Eugenijus Antanas Cukermanas

In 1967, in his legendary essay “Art and Objecthood,” Michael Fried expressed his vehement opposition to the emerging arts, which deviated from art that was manifest in every moment (modernist painting), instead developing in a system or in time (minimalism, performance). In a long-term process that continues to this day, artist Eugenijus Antanas Cukermanas challenges the idea of the fixed work of art, especially that achieved by plastic means. Like the mythical ship the project’s title refers to, Cukermanas’ Flying Dutchman—a black rectangle—will never reach port and has been “sailing” across the field of the canvas in his studio for more than forty years. Its position, which changes anywhere from daily to once a month, is carefully marked on a roll of paper that currently measures more than 200 meters and records around 1,400 positions. Presented here are two elements: a reconstruction of the original canvas with the position of FD on June 14, 2021 and a projection where one can follow the evolving trajectory of its positions according to how the artist moves it in real time on the canvas over the duration of the exhibition.

Since FD’s first positioning on January 15, 1978, on Original—a 84 x 102.5 cm blank canvas divided into 180 cells, which left the artist’s studio in Vilnius only twice—the project has usually been shown with the use of reconstructions on canvas and in metal.

SK