Christine Melchiors - The Bob Smith project 1991-2023

Bob Smith arrangements

Some extracts from :
“Four Weddings and a Phony Man –Introducing the Bob Smith Project” by Frederikke Hansen.

In the beginning of the 90's four artists created a character who was received by their contemporary colleagues and critics as an invention, if not of Mary Shelleian dimensions, then at least as something unnecessary and without interest. The character represented patriarchy, or more precisely, the art institution as a hypostasis of patriarchy. The four - Susan Hinnum, Ann Kristin Lislegaard, Eva Larsson and Christine Melchiors - were among the group of younger artists who attempted to break with the hegemony of the neo-expressive simulation painting and the neo-academic sculpture - so-called postmodern practices that had dominated largely unassailed and unquestioned throughout the decade.Nothing suggested that this institutional man, willing to place value on a gender-aware art, would materialize quickly, much less in Denmark. They therefore invented the fictional, male curator Bob Smith - to whom they could, on account of his fictionality, attribute characteristics that would in principle enable him to further their career. The Anglo-American name implied that he might be from New York or London (prestigious). On the other hand, the name was common enough to ensure the degree of anonymity that would maintain the fiction of his connection to the four, female, Danish artists - thus the entire notion that a person with the power to sanction quality, whom was not already known by the four artists' colleagues, could exist.

Common to all the Bob Smith manifestations was the use of the advertising aesthetic and PR strategies - a practice that was popular at the time (Jeff Koon's self-staging as the divine Bad Boy and his ensuing star-status is a prime example). In the Bob Smith project, the regained awareness of the institution was coupled with a problematization of women's position, at the same time that the popular commodity aesthetic was toned down, in that the concept was not used to further individual (commodity)works or individual careers.

The artists' Fall Exhibition is a juried exhibition that has traditionally functioned as a rubber-stamp institution: it is there where Danish artists make their breakthrough. The four artists then tied this situation to women's traditional role. The parallel to the artist's development from amateur to professional via the breakthrough exhibition must therefore be the development from maiden to wife via the wedding, and in particular, the breaking of the hymen on the wedding-night. Aside from a more than two-meter high color photograph of the four artists clad in full bridal array, Bob Smith's contribution consisted of a number of moving-crates. On four of them were placed shiny new red beauty-boxes - women's moving-crate... noch einmal: men make art, while women (in the best case) make women's art. At the exhibition opening, the four artists furthermore went around signing postcards displaying the bridal array motif and presenting them to the public. Instead of signing the postcards with their individual names, as one might expect of that kind of idol-gesture, they all wrote: art beauties.

The thematization of woman's fundamental reduction, in patriarchal economy, to an object that can be used and replaced continued in a consequent project: facing pages in the cultural journal »Atlas«. On both pages you see a picture with four very pregnant women wearing the same kind of bikini. The only difference between the two pictures is that the heads (which as a result of computer manipulation have become the artists' own) have been swapped. Anne Frederikke Hansen

Bob Smith Arrangement / There is Always a Women Behind a Man

Gade Tegn, Copenhagen 1991

Bob Smith Arrangement / There is Always a Women Behind a Man

Gade Tegn
Copenhagen, 1991

Bob Smith Arrangement / There is Always a Women Behind a Man

Gade Tegn, Copenhagen 1991.

Bob Smith Arrangement / There is Always a Women Behind a Man

Gade Tegn, Copenhagen 1991.

Gade Tegn

The garden of the Glyptotek

112 Kunstneres arbejder på 117 Billboards
Glyptoteketshave 14 juni-19 juni 1991
Kuratet af BlizArt / Louise Cone, Ole Mølgaard, Lars Lundbye Møller og Jesper Søholm

Gadetegn

21 juni - 14 august 1991.

Poster (silk screen printing and acrilic on paper) on signboard.

Gadetegn

Hellerup, DK, 21 juni 1991

Big men- big art - big scale

"Bob Smith"
Catalogue Malmö, 1991.

