So it’s been a while since I updated this blog,
probably a mixture of being too busy with jobs and on my off days focusing
either on making art and planning, or just having a nice time being off of monetary
work. A lot has happened, I’ve made a lot of work since December, I’ve curated
a few exhibitions, produced a new issue of the book series, talked to students
and spoke on a panel, began commissioning artists for a new project with Daata
Editions and switched jobs. I went back to the countryside for Christmas, went
to Porto in February for a short break, and now it’s March and nearly a fourth
of the year is already gone. I’ve seen so many shows and watched so many films
and TV shows, as well as playing a few video games. This is going to be a long
one.
Last time I was speaking about issue 6 and the open call ending. The issue launched at SPACE in London on the 31st January, which was really fantastic! I have Kristina Pulejkova to thank, an artist who I’ve worked with before, the first time on an online project for isthisit? years ago, then I was interviewed for her podcast Enter The Picture in 2017 (has it been that long!?) and now she’s the Art and Technology Programme Manager at SPACE, so it was fantastic to work with her again, in some small way. For the launch there was a showreel of videos from Ollie Dook, Thomas Yeomans, Erin Mitchell and myself. It was an interesting experience, as usually the books launch with an exhibition, rather than simply a book launch, but I was really happy with how many people came, and it was definitely a lot less work than a full on exhibition, which definitely attracts me to the idea of doing it again.
Here’s the full artist list for the issue, alongside the cover/back cover. I worked quite hard on the design of this issue, and even though it’s one of the smallest issues I’ve produced (108 pages) I think it was really successful.
The book includes artwork and essays from 38
artists, writers, curators and collectives including AES+F, Diann Bauer, Amanda
Beech, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Ami Clarke, Kirsten Cooke, Sandrine Deumier, Ollie
Dook, Raphael Fabre, Beverley Gadsden, Tom Galle, Thomas Grogan, Benjamin
Grosser, Alif Ibrahim, Melanie Jackson, Mathias Jansson, Ayesha Tan Jones,
Susie Kahlich, Botond Keresztesi, Andrea Khora, Hun Kyu Kim, Tomasz Kobialka,
Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Vanessa Kowalski, Jonas Lund, Brianna Leatherbury,
Eva and Franco Mattes, Erin Mitchell, Paula Morison, Claire Potter, Natalya
Serkova, Tai Shani, Linda Stupart, Lynton Talbot, Charlie Godet Thomas, Frank
Wasser, Trystan Williams and Thomas Yeomans.
The issue was all about the news and clickbait, and
it’s a limited edition of 100. It’s very close to fully selling out, which is
really great, so if you want to buy a copy, I wouldn’t wait around. To find out
more about the issue head to this link - www.isthisitisthisit.com/issue-06
I wrote a new text piece for the issue, which I
really liked. Titled Everything Stays, it takes inspiration from Rebecca
Sugar's song of the same name, created for an episode of Adventure Time. Both
the song and the text consider how things will always change no matter what,
even if they're left alone and stay completely still, ever so slightly, in
little ways. It’s a song I really love, and encompasses a lot of what I’m
interested in regarding technological change. Here’s the text:
Let's go in the garden, you'll
find something waiting… My eyes begin to close, hoping to embrace the deep unconsciousness of
sleep. The low hum of a fan perpetuates the almost silent atmosphere,
unstoppable and malignant in nature. Equipment built to be silent, slowly
weighed down by dust particles from around the world, continuing to keep my
eyes from a reality rejuvenating escape.
Bones tighten and decompress, fold and break, turning to dust after
centuries of use. When will this cycle end? For someone, somewhere, it probably
already has. Perhaps someday it will for you, or me, transforming the idea of
an endless cycle into a brief period of human evolution.
For the moment I continue to tap, to type, to prod, to push,
occasionally pausing to stretch, rolling my shoulders and breathing a sigh of
relief. Feeling my skin crease and mould, actively furthering my own rate of
reduction.
Right there where you left it,
lying upside down… My eyes drift to the open window, looking down at the rotting signs,
the long-forgotten street lamps. I still remember when they flickered under the
darkened sky. They used to say that you could run by without being caught in
the light if you were quick enough, role playing as a spy, a malignant particle
in a city of drones, creating your own narrative, your own intuitive storyline
for others to follow.
The hum is replaced by a crisp breeze, a shifting of scenery perhaps, or
a drop of water in a vast ocean. An automated gyrocar ripples onto the
forgotten street below, piercing the acrid air and following her pre-described
route, disturbing small piles of ash stacked high on the sidewalk.
When you finally find it, you'll
see how it's faded… It’s been 375074 days and I will soon be long forgotten. Where there's
smoke there's fire, and where there’s fire ultimately there will be ash. I will
be added to one of the many piles, becoming part of the community, fluidly
mixing with the lesser compounds. A drop of ash in a vast ocean of depravity,
waiting to be disturbed by a driverless gyrocar.
The underside is lighter, when
you turn it around… Fingers move in front of my fabricated face. They haven’t been mine for
many decades, continually upgrading and modifying themselves until they became
unrecognisable, so detached from the archetypes of the past, disconnected from
my own subconscious, my own inherent being.
I used to blame the news, the mass media, corporations and
conglomerates, forcing me to alter my own aesthetic, distorting my narrative
alongside everyone else’s in search for a truer self. I’m unsure whether I ever
found it, and if I did it probably only lasted for a moment, a temporary
experience before the next set of steroids, muscle relaxers or robotic reflex
enhancements were embedded into my body.
