c o n d o p a r t 0 1

Condo is back for another year and we took ventured out this week to the East End galleries to see what it had to offer.

Kate MacGary was dull. Selection of boring wall-based works with a one bizarre little sculpture of a person sat on plinth. Enjoyed more as a novelty than as something genuinely thought-provoking.

Emalin felt very considered; definitely a well curated show. We always enjoy when works interact (not essential but if it works then go for it!). Support structures as artworks in their own right is also something we really like to see.

Union Pacific was another boring selection of lifeless wall-based works. However, it was fun to see Hans-Christian Lotz use as cross section of those modular aluminium poles. 

Modern Art was actually better than expected; Charlotte Posenenske had made a big cardboard vent that looked as if it was crawling over the floor like a snake. Nicolas Deshayes also has a show there downstairs and the objects are absolutely beautiful! Formally they seem to reference sinks or baths (perhaps also due to them all being ceramics) and then the glazes on them really make them pop out. not something we want for our own practice but certainly wouldn’t say no to having one on the wall.

The Approach had some lovely pairings of images and framed silicone works by Vanessa Safavi. Having two different objects as one work makes one compare and contrast between them much more than usual. 

Maureen Paley was some very uninteresting paintings of houses. 

Herald Street was truly awful; gyroscope drawings, infantile hippy paintings, and terrible figurative sculptures.

Carlos Ishikawa was alright. Nice to see a poetic press release and especially one that related to the theme of movement and dance so well. The motion drawings are a fairly well trodden path by now but the film of the hands was subtle and considerate.

Although not part of Condo, Piper Keys had by far the best exhibition we saw. Sung Tieu has installed two dining table units one might see in a park or a school canteen, very sterile, cold and devoid of any character. Across their stainless steel surfaces empty food containers have been left, suggesting they have been recently used. Ambient sound hovers in the room. Composed from field recordings and audio libraries, the noise of kitchen alarms, gates slamming and neon lights flickering have been built in to a single dissonant rhythm that eventually transitions into a melody. Images move across a stainless-steel encased TV screen. The images, like the field recordings, are observational. It was such a great feeling to be inside this constructed environment, a whirlwind of things happening.

t h u r s d a y o p e n i n g

The new show at Chisenhale by Ghislaine Leung opened tonight and it was pretty fun. It’s always an ambitious alteration to the space which we enjoy; the time around the all the doors have been painted a glossy black, back and front, even the fire escape. The gallery entrance has also been edited and painted a similar colour. The walls are also a glossy white, almost dripping with shine. There’s a few subtler elements which were some of our favourite parts; a tiny love heart padlock just behind a monitor and a miniature house shaped night light plugged into the generator. These are lovely hints at the idea of interdependencies, complicities and reliances.

a n o t h e r w o r k b i t e s t h e d u s t

The film is complete! We got a great actor and friend Jamie to play the part of the vlogger and he did an amazing job. We decided that an American accent would suit the role best and it turned out even better than we even imagined. Initially we were unsure about the quality of the video; we thought it would obviously look great if it was super HD and crisp but in the end, we went for a more domestic quality. We wanted to make sure it seemed intentional so just used a laptop webcam, it goes along with the whole domestic vibe. For the show it’s going to be shown on a monitor and we’ve requested that it’s freestanding, similar to one that might be found at a conference or in a school, suggesting that this is an education into YouTube apologies, a how to guide.

r e s e a r c h m a k e s p e r f e c t

This week was all about writing the script for the new film we’re making for the show in Cyprus. This means we’ve watched potentially every single apology video on YouTube; a task which started off as fun but became fairly depressing as time went on. While watching so many in quick succession, you really are able to see a pattern. They begin with a deep sigh and then set the groundwork of why this really isn’t their fault but simultaneously explain that they won’t be making any excuses. It’s so bizarre to see how important social media has become as a communication tools for organizations and public figures in times of crisis. It functions on an interpersonal level, whereas traditional image repair strategies are based on a mass media model. They really make an effort to appear relatable and human; there’s no editing in the video, it begins with them turning on the camera and ends with them turning it off. There’s no music or fancy background, both this and the lack of editing also contribute to the idea that it’s very spontaneous and therefore heartfelt. After watching all the videos, the script practically wrote itself! A Frankenstein’s monster of references, original lines, and some phrases that were too perfect not to just steal.

n e w y e a r n e w a r t

We took a trip to Leeds and they were showing Mark Wallinger’s film ‘Threshold to the Kingdom’. It’s another really famous work we’ve only ever seen clips of/read about. 

The video is a single shot of a pair of automatic double doors at London City Airport; this is the International Arrivals gate, the industrial threshold by which you enter the United Kingdom. Travellers walk toward the viewer, unaware they are being filmed. The video is slowed down filling their every movement with significance, the door opening as if by the hand of God, a feeling which is accentuated by the soundtrack of choice being a haunting hymn Miserere Mei, Deus by Allegri. It’s very soothing and even though it’s slow, it’s very watchable. It definitely makes us think about the Love Actually opening scene with Hugh Grant’s monologue about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport…wonder if any lawyers were involved in that. 

We also dropped into the Tetley which has a solo show by Simeon Barclay, an exhibition about research into dance. The content itself wasn’t something that interested us hugely but there was an element that we enjoyed. A lot of the spaces were blocked off by fencing, meaning that we could see into the space, but were not accessible, so what was on show was therefore very controlled. 

The new Black Mirror is out at last! As storytelling, ‘Bandersnatch’ falls a little short of the best Black Mirror episodes. We were a little underwhelmed by the narrative but with respect to the viewing experience, it’s a great way to spend a couple of hours. We also really enjoyed the meta nature of the story; the structure of the story and how it’s told, is in direct correlation with the story itself. We know it’s very on-the-nose and not to everyone’s taste but we’re a sucker for that stuff. 

