THE TREES ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM (WITH ALBAN ROSENBERGER), 2024

sound work 00:20min, 2 editions of 44 air fresheners, performance for Radio International at Glasgow International, June 7-23.

The three interventions build upon each other and question the attribution of meaning through contextualisation. Broadcasted on the car radio, a sound work functions as an advert for scented trees, while the artists offer an edition of signed scented trees for sale on the street at the exhibition opening. The empty stencils are labelled as a ‘Fine Art Edition’ and presented in the gallery. The context-specific sound work illustrates the arbitrary mystification of objects through the suggestive power of poetry and advertising strategies. Rilke's lyrical text ‘Oh Orpheus sings. Oh tall tree in the ear’ becomes an empty message, like a carrier without content. This arbitrariness and ambiguity of categorisation in various systems of circulation is transferred to the art context through the performance and classical frames.