Mindaugas Simkus  video  2002

 

20 September to 27 October 2002

 

David Blandy

Milena Dragicevic

Tom Hunter

Ivan Morison

Maaike Schoorel

Mindaugas Simkus

Clara Ursitti

Vita Zaman

 

Curated by Vita Zaman

 

The show aims to map the melancholic mood that echoes in the contemporary experiences. As a trace of Romantic age this sensibility reappears through constant longing and feeling of withdrawal, gains different articulations; glorifies passionate instincts, shamelessly searches exotic spaces of fantasy, invites to regress into childish demand for the miraculous.

 

In Tom Hunter's photographs the dusk transforms Hackney wastelands into the dramatic fairytale setting. David Blandy's video uses lip-syncing to a popular song to explore issues around racism, identity and cultural heritage.  Milena Dragicevic's and Maaike Schoorel's paintings touch upon melancholia of modernist architecture as well as intimate spaces of portraits.  Vita Zaman's video documents girls in a provincial town in Lithuania who are training to become exotic dancers in Saudi Arabia.  Both Mindaugas Simkus and Ivan Morison explore the notion of artists as a Romantic outsider, while Clara Ursitti stages a performative narrative where passions and animal instincts rule.

 

A catalogue with essays by Camilla Jalving and Shumon Basar is available.