strategy

by Morten Friis /1996

translation from danish text for the book "Strategies d' existence "


colonel formulates this liberation of the exhibition
in his manifeste


 - les differents types de moving exhibition. bordertransgressing andas such is in accordance with the working conditions dictated to the artistby our time. the moving exhibition is a military strategy which simultaneouslypays hommage to the sensibility of the artist.

 moving exhibition, the bourgeois type, pays this hommage to the private,introverted room. the artist is protected against the eyes of the publicor in company with “the understanding”.

 the semi-bourgeois takes place in an environment where the artist isalready accepted. in this type the integration of the public is a centralidea. colonel insists upon the existence of a creative potential within thepublic. the provocation of this potential is central to the extrovert universeof colonel.

 the offensive type underlines the penetrative. the penetration. itis here that the artist agressively manifests himself within the world ofart. the artist’s dynamism attracts attention. the artworld is deprived ofits monopoly. an exhibition, fernissage, conference looses its substance,when the offensive moving marches in.

flying exhibition is likewise offensive. the works of art are hurled outas paper aeroplanes. this is the most striking visual image of strategy,tactic and means in colonels exposition-method moving exhibition.

 the vagabond type attacks the public space in all its entirety. itis democratic. humble. mobile.

the exhibitionistic type is based upon the aforementioned fascination colonelhas for the potential of the individual. this type also represents the movementfrom the inside and out. from the interior to the exterior. the private isexposed into the public.


l’impermeable is a sublime construction. onto which is printed a thematicexhibition. the exterior part of l’impermeable can be wiewed by all. theinterior is hidden. in its totality l’impermeable forms an accumulation ofworks. l’impermeable pierces all borderlines, surmounts all obstacles andreaches its goal. at the same time as its carrier: the artist.

sport art denotes an expansion and an acceleration of moving exhibition.sport art elevates the competition to an ideal with the motto: sport artis a competition. the direct, physical, social communication becomes accentuated.the work of art exists in the midst of a direct confrontation. moving surpassesits own dynamic nature by being able to follow the acceleration of sportart.
la valise. the suitcase, is a type of exhibition with an integrated, automaticmobility. colonel broadens the concept of “exhibition” by filling the suitcasewith works of art. the suitcase is thus exhibited as a piece of art, whereasits contents remain hidden. however, colonel leaves the possibility of abreakthrough into the private sphere of the artistic universe open -

 the visa. in modern mythologi, as in reality, the visa represents thesolution that can open doors to new worlds. at the same time it has the meansto keep the unwanted out. access to the interior of l’impermeable, the suitcaseor other intimate exhibitions requires a valid visa, this is given by theartist. as an exhibition strategy this underlines the demands of the artistto his audience - that of undivided attention and passion. the traditionalartistic presentation is turned around by means of the visa. art becomesthe chased. the object of passion.

transport. the unpenetrable surface of the media stands as a wall betweenthe artist and his public. colonel has perforated this wall and created aseries of surprising loopholes. entrances through which manifests, worksof art and statements can step through. colonels media strategy is simple.the birthday section, which is reserved for personal greetings, is used toannounce new artforms e.g. the conclusionism. ad-papers are used in the sameway to exhibit works of art. like a guerillasoldier of the media colonelplaces his messages and works undercover. the mediaimages are thus elevatedto works of art. presented as such they obviously become integrated in themedias treatment of the artist. they are reproduced in the reviews and articlesand is thereupon transported from media to media. on their way they becomevictims of reduction and change. they live an autonomous life in the media.this transition and transformation  becomes an integral part of a workof art and acts simultanously as an analysis of the media’s consumption ofthe work of art.

strategy. the penetrating is a standard theme in the exhibition strategiesof colonel. colonel proposes a frontal attack on the world, where artistand exhibition fuse together in a veritable warmachine, where all surfacesare assaulted. coloned proposes a fusion of artist and public. a common movementwhich also leads to a revealing of the mechanisms that lock the creativein a rigid position. yet at the same time one continuously discovers a mostpersonal, emotionally based train of thought in colonel’s  strategicwork. a work based on existentialistic considerations. it is in this pointof intersection, between the inner and the outer, that we discover colonel.

morten friis