Rumors have been circulating that the co-director of the Serpentine Galleries, Hans Ulrich Obrist, is keen to exhibit Jordan Wolfson’s bizarre gyrating robot in London, the Art Newspaper reports.
Obrist brought the American artist’s Female Figure (2014) to Art Basel in April last year as part of the performance-as-sculpture exhibition 14 Rooms, which he curated with Klaus Biesenbach (see “Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach Bring 14 Rooms to Art Basel”).
Clad in a revealing white dress, thigh-high vinyl boots, a green witch mask, and covered in dirt, the slightly disturbing blonde android dances in front of a mirror and uses facial recognition software to make eye contact with viewers and speak to them in Wolfson’s pre-recorded voice.
The weird installation garnered significant attention in March of last year, when it was exhibited in the artist’s solo show at David Zwirner’s Manhattan gallery.
According to reports, the Serpentine has already held preliminary discussions with the artist about an exhibition at the London institution. The Art Newspaper cited a spokeswoman who said “it is too soon to provide any details,” however she didn’t deny the rumor.
A possible stumbling block could be that all three editions of the sculptures are in private collections. One buyer chose to remain anonymous, one was bought by Peter Brant, and the remaining one was bought by Eli Broad (see “Eli Broad Adds Jordan Wolfson’s Terrifying Robot to Collection”).