Everything stays, right where
you left it… Feeding on the propaganda shovelled into my gaping mouth, hungry for something,
anything that would point towards my next alteration. I should have known,
everything disintegrates eventually, and there’s nothing you, me, or anyone
else can do to stop it.
Far away, music plays, gently caressing my ears through the open window.
Listening to a distant neighbour is the only way to access content these days,
aside from paying exuberant fees to one of the many streaming services.
Physical, disconnected forms of technology were abolished many centuries ago.
Who needs a television when anyone who’s everyone can watch whatever they want,
whenever they want, by simply shutting their eyes? Who needs a phone, when a
fluid, once injected into your body, allows you to connect and interact with
anyone and everyone? For a small, monthly fee, it could all be yours.
Everything stays, but it still
changes… Well, that’s how it was marketed, a campaign inspiring billions to
discard their phones, televisions and computers in favour of a mass migration,
to look into, rather than out of, ourselves. Becoming the hermit in the cave,
watching shadows dancing on the walls, only ever blindly peaking outside of
ourselves when a new form of evolution was promised.
If that was the beginning, then this is the end, or at least somewhere
close. Rather than playing a video game by simply closing my eyes, I’m
extending my ears to hear snapshots of a song that should have turned to ash
some time ago. This is a form of unexpected devolution that no one originally
wanted, some still don’t.
As augmented bodies become more prevalent, new editions appeared on the
market. Improved models and higher quality liquids became far more desirable
than the government subsidised prototype every child entering the world was
provided with.
Ever so slightly, daily and
nightly… Hardware classism reared its ugly head, a form of late capitalism that
we assumed would be forgotten. Who wants to watch an advert when you can pay a
premium to see ad-free? Paywalls were installed, and loot boxes were
established, allowing augmented users with a passive income to rise to the top
of any given food chain, digital or otherwise.
I turn back to the window, gazing into the abyss of a continuously
changing skyline. The illusion of time distorts and modifies everything it
touches, for better or worse. Buildings move, up and down, forwards and back,
forever shifting and changing in a dance akin to death itself.
When you can’t pay for the premiums and refuse the monthly fee, closing
your eyes only brings darkness. At first, I felt like a failure, unable to
interact with my community of creators, like-minded individuals and friends. It
was only later, after an extended period of time, that the weight slowly lifted
from my over-inflated shoulders, allowing me to see through the darkness.
In little ways, when everything
stays... Climbing out of the window and onto the ledge, I look back down,
towards the small piles of ash, willing myself to jump, to become a part of the
street architecture, slowly decomposing, eventually turning into my own pile of
nondescript ash…
A while back I was also invited by Cosmos Carl to
contribute a link to their ongoing project, an online platform that hosts
nothing but links provided by artists. I’ve really admired what Frederique
Pisuisse and Saemundur Thor Helgason do
with this for literally years, so it was a pleasure to be a part of it. For
this, which launched earlier in March, I uploaded the text to Reddit, alongside
a new simple video work consisting of people jumping from buildings in first
person GTA5, with the instrumental version of Rebecca Sugar’s Everything Stays
in the background. Here’s the link to the Reddit post - www.reddit.com/user/BobBicknell-Knight/comments/ar18y9/everything_stays/
After the success of Flow My Tears, the curated
exhibition I put together for Daata Editions late last year, David, the
director of Daata, kindly invited me to produce another, alongside providing me
with a budget to commission a number of artists to produce some new work
specifically for the show, which was truly amazing, and something I’d really
love to be able to do again. Having money to give to artists is literally a
fantastic feeling after not being able to pay people for the majority of my
previous projects. I’m unsure when the upcoming exhibition will be launching,
potentially some time in April. It’s called Beyond the Door and features new
work from myself, Peter Burr, Kara Gut, Tom Kobialka, Cassie McQuater and
Georgie Roxby Smith. It’s going to be about escapism and virtual worlds, more
information on that soon.
Since late 2018 I’ve been working on a new video
piece called State of Affairs, which is the new piece now being produced for
Daata. It’s about 24 minutes long, includes animation, a soundtrack and a
voiceover. As the work is exclusive to Daata, I can’t really share it until it
goes live on the platform, but here’s the accompanying text for the piece:
Bob Bicknell-Knight’s State of Affairs compiles footage from the YouTube
channel News Direct, in which daily news stories, from self-driving buses to
social media bots, are transcribed into 3D rendered animations. Non-linear in
presentation, the re-appropriated video work illustrates current and future
modes of technological interface, from facial recognition software to drone
surveillance. Executed in a dated Y2K aesthetic, the work is dystopic and
utopic all at once. Akin to the unconscious rituals implemented while existing
on the internet, opening tab after tab, clickbait after clickbait, State of
Affairs mirrors the inconclusive narrative of our digital lives. The visual
content is accompanied by a soothing, melodic soundtrack and augmented
voiceover, forewarning of the future of gamified spaces and digital death.
I’ve also been a part of a bunch of exhibitions
since December, which is really great, although now I have less coming up, a
few things, but I’m feeling a bit absent at the moment due to having less on
that I would like. So in January I was a part of two nicely curated exhibitions
in London alongside some fantastic artists by great curators. The first was To
cite a body, curated by Jack Smurthwaite w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight, Yoshi
Kametani, Keiken Collective, Mark Aerial Waller and Vivien Zhang. At Sluice HQ,
London, UK, 12 January - 2 February. For this I exhibited Unattended Bag.
