It has been a few weeks since the Re:Action exhibition at Wolstenholme by Anna Mulhearn, Dave Whiteley and Catherine Rockwood but I wanted to take a minute to look back on it.
I've never been to an exhibition in a gallery space dedicated to performance pieces. Normally I just seem to come across them in the public eye. But by having three performances in the same gallery it created a really buzzing, social atmosphere.
The first exhibit I was introduced to was Dave Whiteley's 'Relational Aesthetics'. He and another performed an endurance piece across a long dinner table, staring at one another whilst chewing gum. As the night went on, wine glasses were filled with excess saliva from this process. I found it quite a difficult piece to watch, as I not only felt that I was intruding on a private moment but also the act of spitting into the glasses made me feel uneasy. Perhaps this was to express a strained relationship and the awkwardness of the meal. I feel that this feeling of unease, and the format in which it was produced, made it a very powerful and engaging piece of work.
Next I viewed Catherine Rockwood's film and performance 'Modern Sexism'. The film was an updated version of Judy Chicago's 'Cock and Cunt' play. In Rockwood's adaptation there is a male playing the role of Cock. Both Cock and Cunt wear make up, which is said to represent the mask of the modern woman, and and tights over their heads which symbolise the new restraints and pressures placed on modern women. Along side this Rockwood repeatedly applied and removed makeup enforcing the ideas of pressures on women from the media. I really enjoyed this piece as we had been attending the same tutorials, so I had the chance to see her work develop throughout the year. Although her work had a humorous undertone, the reality of modern sexism really rang home when I was faced with the piece as a whole.
Last, but not least was the 'Forged Histories' performance by Anna Mulhearn. Again I had been lucky enough to see Mulhearn's complex piece develop throughout the year, and was thrilled to see the final piece. The setup reminded me of a theatre performance, with angled lighting and Anna placed in an armchair, forging documents. On a plinth at the side of the room was a photo album belonging to the family Anna had been researching intensely, which Anna had cleverly edited herself into. Muhearn had also managed to forge herself into a short film of a family holiday. I think the combination of all these aspects made the piece so believable. I wonder what the reaction of the family would be? Maybe one day we will find out.
The exhibition ended at the bar and curry stand... What more could you want from an exhibition!? It really extended the idea of social activity and art coinciding and completed the exhibition in a very pleasant and complementary way. Thumbs up!
No comments:
Post a Comment