Category: performance art

Christopher Gray, The Dumas Complex (2017)

In recent times, most things have been considered an art. There is, for instance, the art of baking, the art of conversation, and, for sociopaths everywhere, the art of the deal. But at J Hammond Projects in North London, one applied art form is proving to have enough legs to…

Chris Burden, Beam Drop Antwerp (2009)

I once knew a live music review to open with the following line: “Blur used the minimum of props to the maximum of effect. Damon was lowered from the roof in a giant TV set.” The author, who was a colleague on the student newspaper I wrote for, accosted me…

Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, Finding Fanon 2 (2015)

If you play Grand Theft Auto you may be closer to understanding this piece than me. So far as I gather, both artists have had to play their way into all the footage which accompanies this film. There’s not a stolen car in sight, mind you. The duo wear suits,…

Roberts, Selmes & Bartlett, Work Programme 71 (2014)

For those who don’t already know, Aston Villa FC are an underperforming English football team from the West Midlands. It might not be common knowledge in the wider art world. Three artists staged a gallery event last Saturday: Bartlett, Selmes and Roberts. We’ll drop the first names, in the spirit…

Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors (2012)

Hard not to like an artist who is unafraid to quote his dad in an interview (as you can see Kjartansson does in the footage above): “It’s sad and beautiful to be a human being”. There’s also an honesty about his subject matter in The Visitors. It’s not about poverty,…

David Lamelas, Rock Star (character appropriation), 1974 (Detail)

One of the best opening paragraphs I know is found in Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo. The novel meditates on a certain type of fame distinct from that enjoyed by either statesmen or kings. No, this type of fame, “a devouring neon”, involves: “Hysteria in limousines, knife fights in…

Jeremy Deller, The Bruce Lacey Experience (2012)

This in-depth documentary about a great living artist premiered at Brighton Festival not so long after network TV screened an in-depth doc about its maker Jeremy Deller. The results were two quite different films. But the subjects have more in common than both having worked together on The Bruce Lacey…

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Performer. Audience. Fuck Off. (2012)

Is Brighton too cosy for a performance piece with the f-word in the title. Certainly by the end of Jo Neary’s performance on Saturday 12th it appeared that way. Most of the audience may have relieved that this local comedienne chose to say, mainly, nice things about us as she…