Saragib’s Weblog

“No Ghost Just a Shell” is a project initiated by artists Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno in 1999. It is a collaboration between 18 different artists who created 28 pieces of work, over an number of years, around a female manga character named Annlee. According to the Kunsthall Zurich press release (www.mmparis.com/noghost.html) , where the works were first displayed in their entirety, Huyghe and Parreno “acquired the copyright for a figure called ‘Annlee’ and her original image from the Japanese agency »Kworks«, which develops figures (almost actors) for cartoons, comic strips, advertising and video games of the booming Japanese Manga industry. ”  Much is written about Hyughe and Parranos “rescue” of this character.  Since “Annlee’ was a cheap model: the price of a Manga figure relates to the complexity of its character traits and thus its ability to adapt to a story-line and ’survive’ several episodes,” she was not expected to live long and this project effectively prolonged her life giving her a new purpose. 

In an article about the project’s appearance at the San Francisco museum of Modern Art, Marcia Tanner (www.stretcher.org/archives/r3_a/2003_02_10_r3_archive.php) describes Annlee as “a bland, commercially produced cartoon drawing of a wide-eyed, elf-eared, prepubescent girl.” In Parreno’s 2002 piece “Anywhere Out of the World” http://www.airdeparis.com/pann2.htm visual images of Annlee are paired with an autobiographical statement discussing how she came into being. The PBS program Art 21 (www.blog.art21.org/2008/07/24/pierre-huyghe-anlee/), (www.pbs.org/art21/slideshow/?slide=1496&artindex=178) has more images of work from the project.

According to the Kunsthall Zurich press release, Phillipe and Parrano “offered Annlee’ free of charge to a series of artists, ‘commissioned’ by the initiators, to be used for their ‘own’ stories. At the same time, the artists set up production facilities in Paris, co-ordinated by Anna-Léna Vaney, mainly so that elaborate and expensive video animation was available for the figure. Each of the projects realized with ‘Annlee’ is a “chapter in the history of a sign”, and has a ‘life’ in the context of the individual artists’ activities and within the joint project.” 

The project’s tittle is a reference to a  classic Aime film “Ghost in a Shell.” In an article on Art Forumn (www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_5_41/ai_96223220) Philip Nobel discusses many aspects of the project including some of the works by individual artists.  On the website (www.thingsthatfall.com/annlee.php) Annlee, in the voice of Kristel Van Audenaeren a Ph.D candidate in Art History at the University of Ghent, Belgium, interviews the artist Joe Scanlan who created the piece “Last Call (DO-IT-YOURSELF), 2002,” (http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/3257/diy-ikea-coffin-by-joe-scanlan.html.) This piece is a coffin for Annlee made from Ikea parts; ” The assembly instructions are illustrated with diagrams of Ann going through the motions. It is shown next to a draft copy of her emancipation proclamation.” In his article, Nobel discusses Annlee’s emancipation describing it as a ” clever vehicle of an independent Annlee Association, Huyghe and Parreno have in essence transferred the Annlee copyright back to Annlee. Beyond the works already made and a forthcoming Annlee anthology, use of Ann’s likeness in any medium will be forbidden, a ban enforced by association lawyers.” On December 4, 2002, in a fireworks display titled “A Smile Without a Cat” Annlees image was launched into the air at Miami’s Art Basel festival in a final funeral-like gesture.

The work was purchase in 2003 by the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands . Some of the questions that come up around  the display of this piece are well summed up by the museum’s website (www.vanabbemuseum.nl/en/browse-all/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=18&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=165&cHash=f03d1b6053): ”What does it mean for a museum to purchase such a project/exhibition? What opportunities does the museum have to show these works and what is the impact of these opportunities on the significance of the project itself? How do the individual works relate to the whole and to the context in which they are shown?” 

I chose this particular work because it was discussed at length in the article The Collaborative Turn by Maria Lind. I had never seen or heard of it before and I found that actually looking at it made many of  Lind’s points clearer.  Perhaps due to the complex, collaborative nature of the project, I struggled trying to provide a succinct summary.