Art Curator Bob Smith

Big Scale, Trianglen, Malmö, 1991.
Cibachrome 350 cm x140 cm

Art Curator Bob Smith

Big Scale, Trianglen, Malmö, 1991.
Cibachrome 350 cm x140 cm

Bob Smith Arrangement / There's always room at the top

Big Scale, Malmö Sveden, 1991.

Bob Smith statement on lightbox.

Bob Smith Arrangement / There's always room at the top

Big Scale, Malmö Sveden, 1991.

Light Box, dimension 144x96x6,5cm.

Bob Smith Arrangement / News of the day

Big Scale
Trianglen, Malmö, 1991.

Bob Smith slogan non stop day and night on the Trianglen square :
There's always room at the top, Bob Smith presentarer Susan Hinnum - Ann Lislegaard - Eva Larsson - Christine Melchiors.

Bob Smith Arrangement / News of the day

Big Scale
Trianglen, Malmö, 1991.

Bob Smith Arrangement / News of the day

Big Scale
Trianglen, Malmö, 1991.

Bob Smith Arrangement / News of the day

Big Scale
Trianglen, Malmö, 1991.

Bob Smith Arrangement / Gift

Cibachrome photographie 260x200cm,
wooden transport caises, with four Beauty Boxes

The hole installation was measuring 12m

Charlottenborgs Efterårsudstilling, Copenhagen 1991.
Prize for the best work of Akademirådet

Bob Smith Arrangement / Gift

Politiken

Lørdag 12 oktober 1991

Bob Smith Arrangement / Art beauties

Postcard signed by the artistes while the opening of Charlottenborg

Opening of The Charlottenborg Efterårsudstilling

Post card signed while the opening of Efterårsudstillingen, 1991

Bob Smith Arrangement / Jackpot

The photo was taken in the hotel SAS on Amager Boulevard 70, Amager/Copenhagen by Stine Heger.
Portraits introduced by photo collage.

Bob Smith arrangement / Mothers

Poster 60x42cm, with a small image in the middle.
500 copies.
Alberstlund Rådhus, Denmark 1992.

Bob Smith arrangement / Big Art

Albertslund rådhus, 1992.

Bob Smith Arrangement / Big Art

Albertslund Rådhus, Danemark, 1992.

Four photoshop manipulations 1992.

Also shown at :
The Beginning Is Always Today.
SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, 2013.

Bob Smith, the last statement

Text accompanying the exhibition, we suggest here a possible end of the project.

Bob Smith arrangement

Photography cibachrome, 4 trophies plaster on wood.
Tranegården, Gentofte, DK, 1992.

Bob Smith arrangement

Photography cibachrome, 4 trophies
Tranegården, Gentofte, DK, 1992.

Berlingske Tidende

Fredag 16. oktober 1992

Villabyerne

07-10-1992

Villabyerne

07-10-1992

Atlas

Atlas, n°11, 1993

Visibile difference before and before

Reproduced in the cultural magazines : Atlas, n°11, 1993

Bob Smith Arrangement / Big Art

Published in the cultural jurnal A.N.Y.P. nr 5, 1994

Redaktion: Sabeth Buchmann, Stephan Geene, Kucki Ludwig, BERLIN.

A.N.Y.P. The jurnal of 10 years, made by Stephan Geene, Berlin.

Bob Smith Arrangement / Big Art

Published in the cultural jurnal A.N.Y.P. nr 5, 1994

Redaktion: Sabeth Buchmann, Stephan Geene, Kucki Ludwig, Berlin.

A.N.Y.P. The jurnal of 10 years, made by Stephan Geene, Berlin.

BECKERELL N.3 sommar 1993

Who is Bob Smith ?

Article in the Swedish art magazine "Beckerell" No. 3, 1993.

Bob Smith Arrangement

Part of the group exhibition : "Forskudte Hverdags Objekter", 2004

Curated by Kathrine Bolt Rasmussen

Trapholt, Museum for Kunst og Design, Kolding.

Part of the group exhibition : "25 års jubilæumsudstilling, noget ganske særligt"
No picture

August 2013 - februar 2014.