The second was They Live, curated by Angela Pippo
w/ Chris Alton, Sam Austen, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Jack Burton, Naomi
Fitzsimmons, Alex Leigh, Paula Pinho Martins Nacif. At Platform Southwark,
London, UK, 24 January - 4 February. For this I exhibited a few new Post WWIII
pieces, alongside a Portal piece printed on aluminium. These were both fun to
be in, and with some great people. No fees, but I’m very used to that of
course.
Then there was the exhibition in Cambridge, GROUND ZERO EARTH, curated by
Yasmine Rix in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
(CSER), University of Cambridge w/ Bob Bicknell-Knight, Olivia Domingos,
Jillian Mayer, Daniel Sean Kelly and David Lisser. At Alison Richard Building,
Cambridge, UK, 14 February - 22 March. For this I produced a series of new
painting works, alongside showing previous video pieces and sculptures. Overall
it was a fantastic experience, I received a fee alongside a fee to produce new
paintings, a paid for hotel, paid for trip down to Cambridge and a paid for
dinner after the private view. It was fantastic, and something I’d like to be a
part of more, of course. I was also on a panel discussion, which occurred on the
evening of the private view. I’ve been on panels before, but rarely with people
who were extremely clever, so it was quite hard and I don’t think I was the
best I could be, but I’d like to do more, and the more I do it the less nervous
I will be. Hopefully the footage from that will be shared online soon, as I
would love to publish it and have it online as evidence.
In terms of the new works, I think they came out well, although I’m still
refining these ‘painting’ pieces. After thinking about, I decided not to get
them painted in China, as the cost was quite high and ultimately I didn’t find
it interesting anymore. It’s been done a lot before, and they probably wouldn’t
look as nice as I’d want them to look. So instead of having them painted, I had
them printed, then painted onto the print with acrylic, gloss and PVA glue. The
result is quite weird paintings, due to the prints on canvas being kind of
plastic like and not true canvas. They look weird, but I’m happy with them. The
show is still on until 22 March, so if you’re in Cambridge please do go, here’s
some photographs of the works in situ.
I also made a few actual paintings for my family for Christmas, very small 30 x 30 cm works that were very ill informed, but I kind of like, in a weird way.
I’m continuing to produce these digital paintings in fictitious studio spaces,
I think at this point I have established that painting is a part of my
practice, in a weird way, but I’m still working out how best to produce these
things in real life. For another recent show that I curated, I decided to
actually paint a piece, which I am proud of but isn’t as nice as I’d want it to
be. I’ve now realised that, of course, painting is incredibly hard. It’s an
obvious thing to say but having not tried to properly paint for at least 7 or 8
years, I think I forgot and thought that it wasn’t. So, at this point I’m
getting pieces printed onto proper fabric and then stretching them, more
interested in how they translate from digital to real, rather than making
literal paintings. Here’s a few of the pieces I’ve made since December, using
various techniques. As I say, I think I’m still working out how to produce
these, and what any proper outcome will be, even if they’ve been in shows, etc.
As part of the sixth issue of the book I organised and curated an exhibition, called Trust Is The Ultimate Currency, which opened at Harlesdon High Street, a new gallery in Fitzrovia, London, featuring work from myself, Ami Clarke, Débora Delmar, Ollie Dook, Tom Galle, Eloise Hawser, Botond Keresztesi, Erin Mitchell, Charlie Godet Thomas, Frank Wasser and Thomas Yeomans. It touches on lots of the issues brought about in the book and includes some of the artists from the book too, alongside a few extras. It opened on the 22nd February and runs until the 14th April, extended from the 24th March. I think it turned out quite well, even though I had a very limited amount of time to plan it. Some great artists are involved and aesthetically the show feels tight and content. Here’s some photographs.
Alongside the bag I showed my first actual painting, the one I was speaking
about before, simply acrylic on canvas. It’s called Dinner with Mark and
depicts Mark Zuckerberg holding a severed goats head on a wooden spike whilst
giving a speech at a conference. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone,
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated that there was a year when Zuckerberg was only
eating what he was killing, and had six goats on his property at any one time.
Supposedly he would stun goats with a taser, cut their throat with a knife and
have their bodies sent to a butcher to prepare. Being served goat for dinner
whilst attending a dinner party at Zuckerberg’s house was Dorsey’s most
memorable encounter with Zuckerberg. I first heard about the story after
listening to the podcast New Models, and it’s started a new series of works
focusing on Mark and his various morals.
Late last year I was also invited to have a solo show in Copenhagen at a small
space called Salon 75 in August, which is really exciting! At the moment I’m
planning on having a number of aluminium modular extrusion system structures in
the gallery, as well as paintings, some sculptures and the new State of Affairs
video work. They currently don’t have funding, but they may get some by August,
so fingers crossed. Here’s some images from the Sketchup model.
The paintings in the show will be part of the new series looking at Mark and his morals, his interests and his aesthetic in general. The new works I’m planning to produce are a series whereby Mark’s face has been implanted onto the faces of hunters, specifically trophy hunters. These are hunters who go out, hunt various animals and once killed, clean up the body, photograph themselves usually beside the animal, and then have it kept and displayed in their home to represent the success of the hunt. This is working off of the goat eating of the previous piece, although now Mark has become obsessed with hunting and the thrill of the hunt, creating these complex assemblages of hunter and prey to hang on his house. It’s still in its early stages, but I think when they’re made they’ll look fantastic. I also really enjoy how each of these new painting works have the foregrounded conceptual ideas of translating the digital into the physical, so there’s various layers of conceptual thought behind them, allowing however many of these series of works to be produced.