Finally, some great news! We got the exhibition in Cyprus so we can start making the new video. Next week’s going to be all research and script writing which is all very exciting. Updates coming soon.

a t o u r i s t f o r t h e d a y

Some friends came to visit us in London for Christmas so we did some fun tourist-y art galleries with them. Starting off at Tate Modern we managed to catch what must be the final few days of Olafur Eliasson’s giant (although not so giant anymore) blocks of glacier. Overall, it’s fairly underwhelming; if the point is to confront the general public with the dangers of climate change then this is a pretty luke-warm attempt. This isn’t shocking imagery, it’s big bits of ice. Much more enjoyable are the photos of them dragging them out of the sea and all the disclaimers about how it’s not actually that bad for the planet to fly 80 tonnes of frozen water half way around the world… 

Eliasson also has a new work in the tanks, this one much subtler. Titled ‘Your Double-Lighthouse Projection’ it involves two circular rooms, one is filled with coloured light and the other with white light. The coloured room is quite nice (nice being the key word); the changing light washes over you and it’s all very pleasant but that’s where it all ends really. Niceness. 

Susan Philipsz was in another one of the tanks with a sound installation. The room is very dark with only a few dull spotlights. The ideas around the work are quite poetic; it centres on two figures that share the name ‘Lucia’ – the Italian patron saint of the blind, Santa Lucia and the dancer, Lucia Joyce. The name Lucia originates from the Latin word for light – ‘lux’ and in Sweden, the festival of Santa Lucia celebrates the coming of light on one of the darkest days of the year. While shrouded in darkness, you hear Philipsz’s voice singing three songs. The first is Will Oldham’s duet, I See a Darkness, which gives the installation its name. This is followed by Maurice Ravel’s piano piece, Pavane for a Dead Princess, which Lucia Joyce danced to with the group Les Six de rythme et couleur. The work finishes with the four-part Neapolitan folk song, Santa Lucia. This all feels very intentional and in turn gives the work some depth. 

Next up we went over to Tate Britian (the other Tate) and saw Monster Chetwynd’s new commission. It’s two giant, illuminated leopard slug sculptures each over 10 metres long. They are accompanied by swathes of blue and white LED slug trails across the building’s façade, so we would recommend going when it’s dark to get the full effect. It’s quite fun and is accompanied by a film of the mating ritual in the foyer. 

Once inside we saw the Jesse Darling show ‘The Ballad of Saint Jerome’. The basis for the exhibition is the story of Saint Jerome who was confronted by a ferocious lion and instead of reacting in fear, he recognised that the animal was injured and removed a thorn from its paw. Now tamed, the lion became his lifelong companion. A lovely catalyst for art-making and one which appears to have worked well. Our favourite works were the cowering cabinets with their bent legs, unable or unwilling to support their own weight now that the pages in the binders they’re carrying have been replaced by concrete blocks. All the works have this sense of being pained; some with plasters some with crutches, they’ve all got their own trauma. 

Finally, we went to Saatchi to see the Black Mirror exhibition since the new film is coming out soon. It was pretty disappointing due to an excess of boring paintings but was saved by two artworks, one by James Howard which was an entire wall of spam that you might be familiar with if you frequent any film streaming websites. They’re the ones that frame a video link bragging about their latest fix or warning of early symptoms. We weren’t sure about the whole wall aspect and thought that perhaps that would work better if they were positioned as one would find them on a web page but without that context. We’re being picky now but that’s only because we enjoyed the concept. 

The other piece was called ‘Cash Cow’ and was by Jade Townsend. The work depicts a sort-of convincing set of male legs holding a red painting with faded/semi-comprehensible statements about sex and smutty acts; a slow-burning critique of gender imbalance and contemporary worth, if one is to put in the time looking. With a title like ‘Cash Cow’, it’s hard to deny that some rather large bones are being picked. Townsend’s sculpture sets its sights on an ‘exclusive’ target – the art market, institution, and the ‘sub-world’ each of them operates within. A fun looking work with a message.

i ' m s o r r y : ' (

This week included an application to produce our own YouTube apology video. YouTube apologies are becoming their own genre of content, designed to emotionally manipulate viewers. At the beginning of this year the YouTube star, Logan Paul, posted a video unlike most of the other content published to his channel; lacking intro music, graphics and sound effects, it was just a dimly lit, talking head, webcam video. He appears red-eyed and starts with “I had a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement.” The video titled “So Sorry” is among YouTube’s most viral videos in 2018. It’s racked up more than 54 million views and four million comments. There are also hundreds of videos on YouTube reacting to the apology. And there are plenty more dismissing it, describing it as disingenuous and inauthentic and considering him as nothing more than a YouTuber who finally flew too close to the sun. Some have referred to it as the “first viral apology video,” a visual example of a modern celebrity fall from grace, played out in real time. The video was recorded after he received immense criticism for filming a dead body in the Aokigahara Forest, which is a notorious spot in Japan for people to commit suicide. The question then is was this authentic, or was this yet another performance, cloaked in PR-enforced sincerity? 

We proposed to produce an apology video using the myriad of techniques YouTubers use when delivering their own apologies. Ranging from the sigh at the beginning, deliberately not looking into the lens of the camera to express a false sense of vulnerability, filming themselves turning the camera off to reinforce the idea that the video was completely unedited and spontaneously crying midway through. The apology will be entirely generic and the incident will never be truly described, only spoken around. The film would be shown on a monitor on a stand, similar to one that might be found at a conference or in a school, suggesting that this is an education into YouTube apologies, a how to guide. Hopefully we get it but if not it’s a fairly simple, low budget thing to produce.