Sometime between 7/1/98 and 12/31/98, I believe likely closer to 
September of 1998, a news story ran on a Spanish language network, I 
believe Telemundo, about an art exhibit. I have been trying ever since 
to find information about the exhibit and its artist(s), as I do not 
speak Spanish. The only words I could understand spoken by the 
reporter were "Buenos Aires," yet it was not certain whether the 
exhibit was in Buenos Aires, or would soon be traveling there. I could 
not tell for sure if the exhibit was at a museum or private gallery, 
nor if it was of a single or multiple artists. The exhibit was of 
quirky sculptures or constructions in the surrealist style, featuring 
absurd objects including a rocking chair that rocked sideways, and a 
jacket on a mannequin with balls of some type attached to it. The 
style was similar to objects by the artist Marcel 
Duchamp, who for example once constructed a steamiron with nails 
protruding from the bottom (an obviously unusable object). The jacket 
was similar to a work by Salvador Dali, which was a construction of a 
smoking jacket with cocktail glasses attached. Perhaps this was an homage 
to these artists? Will pay for the definite answer. 

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 03 May 2002 18:05 PDT

Could it possibly be the Tate Museum's "Surrealism: Desire Unbound"
exhibition, which would have been at the New York Metropolitan Museum
of Art around that time?  I found references to a CBS feature on the
show in 1998.  The references to Buenos Aires could have been
connected with Duchamp.  On the other hand, this exhibition focuses on
the erotic, which doesn't sound like what the question described.
 
Here are some links you can check out: 
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/09/sunday/main13562.shtml">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/09/sunday/main13562.shtml</a> 
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691090645/">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691090645/</a> 
<a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/surrealism/intro.htm">http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/surrealism/intro.htm</a> 

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Clarification of Question by smorrison98-ga on 04 May 2002 14:24 PDT

I'm not quite sure what type of clarification you are requesting.
However, it wasn't the Tate exhibit. The exhibit I'm looking for was
not so focused on the erotic, rather the mechanical and the absurd.
I'm fairly sure that all the works shown in the television report were
three-dimensional. I should also clarify that the iron with nails was
not in this exhibit, that was simply a work that I recalled (I thought
it was Duchamp's) which was in a similar style. 

This is an educated guess on the exhibit you are interested in.
(Sounds pretty cool.)

The traveling exhibit, mounted by The Museum of Contemporary Art at
the Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, California), called "Out of
Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979" happened at
the time you are referring to. As seen in
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0425/3_57/53286461/p1/article.jhtml?term=%2B+1998+%2B+art+%2B+exhibit
 the dates and location of this big show are as follows: " The Museum
of Contemporary Art at the Gelfen Contemporary, Los Angeles: February
8-May 10, 1998; MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna: June
17-September 6, 1998; Museu d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona: October
15-January 6, 1999; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, February
11-April 11, 1999."

In the article, it describes a large show that ranged from performance
art to 3D sculpture where - " Viewers also got to experience almost
simultaneously the lyrical and the crude formalism that brought the
scrutiny of the line into pleasing comparative focus: Mowry Baden's
Instrument (1969), an elegantly conceived aluminum and steel
serpentine structure into which a viewer may fit his or her head;
James Lee Byars's Untitled Object (1962-64); Tom Marioni's line
drawings of 1972-73; and Howard Fried's All My Dirty Blue Clothes
(1972/98), a line of the aforementioned items that embodies an
adolescent energy."

The review,  written by M.A. Greenstein for the Art Journal, depicts a
show I would like to see. I think this might be the one you are
looking for because of the Barcelona location of the show.


Good question!
Hope this helps

Bob

Hi, That's quite a hunt there, but I think I've stumbled on the answer
for you. The Iron gave it away really. Willie Cole, is the most likly
artist for that item.
http://www.artistsspace.org/multiples/cole.html
http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/brody/brody97-2-14.asp

In 1997 and 1998 Willie Cole was touring with a exhibition called
Performance Anxiety, which had several odd pieces with it, and closely
resembling the list you gave. It was a more or less "hands on"
exhibit. This page will tell you more about the show.
http://www.mcachicago.org/MCA/exhibit/past/anxiety/

The show had several other artists with it, including TIRAVANIJA
Rirkrit from
Buenos Aires, Argentine. 

I didn't find the sideways rocking chair (or rather, I found many of
them, but none in an art show) and the jacket eluded me as well, but
the iron is Cole. That's pretty much a sure thing there.

So this may not be the place you are looking for, but if our
researchers hunt down Cole, then we'll probably get you an answer if
this isn't the place you are looking for.

webadept

Something else I just thought of, you might want to look at this page
with an open eye:
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/violin/527/gh/ac/dst.html

Pink Floyd Toured Buenos Aries in 1998, and that looks a lot like the
jacket you described. The months match as well. Pink Floyd has some
very good art in their albums and shows, and personally, if I didn't
understand the language, and saw the artwork they have with their
albums on the TV, then I might mistakenly think I was looking at an
art show, and not a music show.

Anyway, just a thought. 

Good luck.