Tim Crowley presents an extensive overview of international video works from Paul McCarthy, John Smith, John Bock, Xu Bing, Wang Qingsong and many more. Showcasing artist interest in investigating how images operate and construct our understanding of the world to explore aesthetic concepts, everyday narratives, and socio-political realities.
Friday, Jan. 29 19:00 -21:00 programme 1
Saturday, Jan.30 14:00-16:00 programme 2
A Cheap and Ill-fitting Gorilla Suit
1995, Angus Fairhurst, UK, Colour, 4 mins, no dialogue
Angus Fairhurst (1966-2008) graduated in 1989 in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London where he was in the same year as Damien Hirst. Characterised by visual distortion and practical jokes, he worked in different media, including video, photography and painting, and is noted for sculptures of gorillas. A series of actions in the video A Cheap and Ill-fitting Gorilla Suit show the artist in a gorilla suit jumping up and down manically; the suit begins to disintegrate, shedding newspaper stuffing in the process, until the artist is revealed naked and all sense of illusion dispelled. He exhibited nationally and internationally after graduating from Goldsmiths. Exhibitions include Freeze and Some Went Mad and Some Ran Away, Brilliant! at the Walker Art Center and Apocalypse at the Royal Academy, London in 2001. A 2004 exhibition In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was held at the Tate Britain with Hirst and Sarah Lucas.
Studio Tour
2004, Jake and Dinos Chapman, UK, Colour, 9 mins, no dialogue
Dinos Chapman was born in London in 1962 and Jake Chapman was born in Cheltenham in 1966. They began their own collaboration in 1992. They work with the theme of the anatomical and the grotesque with a series of mannequins of children, sometimes fused together, with genitalia in place of facial features. Their sculpture Hell (2000) consisted of a large number of miniature figures of Nazis arranged in nine glass cases laid out in the shape of a swastika. In May 2008 the White Cube gallery, London exhibited 13 apparently authenticated watercolours painted by Adolf Hitler, to which the brothers added hippie motifs. Jake Chapman described most of the dictator's works as 'awful landscapes' which they had 'prettified'. In studio tour they take you around the world of their work space.
They have exhibited extensively, including solo shows at Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover (2008) Tate Britain (2007) Tate Liverpool (2006) Kunsthaus Bregenz (2005), Museum Kunst Palast Düsseldorf (2003) and Modern Art Oxford (2003) and PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2000). Group exhibitions have included: Summer Exhibition 2007, Annenberg Courtyard, Royal Academy of Arts, London, ARS 06, Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA, Helsinki and the Turner Prize, Tate Britain (2003)
Schweben in einer Kiste (Floating in a Box)
1999, Roman Signer, Switzerland, Colour, 5 mins, no dialogue
Roman Signer, born in 1938 in Appenzell, Switzerland, is a visual artist who works in sculpture, installations, photography, and video. Signer’s "action sculptures" involve setting up, carrying out, and recording "experiments" or events that bear aesthetic results. Following carefully planned and strictly executed and documented procedures, the artist enacts and records such acts as explosions, collisions, and the projection of objects through space. Signer gives a humorous twist to the concept of cause and effect and to the traditional scientific method of experimentation and discovery, taking on the self-evidence of scientific logic as an artistic challenge. Signer was a 2008 finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize.
Chop 1,2,3
2008, Wang Qingsong,China, Colour, 5 mins, no dialogue
Wang Qingsong was born in Heilongjiang in 1966, the year China began to convulse to the tune of Mao's disastrous Cultural Revolution. His father died when he was 15 and Wang became his family's breadwinner, working in the oil fields. He applied five times to various art academies before being accepted at Sichuan, graduating in 1991. Wang's large-scale photographs and video works fight with the contradictions of contemporary China. Vibrant, glossy, with a flatness reminiscent of traditional scrolls, his tableau-style photographs look to his immediate environment for inspiration. Kitsch yet conceptual, they transmit clear and usually political messages through a contemporary Chinese filter. Recent shows include 2009 The China Project: GOMA, Australia, 2007 Wang Qingsong, PKM GALLERY, Seoul, Korea, China: Past, Present & Future, MEWO Kunsthalle, emmingen, Germany, Thinker, Chinablue Gallery, Beijing, China 2006 Wang Qingsong, Albion Gallery, London, United Kingdom. 2005 Wang Qingsong in Arras, City Hall, Art Academy and Public Library, Arras, France, 2004 Romantique :Wang Qingsong, Salon 94, New York City, USA, Romantique :Wang Qingsong, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China.
Death and Burial of the First Emperor of China
1992, TJ Wilcox，USA, Colour, 10 mins, no dialogue
TJ Wilcox was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1965. He attended the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Calfornia. Wilcox uses a combination of found footage, collaged animation and his own films to make mini-narratives. Memory is triggered both through his use of old footage and old camera qualities. He has had solo shows at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2007, and screenings include Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Tate Modern, London; and MoMA, New York. He has featured in group shows including RAW- Among the ruins, Marres- Centre for Contemporary Culture, Maastrict, The Netherlands, 2007, and Superstars: From Warhol to Madonna, Kunsthalle Wien, and Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Austria, 2005. He lives and works in New York.
