It Was a Warm Summer Night
1980
Collage, 76 x 42 cm.
Materials: wood, ink, paper, b/w photo
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0143).
The work ‘It Was a Warm Summer Night’ offers us ‘spontaneous’ snapshots from a gallery opening (at which Mario Merz, among others, is present). On such occasions social dynamics and inter-personal relations are very tangible. Gerz combines these visual context with a textual narrative, but remains vague about what meaning that brings to the total work, preferring to leave text and image apparently unconnected. This incongruence creates confusion and raises questions that cannot be unambiguously answered.