WACTACers will remember Tino Sehgal as the man who imitated a zombie in the office. People who don’t remember, or know, Tino can get a very good briefing by clicking here.

There are two very good parts of this New York Times article. First, the title “You Can’t Hold It, but You Can Own It”, explaining the dichotomy that is Sehgal’s work. Second, the quote near the end by Yasmil Raymond, the curator of Sehgal’s Walker show, about her experience with stripping security guards.

The guards were, of course, part of Sehgal’s work. He sees himself as a creator of experiences. Simply put, his art is making someone do something weird and people reacting to it.

But, according to Sehgal its much more complicated, and intellectual and conceptual, etc. than just that. Last year WACTACers got to meet him and hear about his work.

Before we had even met him, Sehgal had made an impression. It seemed ludicrous that someone could charge money and make editions of something so ethereal. It seemed like conceptual art gone a little too far. But also, you had to admire his ingenuity for creating a completely new and unexpected form of art that makes you really think, or at least startles you.

In person, he comes off as both intimidating, (he wore black, had an accent and lots of ideas) and a regular guy (the zombie dance, and he answered our questions seriously despite being “teens”). As for those a lot of ideas, some made sense, others seemed a bit silly, and others I have probably forgotten.

He said he made his art because it seemed like everything and everyone was always producing something physical, whether in factories or museums. So, he is creating something that is only kept in the witness’s memories. No photographs, or films exist to document a Sehgal work, you may notice in the article, all the photos are of rehearsals.

In addition to eliminating waste, he doesn’t believe that these mediums are accurate representations of his work. He works in all four dimensions-length, width, depth, and time-and there is no way that is yet created to perfectly preserve his work. So, to see a Tino Sehgal, you have to see it.

And, to see it, you have to go to a museum. We asked him why he doesn’t bring his art to different venues, like theaters. He shrugged that off, and is quoted in the New York Times article saying theater is “a ritual of antiquity.” He said he liked museums because they are spaces where people are expecting, and paying, to see art, but don’t expect to see a guard singing.

I came away from the interview thinking of Sehgal as a high-minded prankster. It seems like the joke is not only on the people who inadvertently walk in on a stripping, or singing museum guard, but also on the people who pay for it. He talks about the art world in a very serious way, but one gets the feeling that he doesn’t exactly take it seriously.

One more thing about Tino Sehgal, he doesn’t do planes, so when he comes to the Walker, its by boat.