exhibition

Reprise

admin — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:10:23 +0100

Sub-Title

part of Independence, commissioned by curator Chris Hammonds

End Date

3 Aug 2003

Start Date

3 Jun 2003

Location

South London Gallery: London

Body

Reprise was part of Independence, a celebratory exhibition at the South London Gallery, marking the devolution of the Gallery from Local Authority management.

Reprise was presented by the director Margot Heller at the opening party on the 1st June 2003.

On our behalf, Margot read a speech that we found through our research in the Gallery archives. The speech was first delivered in 1893 by the founder [the Gallery began in 1868] and director William Rossiter to the Gallery Council. Rossiter was fighting to retain the independence of the Gallery by keeping it out of Local Authority control, he was fearful of swapping one form of indebtedness, inherent in financial support - from private donation to public subsidy- for another .

Rossiter lost the battle to keep the Gallery independent.

108 years later, and although the direction of the Gallery's movement is reversed - from public subsidy to a 'mixed' economy - the forms of indebtedness remain the same; the struggle for independence is being uncannily replayed, in reverse.

Reprise
A souvenir pamphlet, with annotated text of the speech delivered by both directors
ISBN 1 898 461 244
Price 20p

Published by the South London Gallery and millimeter.org

Available from the gallery

value elgin

admin — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:01:25 +0100

Parthenon Frieze
The Value of Things 2000

Collected Soane museum

admin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:51:41 +0100

Soane Museum
Collected London 1997

Trade

admin — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:04:26 +0100

Sub-Title

End Date

19 Aug 2001

Start Date

16 Jun 2001

Location

Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland

Body

On the eastern edge of 'old europe' lies a deregulated strip astride the Polish Ukrainian border. And it is here that traders, traffickers and smugglers from all over the previous Soviet Block congregate. It was formerly the first zone with access to a convertible 'hard' currency.

In the early years of 'free' trade -the 1990's- these fledgling merchants brought their own belongings to sell; after accumulating a small amount of capital they progressed to supplying goods made from their home states - hopelessly cast tractor parts, blunt saw blades, terrible plastic bowls and the like. The outward flow of home-made products and the resulting exchange of currency, slowly enabled the production and distribution of local goods to be replaced with the manufacture of commodities already available in markets further west.

Tentative ribbons of trade hardened into complex supply chains; small objects with a high unit price - software, audio CD's, DVD's, watches, 'branded' or electronic goods are favored; all those things where there is a lot of value in a small space.

In keeping with the texture of this border zone, the market in Przemysl -as though in a caricature of all markets everywhere- only deals in surrogate goods, nothing is ever as it seems. All manner of 'brand', 'label' or copyright designs are available, some closer to the authentic examples than others. Stolen software code and unauthorized cloning, jostle with 'Mike' trainers and 'Addidos' sports clothing, as subtly altered branded goods merge with the carelessly copied. And the market, like the goods it trades, is provisional. Regular merchants hire the 'sharks', lockable corrugated steel containers to store, display and sell goods from. Novice tradeers utilise the display space offered by unfolding a camping bed, their stock stored in bags made from nylon grain sacks, and the whole 'shop' is attached to trolley wheels with elastic 'bungee' straps; the essence of trade encapsulated.

For all its rudimentary nature, the market in Przemysl collapses down two of the architectural models bequeathed to Europe by its classical heritage. The forum, a space intended for the exchange of goods and services is the root of the commerce itself, by conducting trade in a little used football stadium the market also appropriates the amphitheatre, the space of public spectacle. And it's here that Przemysl excels, it unconsciously connects the ancient roots of trade, with its modern incarnation as popular entertainment.

Buy the book/catalogue Trade: Wares, Ways and Values in World Trade Today Published by Scalo, Germany ISBN 3-908247-53-5 at Artwords

and visit Fotomuseum Winterthur

value big foot

admin — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:00:56 +0100

Greek sculpture, BM
Value of Things 2000

Collected Habitat

admin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:51:14 +0100

Habitat
Collected London 1997

Modern Chairs

admin — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:01:14 +0100

Sub-Title

A commission as part of the Centenary Exhibition

End Date

20 May 2001

Start Date

21 Mar 2001

Location

Whitechapel Art Gallery

Body

For the Centenary celebrations of the Whitechapel Gallery, we revisited the seminal furniture exhibition from 1970, entitled Modern Chairs 1918-1970. The exhibition was arranged by the Circulation Department at the Victoria and Albert museum under the curatorship of Carol Hogben.

The original exhibition and its installation was the first attempt in Britain of a wide ranging 'survey' of modern chairs, and in many ways prefigured the formation of the V & A's 'Boilerhouse' and London's Design Museum. Modern and 'classic' furniture was presented with all the display rhetoric of contemporary art. Chairs were elevated/reduced to objects of aesthetic or iconic status, their utility suspended.

While browsing the catalogue of the exhibition, we were suprised by how many of the selected chairs -several from the 1930's- are still in current production. We proposed to exhibit as many of the 'classic' café or dining chairs from the 1970 exhibition as it was possible to source.

But, in an attempt to reverse the polarity of the delicate tension engendered by the original exhibition, our chairs were to be exhibited in the Cafe space at the Whitechapel. Visitors would be able to 'use' the 'design classics' and consciously participate in the interface between art and life.

Buy the catalogue The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Review

read Adrian Searle's review for the Guardian and visit Whitechapel

value lipstick

admin — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:58:09 +0100

Lipstick
The value of Things 2000

Collected collectors

admin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:50:48 +0100

collectors
Collected London 1997

Use Value

admin — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:51:58 +0100

Sub-Title

Commissioned by Lisa Corrin at the Serpentine Gallery as part of Give & Take

End Date

1 Apr 2001

Start Date

30 Jan 2001

Location

Victoria and Albert Museum: London

Body

In recent years we have have developed a number of projects with museum collections, retail stores, art galleries and places of education; all of which play a central role in structuring the exchange ofvalues, between people and things. Rather than conceiving an artwork that is taken to a designated space of display - conventionally an art gallery -we are interested in developing a range of practices relevant to the context of a particular project.

Use Value is a sound installation created specifically for the top-floor ceramics galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

We are aware of how the conventions of the museum -its habits of classification, display and exhibition- turn all artifacts, whatever their provenance, into potential works of art: objects to be looked at. Removed from the everyday flow of things, or diverted from their rich and varied lives -where they are used, broken, abandoned, found repaired and re-used, inherited, lost or given and received as presents - the museum object is doomed to live forever in the conservation perfection of the vitrine.

Use Value returns an astonishing collection, to the social world of things.

Filtered through the ceramics galleries are audio recordings of various locations. As you browse the tableware the sophisticated chatter of the restaurant accompanies your stroll, only to be interupted by the clamour of school children scoffing their lunch. Remember the tenderness expressed in washing-up, or the lonliness of eating alone, and beware the horror of the accident as crockery shatters on the kitchen floor.

Our invitation to the museum visitor, is to vividly re-imagine the places and practices where these things belong.

Visit our hosts the Se rpentine Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum

exhibition

Reprise

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Location

Body

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value elgin

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Trade

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value big foot

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Modern Chairs

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value lipstick

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Use Value

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