David Horvitz – Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern
David Horvitz – Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern
David Horvitz – Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern
David Horvitz – Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern
David Horvitz – Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern

David Horvitz – Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern

Category :
  • VENUE No Soul For Sale: A Festival of Independents at the Tate Modern
  • LOCATION London, UK
  • DATE May 14-16, 2010
  • URL nosoulforsale.com

Curated a project by artist David Horvitz for Rhizome’s space during the No Soul For Sale festival.

Description (Text by David Horvitz) The 2010 No Soul For Sale festival occurred at the Tate Modern on the weekend of May 14–16. Rhizome was included among the 70 or so participants. Ceci Moss from Rhizome asked me to present a project in Rhizome’s space. The project referred to as, Mail Nothing to the Tate Modern, was conceived for this event. On May 1st Rhizome and myself announced an open-call for anyone to mail nothing (empty boxes and empty envelopes) to the Tate Modern. This announcement was last minute. There was roughly one week for people to mail in nothing. Any mailing sent with tracking would have its tracking number posted on www.mailnothing.info so that it could be followed live on the days preceding the event. During the festival all received mailings were exhibited in a pile. After the weekend, the entire project was donated to Christian Schwarm’s art collection in Stuttgart, Germany. The website mailnothing.info located these packages (all with various points of departure and the same location of arrival) at various moments in their transit, allowing one to grasp a mental picture of the vast global infrastructure of shipping – a breathing system of objects in continuous movement. The packages sent to the Tate Modern, declared to contain “nothing” on their customs-forms as they crossed international borders, generated the data of travel with tracking technologies. This data became a trace – a trace of nothing (or, of something empty). Mail carriers claim these tracking numbers (and the data) as their legal property, which were appropriated and exhibited in this project.

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