Outside The Box

Whether sending audiences on sleuthing missions or employing an actor to play his future self, Ryan GandeR won’t be hemmed in by the gallery. payal uttam meets the art world’s playful prince of the unexpected.

ON THE FLOOR at the centre of a bustling art fair, a small girl begins to emerge from a white wooden box, reaching forward tentatively and craning her head into the light. The girl is a bronze replica of one of Edgar Degas’ renowned ballerinas, and focus of a sculptural installation by British artist Ryan Gander. “She’s crawling out of the plinth, which represents the institution of art. She’s freed herself. But what’s she hiding from? Probably all the terrible contemporary art,” Gander jokes, cheekily gesturing from his wheelchair towards other works on display at Art Basel in Hong Kong. An elfin figure dressed in a velvet jacket, white beanie and blue polka-dot scarf, the artist has much in common with the little dancer. Despite his standing invitation to flashy art-world parties, he eyes the system with suspicion.

Known for his irreverent approach, Gander smuggles viewers into unexpected situations, opening them up to new ways of experiencing art. At first glance, some may read his works as abstract and difficult to grasp, but unlike many of his conceptualist peers, Gander infuses his work with a child-like wonder and curiosity that’s infectious. He once hid an exhibition in a London warehouse, leaving clues that forced visitors to take on the role of detectives to find it. For another work, he hired two bodyguards to escort curator Nicholas Baume around Art Basel in Miami Beach, raising questions about the cult of celebrity in the art world.

“I thought it would be really ironic if he’d allotted a budget and invited me to do whatever I wanted, and then I turned it back on him,” Gander says with a grin. “Bodyguards are a signifier of prestige, so you had people crowding around this curator and they didn’t know if he was important or not.”