Blue Sail, Hans Haacke, 1964-1965, installation, chiffon, oscillating fan, fishing weights, and thread, Cologne Germany, now in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Conceptualism.
The Blue sail is a very famous installation works by Hans Haacke. Which has been installed in many exhibitions. It has a sense of poetism within it as it is a flowing piece of chiffon that spreads a sense of rhythm and calmness to the viewer. The piece of chiffon measures approximately ten feet square that has been suspended on a fishing line and further put into the sailing action by being placed over an oscillating fan. His notes about the blue sail very clearly speak of his style. “ If wind blows into a light piece of material, it flutters like a flag or it swells like a sail, depending on the way which it is suspended. The direction of the stream of air, as well as its intensity, determines the movements. None of these movements is without an influence from all the others. A common pulse goes through the membrane.” (Glahn 148-150)
Although, the perceiver can look at the aesthetics of this piece and record it visually as something very picturesque it was very different to what Haacke thought of it. He believed that these could be compared to traditional sculpture which is being partnered with the viewer rather than being controlled by his whims. He also believed in the repositioning of the artist through the interrelating elements. To me this piece is a conversation between the elements such as human beings and one of the elements of nature, here being air or wind that is placing movement in a materialistic thing such as the blue chiffon cloth. It is very conceptual in its meaning as I perceive conceptualism as a conversation that is nonverbal but yet on going.
A quote that I recall for this particular piece is : “Of all the conceptualist artists working today, Haacke is the one who best understands how art bullies the viewer.” (“Slate”)
Glahn, Philip. Estrangement and Politicization: Bertolt Brecht and American Art, 1967–1979. Art History Department, City University of New York.: ProQuest, 2007. 148-150. Print. <http://books.google.com.hk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-o7IQr3DqhMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR2&dq=Blue Sail- Hans Haacke &ots=MYUVRxgEuZ&sig=KsYqSZzm8-hL18hmkeYMX1qdfOU&redir_esc=y>
“Hans Haacke: Art or Punditry?.” Slate. 16 Mar 2000: n. page. Web. 15 May. 2013. <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/culturebox/2000/03/hans_haacke_art_or_punditry.html>.
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