Kiss and Tell! In Venice, Nude Tino Sehgal Work Is Talk of the Town

Laurent Asscher wanted to know if I had seen the Tino Sehgal.

The collector’s AMA Venezia, an art foundation he established last year in La Serenissima, was packed on Monday, on the eve of the press preview of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Some 1,600 people passed through—artists, collectors, dealers—all in town for the art world Olympics. Inside, exposed brick walls feature sparsely installed trophy works by top contemporary stars like Ed Ruscha, Christopher Wool, and Jenny Saville, as well as hot emerging artists Joseph Yaeger and Sang Woo Kim.

Asscher couldn’t conceal his excitement about the Sehgal, but would reveal little about it. “It’s a couple,” is all he would offer, “behind the black curtains.”

I left my unfinished glass of Prosecco on a table and stepped inside. It was pitch black. I made uncertain steps, keeping my hand on a wall.

I couldn’t seen anything, just felt a volume of space and sensed there were bodies around. Was there a video? As my eyes adjusted, I realized that people were gathered around something. I looked harder, and saw two pale figures on the floor. They were nude. They were making out.

One, a woman, was riding the other. Very slowly she moved, up and down, left and right. Kissing and embracing. Now she cradled next to her partner, and I realized that she, too, was female. Next they rose onto their knees and moved in unison, almost like they were dancing. Then they switched roles.

How far would they go? Some spectators giggled, many shifted about, as if being voyeurs for this intimate performance was both awkward and thrilling.

The piece is a standout in Venice this week, a hard place to make a splash with so much competing for your attention during the Biennale’s opening. There are hundreds of artists in the official program, collateral events, and galleries. (Not to mention all the art that’s already in Venice!)

“It’s amazing isn’t it?” Asscher said later.

Titled , the live work unfolds over hours and involves a nude couple reenacting the most famous kisses created by artists throughout art history.

“It could be a girl and a girl, or a boy and a boy, or a girl and a boy,” Asscher, 56, said. “The main thing is that it’s a couple. And that the performance is always on.”

Robots will not replace us. Not if Sehgal has his say.

The acclaimed artist is known for his ephemeral “constructed situations,” live human encounters between visitors and those enacting his work. In 2010, he filled the entire rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum with an interactive performance.

Asscher, who is based in Monaco and Belgium, said that he acquired a different Sehgal work three years ago during a charity auction at the Opera de Paris. He liked it, but quickly realized it wasn’t right for his foundation, which he was still planning. He needed something with more oomph. When he later met the artist, the two decided to present . It is based on an earlier Sehgal, , in which performers are clothed while enacting kisses.

On Monday, 10 dancers arrived at 10 a.m. During the day, they switched every two hours, and finished at 8:30 p.m.

Reactions varied. Two people asked Asscher whether the couple was a digital projection, he said.

The patron had never actually seen before. “You know, with Sehgal you acquire a concept,” he said on Tuesday. “The first time I saw it was yesterday.”

He finally understood what a Tino Sehgal work is, he said. “It’s a feeling you get from art, but it’s a living thing. You can never get this feeling from a painting or a sculpture. It’s unique in that way.”

One of the artist’s rules is that the work has to be “on” as long as the space hosting it is open to the public. Another rule: no photographs. “You have to see it,” Asscher said.