggest discomfort between artists and audiences, where the artist does not necessarily need to play any role in the public sphere at an art event. Instead, this is a statement: in this context, artists become part of the presentation alongside their studio, encouraging the audience to view it as a body of work.
Inside museums and formal exhibition spaces, we see artists' creations in their final state. The works are displayed as complete entities. Artists do not have to be there in person in these spaces, since the pieces can speak for their creators. In contrast, what is shown in artists' studios is less about completeness than about the flux of creation and the process of making. This is the stage before the artwork is placed in the exhibition space. Inside the studio, artists cannot detach from their practice; instead, the two merge into one. The "works" are slowly nourished in a continuous process with no clear starting or ending point.
Studio opening is like using ultrasound to feel the growing process of a baby inside the mother's body. The work is not yet born, but it already exists. This 'opening' shows the public the artists' real-time activities inside the studio. Using CCTV, the process of art-making is exhibited.
