Sarah Maple and Beverley Knowles, It’s just like any other job really… (2012)

It turns out that despite ourselves, even the most urbane and politically correct audience can still love a beauty pageant.  The sequence of young women in swimsuits could not be more easy on the eye It is obvious what heterosexual men might get from this. But women too were enjoying…

Edwina Ashton, Peaceful serious creatures (lobster arranging), 2011

Most of those lucky enough to see Edwina Ashton’s performance at Jerwood Space in the next five weeks will be, presumably, non-plussed. How else to react to people dressed as lobsters? For three hour stretches the lobsters may be seen to rearrange objects. There may be more to it, but…

Rory Macbeth, The Wanderer by Franz Kafka, 2011

Looking at art and reading can seem poles apart. Galleries are public spaces in which we move from one room to another. Reading is usually sedentary and usually in some way private. But The Wanderer by Franz Kafka, by Rory Macbeth, suggests otherwise. The title promises a mobile activity, while…

Tehching Hsieh, One Year Performance 1980-1981 (1980-1981)

A man enters a room and punches a clock every hour on the hour for 365 days. It is like something from the Guinness Book of Records. The achievement is so athletic it transcends art. But there is nothing quirky or sporty about the current exhibition of Tehching Hsieh’s performance.…