We went to the RCA show at Battersea which is always an exciting one since these should be the next generation of big artist who will go on to be super successful (however that might be defined).
One of our highlights was The Idle Institute, made up of Sonia Bernac and Eliot Allison, who had produced ‘The Itches: A Gym for Public Embarrassments’. It’s a series of objects about confronting, preparing, or assisting in social situations. Examples includes a machine for forcing your way through the crowd using the ‘elbow-hip’ method, or a machine for the practice of half-opening your mouth during a conversation. Very clever and funny.
Another highlight was Mati Jhurry who produced a film which was a supercut of multiple spa welcome videos. It was dealing with the idea of the image of paradise. The tourism and hospitality industry really invest in this vision of utopia and it made us think and stuck with us. The set-up didn’t seem to have much logic to it but we’re only being picky because we enjoyed it!