For Christmas another series of presents that I made for my family were these
ceramic vessels, various objects made from clay for holding candles and plant
pots. This inspired me to produce a piece made from clay. I made one piece and
then didn’t really continue, I do want to, but I haven’t used the material now
since December. I’d like to return to it soon, as I really loved getting used
to the material and slowly understanding its properties. It’s also cheap! The
piece is called Mediums of Exchange and continues my interest in forms of
currency, and how symbols are utilised and reproduced over time, representing
different ideologies and interests. It’s basically a rock like sculpture, with
different symbols representing different currencies carved into it. I then
painted, sanded it down and glazed it. I kind of like it, but there’s a lot to
improve upon, and I need to buy some more clay…
I’m trying to use the aluminium system in more sculptural works now, so that I
can eventually use it all, sooner rather than later due to me not wanting it to
become a thing that I always use. This led to a new work that I made very
recently called Kennel Chaos. Similar to the previous supplementary State of
Affairs works, it takes screenshots from the piece, prints them onto aluminium
Dibond, but then situates them within the aluminium frame, alongside an
accompanying 3D print of a figure. In the video a series of colours are used to
represent different people, like a visual code, so blue is for police, orange
is for threats against civilians, green is civilians and red is dead. The first
piece is taken from a news clip speaking about the use of kennels in Venezuela,
basically trucks that pack as many people as possible onto them, as public
transportation has been paralysed by hyperinflation in the country. Public
transport is provided by private companies, and there’s not enough money in the
country to pay them, with the governor’s solution being to provide free transport
in the form of kennels, with many people dying from using them due to the
enclosed spaces and crashes on the roads. So, it’s an accompaniment to State of
Affairs, as it’s using the same visual language, but a work within in its own
right about hyperinflation and the utilisation of these vehicles. The 3D
printed figure then brings the work into the physical world, as it’s an issue
in the physical space. I’d like to make more of these, it’s just an issue of
money to print onto aluminium, and there being a place for them to exhibit. For
now I have one physical one, and can make some mockups from this.
I also did an art swap with Aaron Scheer, which was really great, and is
something I’d love to do more of, extending my collection of art. So if anyone
likes my work, and thinks that I’d like theirs, I’m very open to swapping.
I think that might be it for new work and current things happening. It’s been a good few months, although I’ve been in a bit of a weird place. I lost one of my monetary jobs due to no fault of my own, which was sad, and have been struggling to find something else consistent. I’m hoping that something comes up soon, as I’m beginning to get desperate with this money thing, which is always an issue. Let’s move on to exhibitions, which is going to be long and in no particular order, alongside not too detailed due to the massive amount I have to get through. This was a lot simpler when it was weekly and I was at university.
At the top of the pile is Kate MacGarry’s CONDO showing, which was fine, work
by Josh Blackwell, Chou Yu-Cheng, Jeremy Everett, Laura Gannon, Nuri Kuzucan, Peter
Mcdonald, Florian Meisenberg, João Vasco Paiva, Ko Sin Tung and Francis
Upritchard.
Larry Achiampong and David Blandy’s Genetic Automata at Arts Catalyst was fantastic,
looking at ideas of race and biology, and how they’re presented in video games
and science fiction films and TV shows. As always, their collaborative videos
are some of my favourite artworks. They’re incredibly well put together,
beautiful heartfelt films that are true to themselves and their heritage. It’s
also open until the 30th March, so do go if you can.
Adonis Archontides’ New Year, New You at Seventeen was a one day exhibition as
part of David Raymond Conroy’s exhibition at the gallery, where the artist
rented out the exhibition space throughout the duration of the exhibition. The
piece obviously had cultural relevance, rising rent prices, etc, but ultimately
it felt like the show was the press release, and there’s a point where I’d
quite like to see some art. The temporary show was fine, focused on Sims and
the artist embodying various personalities, living through the game.
CONDO at Herald St was pretty different with Karon Davis, Sanou Oumar and
Tabboo.
Franek Wardyński at South Kiosk was fun, bringing the digital into the physical
by taking a photograph of a forest into a forest and filming it, recording
people’s reactions when encountering on walks. Funny and smart.
We are the people. Who are you?, an exhibition at Edel Assanti, was fine. It
was the type of show I wanted to like, but it ended up being a little too
complicated, and I just wasn’t feeling it as much as I wanted to. I don’t know…
Anna Chrystal Stephens at SPACE was great, a solo show looking at survival like
tactics being used in activities like camping and house boats, making
comparisons between that kind of lifestyle and that of living in an apocalyptic
esque space. It was fun.
CONDO at Maureen Paley was fun, Chelsea Culprit had a solo there, which was
fun. I think she’s had one there before, which I also enjoyed. Lots of work
about witches and cryptic imagery. I really liked these sculptures that were on
the floor, pictured. Upstairs was Juliette Blightman, which I liked less.
Henry Hudson at Hannah Barry Gallery was kind of fun, he’s quite well known for
making these huge wall based works made from plasticine, which are really
astonishing, even if they’re not truly my thing. These new works were
predominantly made from wax and I wasn’t too into them. I dunno, they were nice?
Ken Okiishi at Pilar Corrias was a bit too much for me to take everything on
board.
Downstairs though, a film by Felix Bernstein and Gabe Rubin, was fantastic. I
couldn’t watch it all as it was about 50 minutes long, but from what I could
see, it involved a guy who bred dogs in his basement, the dogs were people
dressed up as dogs, and slowly began quoting famous philosophers after reading
their books. Unsure how it ended, but I really enjoyed what I was able to see.
Libita Clayton at Gasworks was quite mad, the main space was normal, but
attached to it was a hole in the wall, like an entrance to a cave. It was
filled with bark and a spoken word audio work. I liked it.