Real Life
1995-present day, Ross Sinclair, UK, Colour, 9 mins, singing in English
Over the past decade Sinclair's practice has taken the form of a research project based on the concept of Real Life, which he had tattooed in large letters on his back in 1994.On another level he has continually sought to address the relationship between an audience - the public- and their experience of the consumption of the artwork itself utilising many differing strategies in order to test the various questions proposed in each project. For the past decade an important strand of the work has sought to investigate the idea of a modern Scottish identity, and by implication any collective identity. Using the painter Sir Edwin Landseer as the backdrop, physically and conceptually, the video is a song based on Landseers life/history/context. Shows include Real Life Rocky Mountain (CCA, Glasgow 1996) A Dream of the Hamnavoe Free State, (Pier Art Centre, Orkney 1998) Journey to the Edge of the world: The New Republic of St Kilda, (Fruitmarket, Edinburgh 1999), We Love Real life Scotland (City Chambers, Glasgow 2005).
OM
1983, John Smith, UK, Colour, 5 mins, no dialogue
John Smith (b. 1952, Walthamstow, England) is an award winning avant garde filmmaker noted for his use of humour in exploring various themes that often play upon the film spectator's conditioned assumptions of the medium After graduating in 1977 he became involved in the activities of the London Filmmakers’ Co-op. Strongly influenced by the Structural Materialist ideas which dominated British artists’ filmmaking at that time, but also fascinated by the immersive power of narrative and the spoken word, John Smith has developed a body of work which reworks and transforms reality, playfully exploring and exposing the language of cinema. Since 1972 John Smith has made over forty film. He regularly presents his work in person and in recent years it has been profiled through a retrospective at the 2007 Venice Biennale.
The Painter
1995, Paul McCarthy， USA, Colour, 50 mins , dialogue in English
Paul McCarthy was born in 1945 in Utah. In 1972 he studied film, video, and art at the University of Southern California receiving an MFA. From 1982 to 2002 he taught performance, video, installation, and performance art history at the University of California, Los Angeles. McCarthy currently works mainly in video and sculpture. Originally formally trained as a painter, McCarthy's main interest lies in everyday activities and the mess created by them. McCarthy's work in the 1990s, such as Painter (1995), often seeks to undermine the idea of "the myth of artistic greatness" and attacks the perception of the heroic male artist. His retrospective was shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2000, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, the Villa Arson, Nice, France and Tate Liverpool in 2001.
A Case Study of Transference
1993-4 and 1995-6，Xu Bing，China, Colour, 6 mins, no dialogue
Born in Chongqing in 1955, he creates works that question the idea of communicating meaning through language, demonstrating how both meanings and written words can be easily manipulated. The artist films a male and a female pig in a gallery and outside in nature. The male pig has English letters printed on its back and the female pig has Chinese characters printed on its back. Both printed text means nothing. The male pig is trying to copulate with the female pig.
The Hunt
1992/1997, Christian Jankowski ，Germany, Colour, 2 mins, no dialogue
Christian Jankowski (b. 1968 in Göttingen, Germany) works with installation, video, photography, performance and literature. By combining different mediums or putting them in relation, the borders between fiction and reality are nearly abolished. At the same time also the border between private and public are often merged. The footage captures a segment of Jankowski’s week-long quest to eat only groceries he shoots in the supermarket with a bow and arrow. Shows include "Christian Jankowski, Das Gesunde Werden," Innsbruck Contemporary, Innsbruck, Austria 2009 "And Now For Something Completely Different," BAWAG 2009 "Above All I'm an Art Lover," Regen Projects, Los Angeles, 2009
Everything is Going to Be Alright
2007, Guido van der Werve ，Holland, Colour, 10 mins, no dialogue
Guido van der Werve (b. 1977) has been described as the love child of German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich and the Dutch conceptualist Bas Jan Ader. He has that northern European preoccupation with isolation, sadness and introspection, compounded by an absurd sense of humour. His films are sonnets to alienation. ‘Everything is Going to be Alright’ depicts the artist trudging through a frozen wilderness dogged by a vast icebreaker ship that splinters the ice like rice paper. It is the heroic futility of this act that puts us in mind of Ader, in particular that last tragic voyage in search of the miraculous that led him to a watery grave. Recent shows: Minor Pieces, Marc Foxx Gallery Los Angeles, USA，Blackbox, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, USA，Minor Pieces, de Hallen, Haarlem, NL，Minor Pieces, Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK，Minor Pieces, Gallery Monitor, Rome, IT.
