- Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall
We cut through the rain on Tuesday morning, passed through Trafalgar Square politely observing the signs to NOT feed the pigeons (a very easy instruction to follow, given our dislike for flying rats), and arrived at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) with our attire slightly dampened but our spirits untouched. We’re becoming quite au fait with proceedings over at the ICA, having been to a few of their recent openings. This time we made the trip to see an exhibition by Lis Rhodes and a survey exhibition which collates zines and alternative publications by artists since 1955 up to the present day. Sounds like a worthwhile trip, we thought, if that kind of thing floats your boat. And it was. Here at Art Wednesday that kind of thing does float our boat, and our vessel was most certainly buoyant … okay, that didn’t come out quite as it should have, but you catch our drift.
First we sloped around the downstairs gallery area admiring the cuttings and postcards from the 60-odd publications on show, which span the decades from the late ‘50s and ‘60s small press right through to the present day, via the zine cultures of the ‘70s, ‘80s and early ‘90s. Collectively, the survey represents the way in which artists have embraced magazines and postcards over the years as an alternative canvas for their artworks, and as a means of distributing their work more effectively before the days of internet-rule. It’s this ‘canvas’ approach that shines through as a common factor to the publications – they’re not feature-based, they’re stand alone works of art that have been produced by the artists themselves and often through collaborative efforts, all the while staying true to the DIY culture of which they are a product.
Having perused a brief history of the DIY art press, we headed upstairs to the ‘Dissonance and Disturbance’ exhibition to check out some films by Lis Rhodes. Keeping the archival feel alive, the exhibition showcases films from as far back as 1972 right up to her most recent works from 2010 and 2011. The earliest work on show, Dresden Dynamo (1972), is a film made by Rhodes physically marking the celluloid to produce the images and sounds. As the reel played we heard the noises from the shapes and patterns that flashed up on the screen and, much to our amazement, some of it was even loosely musical. Now that’s an abstract instrument if ever there was one! Light reading (1978) features a camera constantly panning over a series of photographs, film and text, accompanied by a narrative designed to confuse and beguile as much as it is to inform. A sense of impending doom is subtly and ingeniously injected into the film through the nature of the photographs and the faint ambiguity of the narration; quite what to make of it is left to the viewer. This is a theme that loosens in the newer work on show, namely In The Kettle (2010), Whitehall (2011) and A Cold Draft (1988), as the imagery; on-screen text and narration become more politically pointed. These three films are being shown together as a dual-screen installation with one overarching soundtrack, where the subject matter turns to corruption and hypocrisy within political and economic goings on around the world – Gaza and recent protests in London feature strongly, strangely enough.
With our heads full of political imagery and suggestive commentary (which seemed to push all we’d seen before it to the side with its all-consuming power), we departed, once again managing NOT to feed the pigeons, despite now wanting to (just to be defiant – we hadn’t suddenly discovered a new-found love for flying rats) as we were now questioning the political rationale behind such a demanding notice.
Both exhibitions run until 25th March, so if you’ve an interest in art publications or experimental film then get yourself down there. For more information, go here.
In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists since 1955, Photo: Mark Blower, Courtesy of the artist and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists since 1955, Photo: Mark Blower, Courtesy of the artist and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Hang On A Minute by Lis Rhodes, Photo: Mark Blower, Courtesy of the artist and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Dresden Dynamo by Lis Rhodes, Photo: Mark Blower, Courtesy of the artist and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London