Sheltering Sky, a group show at GAO was really great, featuring Josephine
Baker, Kira Freije and Tom Worsfold. Obviously I work there, so I’m bias, but
GAO always puts in so much work to their shows. They don’t have to, they could
simply install some paintings, but no, they want to make it more than just a
salon esque hang. So yeah, definitely proud to work there.
The Dream Follows The Mouth, featuring Louise Giovanelli, Leonor Serrano Rivas
and Sofia Silva at Arcade, was good. Giovanelli makes quite nice paintings.
Bodily Encounters at APT Gallery with Nancy Allen, Gal Leshem and Emily Woolley
was fun, especially Emily Wooley’s piece, basically a climbing frame like
environment with very subtle afflictions against the frame, which I really
enjoyed. Just very lovely intricacies.
Utopia Through Nostalgia at Koppel Project was fine, my favourite was Lydia
Blakeley of course, who’s both a lovely person and also a fantastic painter.
Aside from her work I wasn’t too interested.
It was my first time visiting Charlie
Smith London, and I don’t think I will be back. It was an exhibition called
Young Gods, with work on show from a number of recent MA graduates. I think the
incredibly hilarious/wanky title says it all really. I don’t think there was
any irony. It included work from Eliza Bennett, Teal Griffin, Thomas Langley,
Alexi Marshall, Rosie McGinn, Irene Pouliassi and Yasmine Robinson. Pictured is
McGinn’s work, the only piece I liked. Curated by Zavier Ellis. Who would call
their show this?
Cork Street Galleries for CONDO was fun, in a big building and basement that
was basically a space that had just been built, with just the shell of a
building, so quite a nice venue for a show. It included a new piece from DIS,
which was really great, alongside new works from Yuri Pattison, and a bunch of
others too, although those were my highlights. Project Native Informant have
such good represented artists.
Gareth Cadwallader at Josh Lilley truly blew me away. It was a show of
incredibly tiny paintings made in such amazing detail that I was truly
astounded. It was truly beautiful work, with each piece costing £20,000. Each
work was 10 x 8 inches. Tiny!
Ryan Sullivan at Sadie Coles was dull.
Life is too short to be serious all the time, curated by Georgia Stephenson
with Jack Evans, Michael Hautermulle and Richard Müller at Lumen Crypt Gallery,
was fine. However, after researching the show, I saw that the curator was one
of the artists’ other half, and had curated them into many of their previous
shows. I’m not so into this blatant nepotism, obviously, if you’re an artist
and have a relationship with another artist, you probably like their work, and
if you’re a curator it’s probably the same, and you’re probably going to curate
them into a show or two, but to do it for the majority of your shows just feels
a little weird. I dunno, I definitely see the pro’s, and it makes things a lot
easier for you as a curator, but it feels like the other artists in a given
group show wouldn’t be getting the same treatment. I dunno, I’m torn about it,
but in general it feels overtly nepotistic. Nepotism is so prevalent in art I
don’t think you need to pursue it even more… I’m probably wrong, and I have
done it before, I am a hypocrite, but not for multiple shows. Perhaps that’s
what the title of the show was confronting? Perhaps I’m being too serious about
this, I probably am.
Carry On at FOLD was so dull. A show of abstract artists, all making work that
could fit in a carry on suitcase on the plane. It felt so overtly privileged.
Also, abstract art group show…
I helped install a show at Solid View called BROCHURE, a new project space at
Ryan Gander’s London studio, featuring work from Yonatan Vinitsky alongside
Ryan and Aurelien Froment. It was great to work there for a few days, and the
show was fun too. Bonus. This is me in the white t-shirt video, installing a floor
made up of thousands of wood blocks. And I mean thousands.
Mark Leckey at Cabinet was fun, featuring the ghosts from The Muppet Christmas
Carol, alongside a big Christmas tree. It felt very christmassy and lovely, the
experience. It was before I went back for Christmas I think…
Upstairs was a curated show from James Richards, which was just slightly
mental. I did not understand.
Premiums at the RCA was fine, I liked two works, one from Joe Pearson and
another from Amanda Kyritsopoulou. You know you’ve made it when you have a
shutterstock image of you next to your art.
Miroslaw Balka at White Cube was fantastically hilarious. Basically the two
gallery spaces have been completely altered, with huge walls of steel cutting
off the entire gallery, aside from a meter of space right at the top. They’re
also very warm. It’s supposed to be very conceptual, of course, but I just
found it hilarious and left me wondering what happened at the private view! It
ends on Saturday 9th March, if you can go between now and then,
please do. You will both regret it and love it.
Anikó Kuikka at GAO is currently on. It’s very creepy, focusing on Hänsel &
Gretel, and basically swapping out the old woman trying to eat them, with an
old man trying to molest them. It’s VR too, so even more creepy. It’s well
worth a visit.
Subversive Stitch at TJ Boulting was fun, specifically this piece by James
Merry, which I would totally wear all the time if I had the chance. I’m sure
they’re quite simple to copy too, which you would totally do if you could
stitch.
Ghislaine Leung at Chisenhale was great, of course.
CONDO at Emalin was fun, highlights being new work from Puppies Puppies,
although without any contextual text specifically about the piece I was left a
little unknown about it conceptually. Their work always requires some
explanation. Also featured Megan Plukett and Gaylen Gerber, who wrote a very
weak paragraph of a press release for the show.
