VISUAL ART
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POLYGRAPHS A group exhibition about challenging the dominant narrati ves
‘Polygraphs’ is centred around Hito Steyerl’s split-screen film Abstract, which was acquired by Glasgow Life last year. In this work, we follow Steyerl’s search for her friend, Andrea Wolf, and discover the tragic and brutal circumstances of Wolf’s death while fighting for the PKK in eastern Turkey. The circumstances of her death, its role as material for Steyerl’s film and the importance of telling her story form the basis for the show: what responsibility do artists have to engage their audience with difficult social and political issues? How far can artists use their privileged position to challenge the dominant narratives that exist? And by extension, through acquiring this work, what role do museums also play and how potent are they as instigators of change?
Alongside Abstract are other works from
the Glasgow Life collection dealing with these issues. They range from Kennardphillipps’ print Know Your Enemy, where a victim of torture in the Iraq War is collaged onto the steps of 10 Downing Street (pictured), to Muirhead Bone’s Tanks, a terrifying, almost sci-fi like rendering of a tank, created during WWI as part of Bone’s duties as the first official war artist.
Also in the show are documents from Anthony Schrag’s residency project at GoMA. Schrag held discussions about Glasgow’s notorious sectarianism in nearby Toryglen, deliberately removing the talks from that gallery’s privileged site. The exhibition’s strongest aspect is a willingness to expose the museum to the same scrutiny as those works themselves. (Rachael Cloughton) ■ Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, until Sun 17 Sep ●●●●●
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1 Apr–31 May 2017 THE LIST 107