4 Pieces of Music and 2 Paintings
2006, Anton Henning，Germany, Colour, 10 mins, no dialogue
Anton Henning (b1964) combines abstract and figurative paintings with statues, furniture, frescoes, and special lighting in his installations, thereby creating architectural constructions. Breaking through the limits of traditional genres in this way is characteristic of this artist. In this film he explores the notion of painting on ice in a way that is reminiscent of his paintings. It is reminiscent of a fairly recent past, but is nevertheless unmistakably contemporary. Anton Henning lives and works in Berlin and Manker, Germany. Recent shows include Gegengift, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin.
Casinoz Babymetabolismn
2008, Jonathon Meese Germany, Colour, 5 mins, inaudible dialogue in English
Jonathan Meese (born January 23, 1970, Tokyo) is a German painter, sculptor, performance artist and installation artist based in Berlin and Hamburg. His multi-media works include collages, drawings and writing. An early installation Ahoi de Angst was presented at the first Berlin Biennale in 1998. Susanne Titz, writing about the Biennale said, "It was thus clear that Meese had indeed put his finger on the pulse of his generation and presented it." According to Karel Schampers, "Jonathan Meese can tell a story in such a gripping way that you would never have the idea to doubt its truth. Especially his installations benefit from this quality," In 2007 he collaborated with the composer Karlheinz Essl on the installation FRÄULEIN ATLANTIS shown at the Essl Museum in Vienna/Klosterneuburg.
Meechfielber
2004, John Bock， Germany, Colour, 25 mins, dialogue in German with English subtitles
John Bock (born 1965 in Schenefeld, Germany) is a German artist. He studied in Hamburg, Germany and lives and works in Berlin. He works are outlandish and intentionally confusing. Bock stages clownish performances during which he encounters and builds sculpture made entirely from found objects. He has had solo exhibitions in a number of international institutions including MoMA and the New Museum of Art in New York, Kunstwerke, Berlin, Kunsthalle, Basel, Secession, Wien, and the ICA in London as well as the Venice Biennale; Manifesta 5; Yokohama Triennial and Documenta 11.
Blind date
1997, Mat Collishaw， UK, Colour, 6 mins, no dialogue
Mat Collishaw attended Goldsmiths, University of London (1986-9), alongside Damien Hirst and other prominent YBAs. His work uses photography and video. It deals with elements of fantasy and illusion - notably fairies. He takes imagery which is both shocking and strangely beautiful in order to examine the nature of photography and the seduction of visual imagery. Collishaw uses contemporary images alongside techniques and styles from an earlier age, for example he often utilises a mosaic effect which, while alluding to religious art and Ancient Rome, is also now associated with pixelated digital imagery. In his Beuysian home movie ‘Blind Date’ the artist takes a sightless trip to the Prado in Madrid. After removing his blindfold only to gaze for a few awestruck seconds at Diego Velázquez’
Las Meninas (1656), he heads home to London a changed man – perhaps. He has especially perfomed a monologue over the film for the show. His art tests our natural responses to disquieting imagery dressed up as sacred, slick or stunning. He has shown work internationally in many important exhibitions including “Freeze” at Surrey Docks in London, “Controlled” at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York, “The Parable Show” at Galerie Grimm/Rosenfeld in Munich, “Sensation” at the Royal Academy of Art in London.
Gobstopper
1999 ，Roddy Buchanan, UK, Colour, 8 mins, no dialogue
Roddy Buchanan, born in Glasgow in 1965, has used photography, video, text and objects to examine how we read people's identity and how individuals identify themselves in society. Many of his works have been collaborative, seeking the co-operation of amateur footballers or passers-by. Gobstopper, 1999, is one of Buchanan’s most playful works. It documents different children as they are driven through Glasgow’s Clyde Tunnel (which connects the north and south of the city). The children play a game that involves holding their breath for the duration of the journey. Whilst some seem to achieve this, others cheat or ‘lose’ with expressions of amusement or frustration. He won the Becks Futures prize 1999 for this work.
I will die
2000, Yang Zhengzhong， China, Colour, 8 mins, dialogue in Chinese and English
Shanghai based Yang Zhenzhong (b.1968 Hangzhou) became famous in 2000 with his video work (I know) I will die. It is made up of short sequences in which a series of people articulate ‘I will die’ in front of the camera. The film confronts the viewer with existential questions. Yang recognizes that individual participation is the starting point for the transformation of perception. Recent solo shows include Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Denmark, Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten, Graz, Austria, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Home 2
2007, Olaf Breuning， Switzerland, Colour, 30 mins, dialogue in English
Olaf Breuning who was born in 1970 is a Swiss-born artist now living in New York. He absorbs the music of Talking Heads, Eurythmics and Grace Jones; the photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Jeff Wall and Cindy Sherman; and the sculpture of Jeff Koons. He cites as influences everything from sci-fi to horror via Vikings and haunted houses. His photographs, installations, and films feature a recurring vocabulary; face-painting, eyeballs attached to inanimate objects, long cheap wigs, naked breasts or direct movie allusions. In Home 2 Brian Kerstetter plays an ignorant tourist staggering around the world from Switzerland to Africa and Japan to Papua New Guinea, crashing his western mentality upon the exotic places he goes.