Do you keep thinking there must be another way at Mimosa House was really good,
and my first time visiting, with work by Georgia Horgan, Lee Lozano, Howardena
Pindell Polvo de Gallina Negra, Raju Rage, Georgia Sagri and Emma Talbot. I was
most into the work by Georgia Sagri, a video work documenting a meeting whereby
issues of copyright were coming up in relation to her work. It was very bleak
but also fantastic to be let into this process.
SKEE, a duo show from Bora Akinciturk and Iain Ball at Narrative Projects, was
fun, all about gen Z and TikTok.
Light-Footed Light-Fingered at The Ryder was good, with work from Rosana Antolí,
Matt Calderwood, Zuza Golinska, Kostas Ioannidis, Jonas Lund, David Rickard and
Tim Sandys. I was really into this piece by Calderwood, a series of works where
he makes objects out of estate agent for sale signs, which are usually
discarded and left in place a=once a property sells as a form of extended
advertising. Such a good idea for a series. I love it.
RE-FIGURE-GROUND at arebyte, a group exhibition guest curated by Kelani
Nichole, with works by Morehshin Allahyari, LaTurbo Avedon, Snow Yunxue Fu,
Carla Gannis, Claudia Hart, Lorna Mills, Eva Papamargariti, Pussykrew, Sabrina
Ratté, Amina Ross, and Alan Warburton was fine, a little too many screens for
me.
Joins, a duo show at Cell Projects from Rosa Aiello and Patricia L. Boyd was
fine.
Process Accelerator 2.0, a solo show from Anu Suhonen at Block 336 was fun, all
about automation of industry, and the dawn of 3D printing, with live 3D
printing in the gallery. Very fun and tight.
Is This Tomorrow?, a group show at Whitechapel Gallery, was fine. It featured
work from 6a architects, Adjaye Associates, APPARATA, Rachel Armstrong, Rana
Begum, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Cao Fei, Mariana Castillo Deball, Cécile B.
Evans, Simon Fujiwara, Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation, Kapwani
Kiwanga, David Kohn Architects, mono office, Farshid Moussavi Architecture,
Hardeep Pandhal, Amalia Pica, Jacolby Satterwhite, Zineb Sedira and Marina
Tabassum Architects. Basically each artist joined up with an architect. Lots of
click baity work, some amazing work, and some not so amazing. I paid £12.95 to
get in, and I was in there for about 12 minutes, so it’s not quite worth the
pound a minute entry.
The Talos Element at Gossamer Fog, featuring work from Evi Kalogiropoulou, Yorgos
Papafigos, Valinia Svoronou and Theo Triantafyllidis, was fine. My favourite
was some beautiful marble works from Kalogiropoulou. Here’s a weak photo taken
from Instagram.
Notes on Objects at Narrative Projects was fun, I only really went to see paper
bags with holes in from Harm van den Dorpel. Also featured were Teresa Braula
Reis, Braco Dimitrijevic, Marte Eknæs, and Carlos Noronha Feio and Anton
Ginzburg.
Showerthoughts, a duo exhibition by Gillies Adamson Semple and Nathaniel Faulkner
at San Mei was nice, focused around a hanging system that was attached to the
walls, creating alcoves and indents in the walls. Solidly nice.
Lewis Hammond’s The Keep at Arcadia Missa was great, although it was a lot more
about the paintings than the show, more about selling than creating an
exhibition, simply because of how many paintings that they managed to cram into
a tiny gallery space. I still don’t understand why they moved, but I would
totally have one of the paintings. They always portray spaces and people, just
off to the side, which is just so simple and such a beautiful angle of
painting.
Primary Directives at Marlborough Contemporary, a group show with Ivana Bašić,
Mike Bouchet, Petra Cortright, Davina Semo, Stan VanDerBeek, was fine. Not as
good as I expected it to be. I love Bašić’s work, alongside Cortright’s early
stuff, but her later webcam work, produced in the last few years, feels very
staged and very unlike the earlier ethos of the low quality webcam pieces. I
dunno, it feels like we’ve moved on from that, or she has moved on, due to fame
and popularity, making a series of phone covers for Apple, etc.
CONDO at Southard Reid was fine, featuring work from Hany Armanious, Naotako
Hiro and Bedwyr Williams. I was a particular fan of Williams and his series of
simple drawings, jokes about art and the art world. He has an interesting
practice, a lot of his work is humorous and tongue in cheek, whereas a few
other works of his, the stand out works for me, seem to be deadly serious. It’s
a nice, albeit potentially confusing, mix.
Agata Ingarden at Soft Opening was fun, cooked lumps of caramel drip from an
active sculpture in the middle of the room. The smell was quite incredible and
I felt sorry for invigilators who have to work in the space.
Snow Crash at IMT Gallery with Diann Bauer & Ast, Amanda Beech, Melanie
Jackson, Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Claire Potter, Tai Shani, Linda Stupart,
Lynton Talbot and Ayesha Tan Jones, curated by Kirsten Cooke, was fun but very
busy. All the works functioned on and around scaffolding. I like it when things
hang off of things, Duty Free last year had a similar look and feel to it,
although scaffolding is dirty and unkempt, which is its own aesthetic and
brings other ideas to it. Yeah, definitely space changing exhibition.
Waiting for the Final Collapse at Gossamer Fog was great, featuring work from
some of my favourites; Enrico Boccioletti, Thomas Yeomans, Perce Jerrom and curated
by Felice Moramarco. Jerrom’s work is continually interesting to me,
predominantly exploring masculinity and how it’s being exploited and weaponised
in our current times. It was pretty much a solo show from him, aside from a few
smaller works by the other artists. Obviously I love Yeomans’ work, but it
wasn’t really in the main space of the gallery, connected but disconnected at
the same moment.
