Earlier this week we attended an exhibition at Marian Goodman by Hiroshi Sugimoto called ‘Snow White’. On show are a series of big black and white photos of abandoned cinemas, their screens captured with an ultra-long exposure, letting the light of a whole film pound through the lens. By the end, all that’s left is pure, brilliant, spectral white in the centre of each image. We found a couple of features quite thoughtful even though the work itself didn’t totally stay with us or blow us away. Something we’re always appreciative of is the subtle manipulation or alteration of the gallery space. Here, we see all the windows blacked out and the walls painted a slightly off shade of grey as opposed to the classic white cube (probably to give the white of the photographs more ‘pop’). It definitely created a highly depressing atmosphere; there’s a real sense of things being gone: life, memories, spaces, culture. It’s a morbid mausoleum to time’s passing, the ghostly images are photographic tombstones.
We couldn’t help but picture Alfredo Jaar’s ‘Lament of the Images’, not only for the aesthetic appearance of a big white rectangle but also the lyricism of it (although Jaar is our favourite of these two).
Kati Heck’s solo show at the Sadie Coles Kingly street gallery is called Heimlich Manoeuvre and you can really feel it whilst viewing. The initial film is nonsensical but in an amusing way (although a lack of seating did deter us from seeing the whole thing). The main space had been shrunk by building a room within the initial space of the gallery (something we enjoyed but didn’t really understand). Perhaps it was to do with the domestic interior; there was a carpet and paintings hung on the wall? The paintings were huge and unappealing. In this space, chocking and consequently receiving the Heimlich Manoeuvre is the least of your worries.
Next up was the Photographers Gallery. We’re uncertain if this has always been a feature of the gallery but the Media Wall seems to showing consistently entertaining moving image work. Another positive is that it’s in the café and therefore free *Smiling Face With Open Mouth and Cold Sweat emoji* It’s title is ‘Indeterminate Objects (Classrooms)’ and it’s a work by a photographer called Wendy McMurdo. The project is a continuation of her investigation into the relationship between children and computers, and is inspired by young people’s fascination with immersive digital environments such as Minecraft.
On view, is a series of Victorian classroom interiors at a school where the traditional elements - desks, bookshelves, children’s drawings - are overlaid by a series of hypnotic geometric forms. As these 3D objects hover above the desks, they enter the space of the classroom, casting shadows on the floor which mingle with those of the room. There’s a clever hint towards the various spaces through which childhood is now experienced and visually it’s very exciting but there does seem to be a bit of disconnect between the fairly complicated theoretical side and then the final product.
