Maverick is the name of the flying hero in “Top Gun” – in the current part two, the name even made it into the film title. Many moviegoers probably don’t even know what it stands for, because the term is not particularly common in German. In English, however, maverick is a common term for a person who doesn’t take the rules very seriously. Who thinks and acts independently. Who swims against the current. So “Maverick” is a topos – to which now, after Hollywood, the Ebersberger Kunstverein is also dedicating a large project.
The term originated in America in the middle of the 19th century and goes back to Samuel A. Maverick, a Texan rancher who – contrary to custom – did not brand his cattle. As a result, non-herd animals were dubbed “mavericks,” and eventually the word came into English usage as a designation for a human being. But how should one translate it? Non-conformist, rebel or outsider? Somehow even the word itself seems to be a maverick due to its linguistic fuzziness.
Andy Webster and Derek Tyman love blurs that leave room for creativity
Such gaps, in which there is room for interpretation and creativity, are the specialty of the English artist duo Andy Webster and Derek Tyman. In addition, his projects often combine large-scale sculptural constructions or reconstructions of specific objects or spaces related to historical and cultural events. So now also in Moosach and Ebersberg.
Andy Webster (left) and Derek Tyman love participatory projects and large scale reconstructions with historical reference.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Tyman and Webster, two internationally renowned artists, are currently guests in Moosach, in the studio community of Maja Ott and Hubert Maier, where there is plenty of space and tools, lots of machines and helping hands. The English urgently needed all of this for their project to build a true-to-scale copy of the “Maverick Concert Hall” from Woodstock – or at least its striking facade. The wooden framework was originally intended to adorn the gallery of the Ebersberger Kunstverein for a certain period of time – as part of the city’s sculpture project – but various official requirements ultimately thwarted this idea. The biggest obstacle: the old distillery in the monastery building yard is a listed building.
This is how the old distillery with Maverick facade should look like. Unfortunately, the official requirements destroyed this plan.
(Photo: organizer)
So the sculptor Maier agreed not only to accommodate the creation of the reconstruction, but also an associated event. After a good week’s work, the extraordinary façade now adorns the outer wall of the Moosach workshop. The framework is built of simple slats, about seven meters high and 14 wide. In the upper part there are almost 60 slanted mullioned windows, below there are five large pointed arches, so to speak the entrances. It was raised like a classic Bavarian maypole with the help of the neighborhood.
Still on the ground: Andy Webster, Hubert Maier and Derek Tyman (from left) put the scaffolding together.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
An Eldorado for large-scale art: There are lots of tools, numerous machines and even a forklift in Moosach.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Aim high: Andy Webster is screwing on the last parts of the facade.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
But back to the original: Around 1900, a small group of artists, writers and musicians founded an alternative community in the woods near the town of Woodstock on the outskirts of New York City. It was named after the writer Hervey White, who was considered a free spirit. The Maverick Colony was born.
Moosach is a little utopia, the two English artists rave
As early as 1916, the members built a concert hall in the middle of the forest: the rustic building with its rectangular floor plan and a gable roof covered with wooden shingles consists of roughly hewn beams and wide boards. What fascinates Tyman and Webster today is that the hall was planned and built by artists for artists without the services of an architect. Because the two Englishmen like to work with others themselves, the participatory process is an important part of their work for them. In this respect, the open house in Moosach is the ideal place for the project: “We love being here,” says Webster with a grin. Moosach is a small utopia.
A building of beauty and significance, the Maverick Concert Hall in the woods near Woodstock was built by artists in 1916.
(Photo: organizer)
Thus, although built without an architect, the Maverick Concert Hall was immediately recognized as a building of beauty and importance. The large front in particular, with its striking arrangement of diagonal windows over four large doors, is quickly remembered. And: The hall is still used for concerts today. But the small, rustic hall is perhaps most famous for a particular performance by one of the leading post-war avant-garde composers and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century: John Cage. In 1952 his legendary work “4.33” celebrated its premiere there in the forest. A date that will soon be celebrating its 70th anniversary.
A maverick? John Cage, born in Los Angeles in 1912 and died in New York City in 1992, is considered one of the world’s most influential composers of the 20th century. This portrait was created in Berlin in 1990.
(Photo: O. Behrendt/imago images)
With the piece, commonly referred to as “four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence”, Cage wanted to show that the absence of music is not the same as silence. The audience should be aware of the context of the performance and listen to the random sounds around them: the singing of the birds, the wind in the trees, the rain on the roof, the sounds of the listeners themselves. In the Maverick Concert Hall one saw how the pianist David Tudor sat down at the grand piano and closed the lid of the keyboard at the beginning of the piece. Some time later he opened it briefly to mark the end of the first movement. This process was repeated for the second and third sets.
This is what it might have looked like in the woods near Woodstock when Cage’s legendary play “Silence” premiered there.
(Photo: organizer)
Cage is considered a co-inventor of happening and performance art; the Fluxus movement essentially grew out of the courses he taught in the late 1950’s. In the world of classical music, however, his compositional and performance methods are still considered at least unconventional – he is often viewed as an outsider, a maverick. So it’s no wonder that Tyman and Webster also want to pay homage to him with their project. It’s about a reference to Cage, says Webster, about a homage. “It strikes us as both playful and poetic to bring a Maverick concert hall to Ebersberg – a place that doesn’t really exist linguistically and that became famous for performing a play that didn’t exist.”
There are various performances around the façade, including the legendary piece “4.33”.
Various cage performances are to take place around the Maverick facade in Moosach on Sunday, July 10, from 2 p.m., and there will also be a performance of “4.33” – but this time not on the grand piano. the sheet metal baggage, a small, wild brass band from Ebersberg, has agreed to interpret the silence. Peter Kees, project manager on the part of the Kunstverein, will conduct. A piano is to be used nonetheless: Tyman and Webster have procured an old instrument, which, however, is not intended to be played on, but rather to roll up and down the street noisily over and over again. The two English artists are thinking of the famous “Tumbleweeds”, those flying bales of hay from old Western films – an iconic image, a “running gag”.
Actually no experts for silence: The musicians of the Blech-Bagage from Ebersberg will celebrate John Cage’s legendary piece.
(Photo: organizer)
The Maverick facade can be seen in Moosach until the end of July, when it will be dismantled, disassembled into parts and taken to Ebersberg. There, in the monastery building yard at the Kunstverein, something new is to be created from the wood, probably three stages, but that’s not quite clear yet. In any case, it is certain that Monday, August 29th, will be an important day, because then the anniversary of Cage’s premiere in 1952 will really be celebrated in the district town. A festival is planned that explores the idea of ”mavericks”, be it in art, science, music or politics. According to Kees, various national artists have already announced themselves, and the two Englishmen will of course be there again. Are Tyman and Webster Mavericks themselves? Might be. They are always a bit crazy.
Andy Webster and Derek Tyman: “Maverick-Facade”, Ateliers Moosach, Grafinger Straße 14, opening on Sunday, July 10, at 2 p.m., on view until July 31. Continuation in Ebersberg, festival on Monday, August 29, at the Kunstverein im Klosterbauhof. Info below www.kunstvereinebersberg.de.