Sung Tieu at Piper Keys was nice, although the press release didn’t really give
me anything to go on. It was great though, including stainless steel table
units, akin to the ones you’d see in prisons, heavy and shining, alongside
discarded food and drinks containers and a melodic soundtrack. Her work is
fantastic, you just have to dig to understand it, which is definitely admirable
and worthy of work.
Patrick Goddard at Seventeen was fantastic, predominantly because of the whole
gallery installation, which consisted of deterrent paving (approximately 9220
concrete bricks) and anti-drug strip lighting going throughout the gallery
space, and it’s a fairly sized gallery. This makes it hard to walk, especially
if you were to arrive at the private view in anything other than a flat show.
That really did it for me, alongside a continuous video of Goddard, wearing an
offensively corporate ‘party look’, a rolled-up shirt, loose trousers and
brightly coloured shoes, with a Peroni to the side, dancing to a remixed
version of the Friends soundtrack. Definitely go, it’s fantastic, on until the
23rd March. Plus the press release is annotated, which is always
fun!
Grant Foster at Lychee One was fine, the press release had a Peep Show quote in
it, which was my favourite part. Otherwise, very big paintings.
EveryThing at Xmas at Assembly Point was fun, although obviously more of a
place to pick up Christmas presents, of course. I just wish I had money, then I
could buy these low cost editions of work.
In The Shadow Of Forward Motion at The Zabludowicz Collection was okay, the
annual group show curated by a variety of MA students from various London
universities. All the work was pre 9/11, which was a fun twist. Nice concept,
although I was less into the works selected, and the general aesthetic of the
show.
Ollie Dook’s solo exhibition there, however, was fantastic. It was a video
installation, focusing around a previous video piece focusing on a caged
monkey, putting you inside the cave, trapped and confined, complete with a one
way mirror and tree stumps, akin to being within an artificial zoo. Very fun,
very good.
I was happy to see Theo Triantafyllidis’ work there too, in the 360 VR room. It
was a fun piece, with a virus slowly infecting you within this desert
landscape. I think I was most interested in just picking up rocks from the
floor and throwing them. That was fun.
Rachel Rose’s solo show at Pilar Corrias was fantastic, large glass lens’ on a
beautiful white carpet, huge speakers and a video piece that took you back to
the 17th century, complete with period costumes and a weird story of
a mystic and healer whose ultimately executed for her witch like acts of
kindness.
Aaron Scheer at Annka Kultys was good.
Solo shows from Sarah Pichlkostner and Belén Rodríguez at Josh Lilley were
fine.
CONDO at Modern Art, with a solo from Charlotte Posenenske was fine.
Downstairs however was Nicolas Deshayes with beautiful ceramic works, that you
would just want to have if you were rich. Like, instant buy.
CONDO at Rodeo was fine and immersive, but all work untitled, work by Adriano
Amaral.
Campbell Mcconnell at LUVA was fun, Frankensteins monster performance piece.
Roxman Gatt at Harlesden High Street was good, some great work, but packed full
of stuff.
Jerwood Solo Presentations were good, the only one I truly liked was Kitty
Clark’s, full of video game logic, false space and an audio work scraping NPC
dialogue. Really great. Other artists were Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom and Sofia
Mitsola.
It’s Not Too Late to Seek a Newer World, You Know? At Shipment, with François
Patoue, Ubay Martin, Maxime Souvent and Tommy Lecot was fun.
No Motion Occurring at Shipment with Daryl Brown, Oliver Durcan and Realf
Heygate was also fun.
Martin Eder at Newport Street Gallery was weird, huge paintings of naked young
women by a fairly old guy. Just quite uncomfortable, obviously this was the
point, but like, still…
An interim group exhibition by Ruyin Nabizadeh, Clementine Bruno and Ellie
Antoniou, curated by The Gold Figure was fine, some nice ceramics.
Binary Code with Ze Aya, Caterina Gobbi, Jake Moore and Eevi Rutanen at Seager
Gallery was fair. It was good to see Moore’s work again, but ultimately the
show left me feeling a little meh. It’s a nice new gallery in Deptford though,
I look forward to seeing what they do.
Jack West at Castor was fun, all focused around a game that he had created,
which seemed quite mental, although I think I preferred his previous solo
exhibition at the gallery, it was a lot more refined and defined I think.
Although I did appreciate a TV being immersed in the wall.
Erwin Wurm at Thaddaeus Ropac was fun, always nice to see a blobby car.
Lydia Okumura was fine. It’s a beautiful gallery though.
Hyper Mesh at Assembly Point was fun, although I definitely wanted more. For me
none of the works really followed through on the curatorial premise. I’ve seen
much better group shows utilise the space. Maybe I’m just bitter due to the
curator contacting me many years ago, wanting to do a studio visit to be in a
potential show, then finding out I was a student and subsequently not replying
to my emails… Featuring Jonathan Baldock, Pauline Bastard, fleuryfontaine,
Holly Hendry, Jessie Makinson, Fani Parali, Morgan Wills. Curated by Alice
Bonnot.
I thinks that’s it for London, but I did go to Porto and saw a few things in
early February. Let’s begin with Jan Christensen at Galeria Presenca, the only commercial
space in Porto. It was not good.
Then a big solo show from Anish Kapoor at The Museum Fundação de Serralves. It
was fun, although half of it had been mysteriously taken down. But I did get to
see the black (blue) hole that someone fell down last year. It’s literally a
big hole, fantastically hilarious.
