“The In Sound from Way Out: Benjamin Patterson at Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens”
The work by the late, great Fluxus artist Benjamin Patterson at Documenta 14 is both gigantic and almost entirely invisible. In Athens, it is tucked away in the gardens of the lovely Byzantine and Christian Museum, and in Kassel, it’s located down a long avenue in the sylvan Karlsaue Park. You hear the piece long before you see it: a chorus of frogs croaking. At times they are subdued and almost sweet, at other moments they go wild. Human voices enter the fray, too, and speak repeating phrases, but it’s difficult to understand what they’re saying. This morning, in Kassel, I thought I made out the phrase, “I walk up,” which was rather inspiring to hear at the start of a day of lots of walking.