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Confronting Consensus

The art and politics of Christopher Howlett

Mark Pennings
Mark Webb
Eyeline 76
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The restless Chris Howlett uses his art in energetic pursuit of a wide range of conceptually and politically focused projects in divergent media. He is, in fact, an exemplary multi-tasker in a post-medium world, and has essayed everything from installation, to performance, to sound art, to digital modding with a Quixotic willingness to engage with big themes and issues that would daunt many artists.

His first major work Hire Me Out (1999–2000), was a conceptually immersed performance piece. In this work Howlett hired out his services to a number of teachers and students at CalArts, California, where at the time he was a Post-graduate student. These included Sam Durant who employed his pupil to manufacture a crate to transport artwork to the Blum & Poe art gallery in Los Angeles; Martin Kersels whom Howlett helped to prepare a photo shoot for an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum; and Jesse Proksa who hired the artist for a body massage.

These performances typified the art of ‘service aesthetics’, a movement that offered actions, such as counselling consultations, hairdressing, and cleaning services, to the public. Clients who received these services were not treated like anonymous, standardised mass consumer types. Instead, the services were done gratis so as to enable artists to transcend the commodity diktat that dominates our lives today. Their acts of generosity staked a claim for intimacy, integrity and respect, human emotions that are only of value to capitalism’s instrumental ethos when required for business contacts, or in exchange for a fee.

Although Howlett’s performances were also predicated on ‘service’, he was actually paid for his labour (probably strictly by the hour). Accordingly, it seemed that he was not so... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Weapons on the Wall, 2004-05. Installation detail. Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. Photography Richard Stringer.

Weapons on the Wall, 2004-05. Installation detail. Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane. Photography Richard Stringer.

Michael Jackson 4 Ways: Part IV – Machinima video still (Three Jacksons watching TV), 2009/10. Single channel, PAL, HDTV 1920 x 1080, 16:9, 30 minutes.

Michael Jackson 4 Ways: Part IV – Machinima video still (Three Jacksons watching TV), 2009/10. Single channel, PAL, HDTV 1920 x 1080, 16:9, 30 minutes.