Last on the list was TRANSANTIQUITY at Galeria Municipal do Porto. It was fine,
some nice names, but very dark. I don’t understand the thought behind shrouding
an exhibition in darkness. Usually anyway.
I think that is it, potentially. It might not be, and if so I blame shows for not
having press releases readily available. If I don’t pick up a press release, I
doubt I’ll be remembering your show in 3 months time.
Let’s move onto films, TV and video games. Beginning with Fantastic Beasts: The
Crimes of Grindelwald. Too much Johnny Depp for me.
The American Meme was fine, interesting at times but ultimately just showcasing
some terrible people who I don’t really need to know about.
Venom was fabulously terrible, beginning as a gritty thriller and slowly
turning into a crass action comedy. Such a mixture of genres, terribly hilariously
great.
First Man was very serious.
Bad Times at the El Royale was fun, lots of layered narratives, although I think
I was more into The Cabin in the Woods from Drew Goddard, that was a lot more
genre breaking.
Widows was of course fantastic. So many great scenes and performances. Steve
McQueen is solid.
Blockers was fun, John Cena is a favourite.
Bird Box was terrible.
The Spy Who Dumped Me was crap fun.
A Bad Moms Christmas was just crap, no fun.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was lovely.
Yardie was surprisingly bad. I expected more from Idris Elba.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle was painful to watch, it was no way as good as the
original Jungle Book, or the other remake from earlier this year. There were no
songs.
Ralph Breaks the Internet was fun, not quite as good as the first, but still a fairly
competent animation.
Searching was great, all happening on John Cho’s computer, phone and various devices,
slowly uncovering the truth behind his daughters disappearance. I thoroughly
enjoyed it.
The Old Man & the Gun was lovely.
A Star Is Born was even more lovely.
The Favourite was absurdly great, of course.
The Hate U Give was beautifully crushing.
You was a distressing series, opening up your life to a psychopath.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was painfully disappointing.
Beautiful Boy was deeply distressing.
Where Hands Touch was of course very sad, a bi-racial teen in Nazi Germany.
Pinky Malinky was a very weird TV show, which I did definitely enjoy.
Brexit: A Very British Coup was eye opening, although (I would hope/assume)
inflated rather than a true telling of events. If it is, it’s all fucked.
Bohemian Rhapsody was well done and euphoric.
Bumblebee was surprisingly great, a legitimately fun transformers film.
Carmen Sandiego was a fabulous family friendly animation about a villainous island
and a thief giving back to the poor. Just very nice and happy.
Fyre, a documentary about Fyre Festival, was fantastic and is a must watch for
distress.
The Grinch was fine, a bit tepid but fun animation.
Mortal Engines, as a film, just made me sad. I loved the books as a child, and
seeing how it was brought out into the screen was just a shame.
Velvet Buzzsaw was great, before it came to killer paintings. I loved all the
art world satire, but the idea of killer paintings wasn’t actually needed.
Where is the pure art world satire film?
Green Book was lovely, harmless and not revolutionary, but lovely all the same.
The Price of Everything was fine, not really informing me of any more that I
already knew about the art world. Rich people are fuckers.
Instant Family was surprisingly lovely, film about a couple who decide to adopt
three kids, all at different ages. Yeah, really lovely, a serious comedy.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was amazingly great and is a must see.
Alita: Battle Angel was another dull sci-fi.
The Breaker Upperers, a film about two women who run an agency where people pay
them to break up with their significant others, was great.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was fine.
I am a fan of Workin' Moms, even though it’s painfully unrealistic and middle
class.
Abducted in Plain Sight was hilariously bleak. Just, so weird. You need to
watch it to see how terrible and weird it all is. Focusing on an abducted young
woman.
I really liked Isn't It Romantic, taking the piss out of rom coms and in a
fantastic way.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was an amazing journey through 5 or so seasons
of a great storyline, Heavy and great.
However I truly loved One Punch Man: Wanpanman. A series basically focused on a
guy who is a superhero for fun, and got these powers by doing a very simple
exercise regiment that can’t explain how powerful he is. It’s hilarious and
fantastic and I can’t wait for season 2.
I did get incredibly obsessed with Instant Hotel on Netflix, an Australian TV
show where air bnb hosts are put against each other, with 6 different teams, each
visiting a different team’s house for a 24 hour period. There’s also a prize.
It gets incredibly, and I mean incredibly, dramatic and petty. I love it.
The Other Two is great, a TV show about two siblings, whose younger brother,
whose 13, has become YouTube famous after publishing a song that gained 40
million views. If you watch YouTubers and are interested in YouTube culture, it’s
really interesting to watch, and something I haven’t actually seen before in a
high budget TV show before. Yeah, it’s a solid show.
I also had the chance to play Life is Strange 2: Episode 1, which was painfully
beautiful. I really love these games, the first was amazing and made me cry
multiple times, this one is equally beautiful, although slightly less relatable
due to an event catapulting the two young boys into a unique scenario. It’s very
good and highly recommended.
Alongside that I played Everything, a beautiful game about exploration and
discovery by David OReilly. Highly recommended. Pictures of the game were also
in issue 3 of the isthisit? book.
I’ve also been playing through the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a series of games
that I played when I was quite young back on the PlayStation 1, a much simpler
time. It’s been lovely to return to these games, although they do feel
painfully distorted with the use of updated graphics.
And I think that might be it. At the moment I’m putting together the new show
for Daata, working on the solo show, generally making new work and trying to
find a new job in the arts. That’s my priority at the moment, so if anyone reading
this wants to give me a job, please do feel free to email me. Hopefully I won’t
wait three months again before updating this…
