The Global Contemporary. Gespräch mit Josh Greene

In his conceptual work, Josh Greene focuses on topics ranging from service, psychology and economics, the boundaries between the private and the public, the context of art and its habitual modes of perception, to the conditions of artistic production. It is rare that his projects are object-based; they contain several dynamics parameters and manifest themselves mostly in the interaction with other persons. Thus, during a vernissage in his apartment he offers his private property for sale (Greene), presents himself on the Internet as well as in the art space as an amateur therapist (Unlicensed Therapist), sells money below its current value (Less Than Face Value), or, on request, spends a lovesick phase in Sophie Calle’s bed (Sophie Calle’s Bed).
For The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds After 1989, Greene commissioned the Chinese artist Yangzi to reproduce a selection of his works of the past ten years in Beijing. Here, the artist drew attention to the common practice of conceptual development in the West and cheap (mass) production and manufacture in Asia. Due to the impossibility of the direct reproduction and transferability of projects based on communication and relations in a different personal, political, and cultural context questions begin to emerge regarding authorship, cultural transfer, the interplay of politics, freedom, and art, as well as the translatability of ideas. Through Yangzi’s accompanying video diary, the perspective of the “second author” is directly reflected back on to the project. (AM)