Artists agree to just ‘Do It’

“Do It.” The title of the multiartist, multivenue art exhibition that rolls out in three waves over the next several weeks is assertive, upbeat. But if it’s only one word short of a Nike slogan, the artwork it has inspired is anything but commercial.

Conceived in 1993 by Swiss artist Hans Ulrich Obrist as a “flexible” and “open-ended” approach to art exhibition, “Do It” invites participants to contribute to the visual-arts equivalent of an album of cover tunes. The source for this self-expression is a book of instructions, created by Obrist and his collaborators, that now contains 270 “scores” or “recipes” for works of art.

Artists participating in “Do It” shows choose a specific recipe and create a work based on its instructions, which range from the vague to the specific. Because every artist’s interpretation of the source material is different, the result is like a cover version of a previously released recording.

“To me, the really interesting thing is it gives artists an opportunity to work outside of their normal box,” said Memphis artist Hamlett Dobbins, coordinator of the Memphis-area “Do It” shows, a project of the Art Museum of the University of Memphis. “It’s artists covering artists, so it’s totally different each time it’s presented, in the same way Gillian Welch’s version of ‘Blackstar’ is going to be totally different from Radiohead’s ‘Blackstar.’”

For example, artist Terri Jones has created an interpretation of a work called “What Would Tracy Do?,” by controversial British artist Tracy Emin. The instructions for this work read: “Take a table. On the table place 27 bottles — all of different sizes and colours. Take a reel of red cotton and wrap it around the bottles, like a strange web that joins them all together. You can, if you wish, take the reel of cotton underneath the table.”

Jones said Emin creates what some call “confessional” work, so while her own interpretation of Emin’s “recipe” was unlike something she would have created on her own in her studio, it inevitably acquired personal meaning for Jones.

“There are a lot of decisions you make when you start breaking down those simple instructions,” Jones said. “You start questioning things: Why 27? Does that have meaning? Why red cotton? What it did for me was it allowed me to research the artist.”

The “Do It” show will open in two waves in Memphis. The first show, featuring six artists, opens at 6 p.m. today at Crosstown Arts and continues there through April 2. (Two of the works are performance pieces: One involves making chili paste, and another requires the artist to watch television.)

The second wave crests at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, a campus gallery that has been closed since September for the installation

MULTIARTIST, MULTIVENUE EXHIBITION

March 4-April 2 at Crosstown Arts, 422 N. Cleveland. Opening reception: 6-9 p.m. March 4.

One day only: 4-6 p.m. March 17, University of Memphis Lambuth, Jackson, Tennessee, Varnell-jones Hall and Wisdom Parlor.

April 8-May 7 at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis, 3750 Norriswood. Opening reception: 4:30-7:30 p.m. April 8.

TERRI JONES Memphis artist Terri Jones created this piece involving “27 bottles — all different sizes and colours” and “a reel of red cotton” for the “Do It” exhibition.