Reviews
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VICTORIA SKOGSBERG: A SHORTCUT BETWEEN DISCONNECTED SPACES Collective, Edinburgh, until Sat 18 Jun .0
Within the (lllllh, lit confines of a grey room. a seated patient \.'.'rth electronic vanes sprouting; from her tread stares hlankly out of a l(}l(?\.'l8l()ll. then suddenly lunges forward. lhrs is Vl(3l()ll£l Skogshertj's ‘Headhang Proretit' ‘.'.’lll(‘lt. alongside the ‘Whrte light video installation. is the produr‘t of (:ollahoratron with qurhurgh University's l-‘arapsyeliologt Unit. which seeks to explore the inexplrtrahle phenomena of the human mind.
B}. turning; artist info patient and transforming the recorded eletttronrti output from her hrarn into a kind of auto'natrrf serf ltortrart. .‘kodsherr; has created a heautrfulh minimal experiment. Den the austere gallery, ()ll\’il()'lll‘.(?ltl implies that the ZlLl(lI(?ll(I(‘, is also rnxolx'ed in
(:onilur‘trhg; and reeorrlrm; the artistrr:
test. But the coal and detached rnar‘ner of this prowl. nonetheless surfaces from a ten; hu'nar‘ kind of (:trrroslt\, \‘Jilll the unknoth ahrlrtres of the mind.
to some. this is an illegitimate
truasr serenee. And sometimes :t's hard not to raise a fi(?(?lll|(l£l| hrox'x at the til)lltltl£ll realities implied Ill Skogsheui's art and the rather (:ontrexxersral siiierztrfzr; methodologies that she works x'xrth. Her pr'oeess is tin/louhterlh a elexer one: the l l (3 hrarrr srtaré “.rnrts human error an'l inter‘.e'rtrori ll‘. favour of pursuing; a term" sel‘ portrait ~ one fitted: the l,ra-:‘ tself (:reates its (Still image .'.’r..ll’,‘tlt the lr'ztltlm‘tlf; of harrrlrsxork or paviterl‘, skill. But ‘.'.illl()lll the serer‘rtrtu: theorj, that (:lusters round it. and dr~sprte the interesting artistrt: method. hoth 'lleadhang' and ".".«'lrrte t rrjht' are strangely irra<:<;essrt:lr:~. Perhaps the researeh has Heated tor; ’LllllltLél! a distance and, entangled .'.'!t'rr:n its own s'_;rerv:e and l)£ll£ll1’.>."l‘e£ll fasrrrr‘at'on. .‘Serjsherzi's ‘.‘./’)ll\ seems l)tl//lll‘tll‘, lifeless.
llsla leaver Yap)
Visual Art
Another Graveyard D Id U h rt by one rqu a ‘5‘
MiXE [) St l( BECK’S FUTURES 2005 CCA. Glasgow, until Sat 9 Jul .000
planarity is reduced to a deck of cards and a Perspex Lazy Susan. Gandar presents a serious take on 20th century art history, where rare wood and cheap paper (carved Bauhaus chess pieces and fly poster paper) make you wonder why and what you are looking at. A photo of the installation of the photograph you are looking at lets you know that ‘you are here'.
Chetwynd‘s films, paintings and sculptures are enjoyany too much — like an over-excited art student telling you about Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalestpre. Passion plays, architectural constructions that reference Giotto, and paintings of grinning bats fill the foyer. Her Erotic Vision’s troupe look like post—feminist Pan’s People on good quality acid: everyone is smiling and you will too.
You’ll be drawn through and past these works towards Urquhart’s ‘Another Graveyard‘, where Darn/ey, the perfume he made for this piece, haunts. tl lit, air. The installation reads like the last great poetir‘ ;lr:l of a melodramatic romantic - mournful Bearctsleyesque ink drawings and legends written like sexy bad tattoos are scrawled on the walls and cover sheets of glass. Even though it’s ‘The End’, it could just be an act. an elegant dramatic pose — ‘Life Goes On‘.
(Alexander Kennedy)
The fingerprints of Wolfgang Tillmans and Cerith Wynn Evans can be found all over the work they have selected for this year’s Beck’s Futures, fresh from the ICA in London and now happily resting in Glasgow’s CCA. Like Donald Urquhart’s work, it looks and smells good. Alongside Urquhart are Lali Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Ryan Gandar, Daria Martin and Christina Mackie, who is this year’s winner.
The constructions that house Mackie‘s projection equipment become jazzed—up minimalist plinths and hides — El Lissitsky’s architectural Proun interventions acting as gallery furniture. Her films leak colour, coloured gels and lava lamp hues forming flower power animation. Glasgow-based Fowler’s films follow a meandering aesthetic generated out of collaged subject matter and personal passion. A very late Jarman (the films that his group made after his death) meets a very early de-sexed LaBruce, and wit and knowing, music and madness reign.
Martin‘s seductive film evokes the more surreal episodes from Pasolini. A beautiful diva acts as stooge and assistant to a dapper magician, where modernist
.LE S:CE\ SCANDINAVIAN DESIGN: BEYOND THE MYTH _. The Lighthouse, Glasgow, Sat 18 Jun-Sun 28 Aug
Ceramic Carrot Stand by Mats Thesehus
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