Category: video

Phil Collins, dűnya dinlemiyor (2005)

Dűnya dinlemiyor is Turkish for The World Won’t Listen, which as you may know is a 1987 compilation album by The Smiths. At the time of release, the world was listening. The album was a chart hit. And that was just in the UK. As this work by artist Phil…

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,…

Simon Senn, Just Let Go (2012)

Athens: cradle of Western civilisation, and in more recent times the canary in Europe’s coal mine. On the face of it, the perfect setting for Simon Senn’s dionysian artwork. Just Let Go is (so far) a single video loop in which three angry locals rampage the length and breadth of…

Andrea Slater, If You Can Spass With Yoghurt You Can Spass With Caviar (2012)

Few sights can be as alienating as a group of healthy grown adults spassing out in imitation of the most retarded members of our wider society. Such scenes are the enduring images of a 1999 film by Lars Von Trier called The Idiots. The Danish director’s community of spass-ers act…

Francis Alÿs/James White/Clare Twomey/Surreal Friends

Here’s a round up of the pieces I wrote for Culture24 last week. Enjoy! Review: Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horne at Pallant House Review: James White: New Paintings, Max Wigram Gallery Review: Clare Twomey: A Dark Day in Paradise, Brighton Pavilion Review: Francis Alÿs: A Story…

Francis Alÿs: Paradox of Praxis I (Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing)

The art of Francis Alÿs is a reflection of political realities. In this film he pushes a block of ice around the streets of Mexico City for six or seven hours until it melts. On the same streets, thousands of locals spend their days pushing, carrying or towing wares or…

Preview: A Horse Walks Into A Bar at Castlefield Gallery

Exhibition: A Horse Walks Into A Bar, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, June 18 – August 8 2010 That a non-domestic animal in a pub should occasion hilarity tells us something about our relationship with nature. The proverbial horse in a bar is an old joke. Perhaps the nine artists in this…