M HKA Ensembles

Text, 30 x 22 cm.

Collection: Studio Chris Reinecke.

The first thing I noticed about Chris Reinecke's early work was the large amount of text. Her oeuvre is made up of words of observation, acquired insight and conviction. The question ‘do you have time to read’ is twofold; on the one hand there is literally a lot of reading to do if you want to understand Reinecke's commitment properly, on the other hand ‘reading’ can be understood as a luxurious pastime, as laziness and a lack of action (cf. La liseuse de romans by Antoine Wiertz from 1853).

Accompanying her performative objects from the sixties, she made 'prescriptions' that invited the public to participate in the artwork. She also studied and documented the reactions of the audience. Eventually she developed her use of words further in a series of posters.

At the end of the sixties, Reinecke took on a desk job, doing 8 hours of repetitive and brainless work on a computer several days a week. This inspired her, among other things, to create ‘do you have time to read’. The work describes the expression of a machine that is alternately set to a coarse and fine pattern of circles. The sequence described is interrupted by pauses for perception (grabbing, hearing, feeling, moving), allowing creative moments to accompany the productive rhythm.