Trapholt, Museum for Kunst og Design, Kolding.

Bob Smith Arrangement, 2004

"Forskudte Hverdags Objekter"
Curated by Kathrine Bolt Rasmussen

Trapholt, Museum for Kunst og Design, Kolding, 2004.

Et rum med udsigt, 2013

En fejring af kvindelige kunstnere i Danmark gennem 200 år / A celebration of 200 years of women artists in Denmark

"I august 2013 kan Rønnebæksholm fejre 200-året for en af godsets mest markante ejere, Marie Toft (1813-54), og udstillingen Et rum med udsigt er en fejring af hende, og præsenterer værker af en række markante kvindelige danske kunstnere fra de sidste 200 år. Udstillingen præsenterer kunstnere som gennem deres kunst, deres kvinde- og/eller kunstpolitiske arbejde eller gennem deres personlige historie har været med til at åbne kunstinstitutionen for kvinder, har forsvaret deres plads dér, og derigennem har skabt et rum for de kvindelige kunstnere der virker i dag, og som nu sætter nye standarder, ikke blot for hvad kvinder kan i kunsten og samfundet, men for hvad kunsten kan. Der præsenteres værker af en lang række fremragende kvindelige kunstnere fra perioden 1813-2013, og der produceres nye værker til udstillingen". Dina Vester & Eva Skibsted

Christine Løvmand, Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann, Bertha Wegmann, Pauline Thomsen, Agnes Lunn, Anne Marie Carl Nielsen, Anna Ancher, Agnes Slott-Møller, Christine Swane, Astrid Noack, Franciska Clausen, Rita Kernn-Larsen, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Else Alfelt, Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Kirsten Justesen, Lene Adler Petersen, Jytte Rex, Gudrun Hasle, Nina Saunders, Malene Landgreen, Marianne Jørgens- en, Christina Malbek, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Simone Aaberg Kærn og Kirstine Roepstorff.

Et rum med udsigt, 2013

Installation : slideprojektor on a pedestal, slides from all the Bob Smith interventions, framed Photo on the wall.

A celebration of 200 years of women artists in Denmark
Rønnebæksholm, Næstved, 2013.

The Beginning Is Always Today, 2013

BobSmith Arrangement / Gift, poster on wall,
Bob Smith Arrangement / Big Art, 4 photos on wall,
Bob Smith Arrangement / Mothers, small poster

The Beginning Is Always Today.
SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, 2013.

With artists : Lotta Antonsson, Elisabet Apelmo, Pia Arke, Catti Brandelius, Peter Brandt, Nanna Debois Buhl, Kajsa Dahlberg, Ewa Einhorn, Åsa Elzén, Unn Fahlstrøm, Roxy Farhat, Fine Art Union, FRANK, Unni Gjertsen, Trine Mee Sook Gleerup, Jenny Grönvall, Annika von Hausswolff, High Heel Sisters, Leif Holmstrand, Maryam Jafri, Dorte Jelstrup, Jesper Just, Jane Jin Kaisen, Line Skywalker Karlström, Kvinder på Værtshus, Ane Lan (alias Eivind Reierstad), Lotte Konow Lund, Annika Lundgren, Jannicke Låker, Malmö Fria Kvinnouniversitet (MFK), Eline Mugaas, Ellen Nyman, Radikal pedagogik, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Annica Karlsson Rixon , Joanna Rytel, Katya Sander, Mari Slaattelid, Lisa Strömbeck, Vibeke Tandberg, Lisa Vipola, YES! Association / Föreningen JA!

