Art Wednesday

As at least one member of the Art Wednesday family will tell you, there is nothing cooler than The Cramps, although we’re forced to concede that one or two other things might also reach those lofty parameters; by public consensus, for instance, we guess we have to admit that Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli is as cool as the Cramps, by the simple virtue of being, well, Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli. In our own humble opinion, artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard are pretty cool, too, if only by virtue of having made a critically viable artwork about the psychobilly legends (a film in which they recreated a 1978 bootleg concert tape with impressive faithfulness, albeit lacking in the late Lux Interior’s inimitable charisma) in 2003. This time around, the two rock and roll artmakers will be premiering a film about Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (see also: things which are as cool as The Cramps) at the South London Gallery, as well as appearing in discussion on two separate occasions about the last seven years of their work.

We’ve included not only the press release for their Publicsfear show and events, but also a video of the aforementioned Cramps-aping performance film, File Under Sacred Music.  Stay sick, and all that jazz.

For their first major exhibition in London, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard present PUBLICSFEAR, bringing together film, video and sound works made over the past seven years. The artists are primarily known for their ongoing interest in music and sound, but the pieces selected for their South London Gallery show also explore ideas around both being part of and/or observing an audience.

Works range from File under Sacred Music, the artists’ meticulous remake in 2003 of The Cramps’ 1978 bootleg video of their live performance for a group of patients at the Napa State Mental Institute, through to the film Performer. Audience. Fuck Off, 2! 009, in which we witness the often hilarious, but sometimes uncomfortable impact on the audience of a stand-up comedian drawing attention to individuals within the group.

Whereas these two pieces feature the direct representation of audiences, in Silent Sound, 2006, scored by J. Spaceman (Spiritualized) and shown here for the first time in London, the tables are turned to heighten gallery visitors’ awareness of their own positions as part of an audience, as potential targets for manipulation. Subliminal messaging, we are told, is being employed within this immersive installation to create an exceptionally powerful and moving experience. In stark contrast to this subtle approach, in Walking After Acconci (2005) and Walking Over Acconci (2008) viewers are placed in direct line of verbal attack when rapper Plan B and MC MissOddKidd each rant to the camera about a failed relationship, as if the viewer were the rejected ex. Developing ! Forsyth & Pollard’s interest in re-enactment, both works are based on influential American artist Vito Acconci’s Walk-Over (Indirect Approaches), 1973, in which the artist talks to the camera about an unknown ‘you’.

The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of evening events in the South London Gallery’s Clore Studio, including a panel discussion with three stand-up comedians, chaired by Forsyth and Pollard on 16 February; a screening of some of the artists’ works with Nick Cave on 23 February; and an in-conversation event with the artists on 16 March.

Forsyth & Pollard began working together in 1993 while both studying at Goldsmiths College. They are represented by Kate McGarry, London, and selected exhibitions include: Silent Sound, AV Festival, Middlesbrough Town Hall, 2010, Radio Mania: an Abandoned Work, BFI Southbank, 2010, New Film and Video from the Arts Council Collection, 2010, Run For Me, The Great North Run Movi! ng Image Commission, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 2008, Silent Sound, Art Basel Miami Beach, December 2007, History Will Repeat Itself, Strategies of Re-enactment in Contemporary (Media) Art and Performance, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2007 – 2008.

EVENTS

Public’s Fear
Wed 16 Feb, 7pm, £8/£5 conc
Further exploring the performer/audience dynamic at the centre of their film Performer. Audience. F*** Off, Forsyth & Pollard host a discussion with a panel of comedians about the humour and tension between a performer and their audience.

Do you love me like I love you?
Wed 23 Feb, 7pm, £5/£3 conc
Forsyth & Pollard present the world premiere of their film about the acclaimed Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album No More Shall We Part. Since 2007 the artists have worked with Nick Cave making music videos, producing his audiobook and in 2009 they were commissioned to produce a series of 14 films to accompany the reissued Bad Seeds catalogue. The 40’ film is accompanied by a programme of related shorts.

IAIN FORSYTH & JANE POLLARD IN CONVERSATION
Wed 16 Mar, 7pm, £5/£3 conc
Writer Michael Bracewell discusses the exhibition with Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard.

Publicsfear runs at the South London Gallery from February 4th, 2011.

The South London Gallery (Click Here)