Systematic
Artistic methodologies exposed at 176 Projects
Strewn through hazy mushroom coloured walls, former dance school studios and diverging corridors 176 Projects, formerly a nineteenth century Methodist church presents eight artists works from the affluent Zabludowicz Collection.
As the exhibition title suggests Systematic explores the methodological practice of artists work, proving a broad range of methods whether organic, mechanical, technological or cultural. All artists predominantly of English and American descent and of similar age, provide an interest insight into re-appropriation whilst exposing the glitches and quirks of modern technology.
Justin Beal begins Systematic with his three fruit tables, captivatingly titled Fruit Table 1, 2, and 3. The tables assembled from drywall, glass, aluminum are held together with slit oranges. Beal states, “The introduction of organic material as a stand-in for the human follows naturally from a hackneyed critique of modern design’s denial of the human need to eat, digest, shit etc.” Once the oranges decay, bacteria and insects gather, only for the fruit to then be replaced again and again in order for the cycle to keep repeating its self.
Seth Price’s Chords uses raw footage of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, displayed on three portable DVD players. Each display monitor shows the footage in varying colours and speeds, accompanied by its own individual soundtrack. As Price him self describes, “All goods and concepts are subject to shifts in form and meaning executed as quickly and easily as the movement of a decimal point.” The works are captivating and the footage provides a unique commentary on the display and perception of popular images in this day and age.
Like Price, Cory Arcangel has also used appropriated footage. Jimi Hendrix’s infamous performance of Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock has been remastered through an auto-tune function of GarageBand. Resulting in the sound loosing its eccentricity and very soul, Arcangel, suggests that consumer technology reduces and automates creative talent.
Installation View: Katie Paterson: Systematic at Zabludowicz Collection
Photo: Stephen White. Courtesy Zabludowicz Collection
In Earth-Moon-Earth, Katie Paterson uses satellite communication to send Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata to the moon and back via Morse code. Knowing that fragments would be lost along the way, she has reordered the result, available to listen to on record.
Damien Hirst presents an amalgamation of works, Sometimes I Avoid People a series of vitrine works from his 1990’s series Internal Affairs, I love you one of his ubiquitous butterfly painting, and Maleci Anhydride Carbonyl-C a polka dot painting. I can’t help but feel it’s a gaudy attempt to fill a large a room. In contrast to the other works, his methods and statements provide little room for debate. The works scream his well advertised themes of religion and science, although their forms pose no relation the other works exhibited. At most, it’s refreshing to see Hirst’s earlier and rawer works, the saline drip now a nicotine yellow and the poorly cut perspex holes inside the vitrines, a reminder of his pre-minion era.
Standing in Charles Sandison’s large dark space, reminiscent of a solar system display at a planetarium, thousands of full stops gather on the walls to form words from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The experience is surreal yet wonderful.
Installation View: Charles Sandison: Systematic at Zabludowicz Collection
Photo: Stephen White. Courtesy Zabludowicz Collection
Whilst these works are bound together by the open-ended and vague theme of systems, Systematic reveals that the real system itself is the curation behind the exhibition. That in fact, one must strive to find a linking system for these eclectic works, which are limited, to that of a private art collection.
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