The Beginning Is Always Today, 2013

The Beginning Is Always Today. Contemporary Feminist Art in Scandinavia.
SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway.
20.09.13 - 19.01.2014

The Exhibition is the first broad presentation of an actively feministic art scene in Scandinavia. Over 40 artists from Denmark, Sweden and Norway are represented through a selection of works ranging from sculptures, photos and installations to videos, live performances, books, archives, activism and teaching. Feminist art from the last 20 years points forwards and backwards simultaneously. It conceives of new possiblities and offers alternative images and understandings of contemporary society. At the same time, it perpetuates ideas from the first generations of feminists who successfully fought for women’s suffrage in 1913. Some of the artists work in direct relation to historical percursors; others put the battle for women’s rights in current global perspective. With great seriousness and much humour, the exhibition challenges our assumptions about gender, roles, stereotypes, power, minorities, culture, history, and rights. With this exhibition, we aim to shed light on the development of feminism and feminist art in general, but also seek to portray the conditions, aspirations and rights of women in our own era.

The Beginning is alwas today, 2014

The Beginning is alwas today,
Västerås Konstmuseum, Sweden.
22.02 – 04.05. 2014

KVINNOBILDER
Feministisk konst tematiserar framställningen av kvinnor
med ett brett spektrum av uttryck. 1991 skapar de fyra
konstnärerna Christine Melchiors, Susan Hinnum, Ann
Kristin Lislegaard och Eva Larsson figuren Bob Smith,
en påhittad konstcurator som intresserar sig för konst
skapad av kvinnor och som inte skiljer på ”konstverk” och
”konstverk av kvinnor”. Bob Smith gör flera utställnings
projekt, bland annat med de fyra nämnda konstnärer-
na i olika roller - till exempel som gravida eller iförda
brudklädsel. Projektet är karaktäristiskt för periodens
konstscen, i den förståelsen att kvinnliga konstnärer mås-
te skapa sig en fiktiv manlig curator för att ”få ställa ut”.
Projektet tematiserar samtidigt kvinnors representation i
konst, media och det offentliga rummet.

IKK Art Talks, 2015

+1 @ Alt_Cph : Bob Smith // Lancering af +1 samlede efterskrifter

På dagen bliver Bob Smith repræsenteret af
Susan Hinnum og Ann Lislegaard.
Fabrikken for Kunst og design, lørdag 13 september, 2015

Der er talk såvel som liveprinting af publikation i samarbejde med KLD Repro.

SMK Fridays : CUT THE GAP 17/11/17

Presentation by Ann Lislegaard at the National Gallery of Denmark/ SMK

We invite everyone to enjoy an evening that combines art, talks, music and drinks to create a new and different kind of after-hours art experience.

This year’s final SMK Fridays event focuses on feminist practices in art. The evenings’ programme is presented in co-operation with the artists Michala Paludan, Lea Porsager and Anne Mette Schultz and curator Malene Dam.

Round-table discussions: conversations about women in art
In 2014 artist Michala Paludan invited a number of women to take part in round-table discussions where they shared experiences from their working lives as artists.

A transcribed version of these conversations formed the basis for the work Kalliope, Kleio, Erato, Euterto, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thaleia and Urania.
...
Redstockings and a fictional male curator
Throughout the evening you can attend a range of brief, tightly focused art talks as the museum’s art educators explore feminism in art through the ages.

You can also hear SMK’s director Mikkel Bogh speaking about a specific work of art: Women Forward! by Ursula Reuter Christiansen. This work was created in 1971 – the year after the Danish Redstocking movement launched its first actions.

Or join us as Ann Lislegaard presents a range of works from the project Bob Smith – a project launched in the early 1990s where she, along with fellow artists Susan Hinnum, Eva Larsson and Christine Melchiors, invented the character Bob Smith: a fictional male curator who would promote the artist groups’ works, thereby affirming their quality.

Ann Lislegaard presents the Bob Smith project, 2017

"BOB SMITH STILL LIVES-- as long as we can re-tell his story! Hopefully it is not his services that are needed anymore, but new inventions, interventions and initiatives.
We need new 'WHAT IF' scenarios too look into our blind spots behind language and the power structures of the art world. The art history needs to be re-tuned, re-shaped and re-written again and again. More works by female artists needs represention both in private and institutional collections –at least for the future to come. Thank you for this seminar and all the new actions that must be on its way. Please CUT THE GAP." , by Ann Lislegaard