▽ CITY STATES @ COPPERAS HILL

Today I took another visit to the Copperas Hill biennial site, but this time to view the City States floor, which is host to thirteen exhibitions that of course respond to the biennial’s official theme - Hospitality. City States takes viewers across the globe, with each exhibit named after a particular city or town and this makes an uncanny allusion to the increasingly globalised nature of biennials. It is interesting to consider that a building, which epitomises local history such as Copperas Hill, is hosting a global-themed array of exhibitions. It is, to some degree, a juxtaposition of local and global. For me personally City States had as much high points as it did low. In spite of there being some very engaging pieces within the space I felt the curatorial approach and the exhibition space was sometimes problematic in relation to the art that was displayed. Even though the space brings forth an extremely innovative and truly engaging experience for the viewer I felt it simultaneously produced problems. For example, there were times when I was more interested in the old, left behind features of the sorting office than the exhibiting art. For example, I discovered a sign, of which you can see in the photograph displayed below, that reads - “Its all over….Goodnight”. This is obviously from the last shift implemented in the old sorting office. I felt quite emotional when I found this sign - it was such a priceless discovery. It may look insignificant and very easy to overlook, but it practically evokes back to a time in history. It is a fascinating relic of Copperas Hill. Though it was very interesting to make such discoveries as the aforementioned I felt the space was consequentially overruling the art and this was somewhat detrimental. 

On the other hand, the vastness of the space makes the various exhibitions feel rather distant from one another and thus makes it harder to make comparisons or distinctions between them.  There was also some occasions when rather humorously I could not tell whether some objects were pieces of art or features of the old sorting office. At the same time, I felt rather critical of the curatorial approach, as there were simply too many film and video installations throughout the piece making it feel extremely busy and repetitive at times. Having placed some video installations so close together one can hear audio from other pieces when they are trying observe one individually, causing great distraction and disturbance. Even though the vast amount of video and film installations may be reflecting the zeitgeist of contemporary art practice, I still feel a wider selection of mediums could have be employed, as there were hardly any paintings or hand-drawn pieces within the space, for example. 

Despite the vast list of criticisms I harbour with regards to the space’s  curatorial approach, I somehow maintain that this space is possibly one of the most interesting and captivating spaces in which I have ever seen art displayed; the gritty, industrial feel of the space compliments the contemporary art exhibited excessively. Regardless of a few problematic areas I feel that Copperas Hill’s utilisation as a biennial site is without doubt one of the most laudable aspects of the biennial overall, as it indicates a very revolutionary message - that contemporary art can be used as a means to reinvent public spaces that are empty, abandoned, unused and in need of redevelopment. 

Upon entering the City States exhibition the first piece that caught my eye, unsurprisingly was Black Pillow, a collaborative project between two architects and artists - Audrius Bucas and Valdas Ozarinskas. My initial encountering of it filled me with child-like excitement. The piece is enormous and evokes a very tactile response from the viewer; I could not help but want to touch it and play around with it. The way that it pervades the space reminded me of Oded Hirsch’s The Lift. Its lack of rationality also relates to Hirsch’s piece in which an old, industrial elevator is illogically erupting from the ground. I think it is effective how the artists have took an object that possesses universal connotations of comfort and warmness, but have made it intimidating, dark and overbearing. Just as The Wolstenholme Creative Space it seems as though they have reacted against the biennial’s theme of Hospitality aiming to create a more inhospitable experience for the viewer. 

Incheron was my personal favourite of the City States exhibition space. Whilst the other exhibitions have only the lacklustre red biennial stand to introduce them to the viewer, Incheron has a large lighting advert, which makes the viewer feel as though they are passing through an airport terminal and actually traveling. Kyugah Ham’s piece captured my interests the most. From a distance it almost looks like as if it has been painted, and that the paint has dripped onto the surface below. However, when one goes closer to the piece they realise it is in fact fabric and the hanging sections are various coloured threads. Upon encountering the piece I immediately felt there was an allusion to Pollock with the piece obviously possessing an abstract expressionistic aesthetic, a bright, lurid palette and a reference to his celebrated ‘drip effect’. Ham collected various news articles regarding war and terrorism within Iraq and sent them to embroiderers in North Korea. This piece thus shows Ham’s attempt at communicating with North Korea. The North Korean embroiderers were required to spend long labour intensive hours transforming the news articles into embroidery in order to receive them. This is a considerable contrast to how we can access information quickly and with little effort through our everyday utilisation of the Internet and various other technologies. Similarly, whilst the artist Jackson Pollock could dynamically drip and splatter paint onto a canvas, the korean embroiders had to spend hours of intense labour threading intricate letterings. I thus feel there is something of a juxtaposition between the West and East within this piece. We are reminded of how in conspicuous contrast to the East we Westerners have our lives pervaded by a Capitalist, Consumerist lifestyle where we expect everything to be handed to us without any real effort or labour.  Though I had been quite critical about the overall curation of City States I think that Ham’s piece worked really well in relation to its surrounding artworks. I thought it was rather interesting to observe one of the features of the old sorting office, which hung above the piece making an uncanny allusion to its aesthetic. Above Ham’s piece there was a sign saying “Inward Primary Letters” with blocks of lurid colours hanging under it - this was an accidental feature, I believe, but nevertheless still entertaining. 

Having not been a massive fan of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition I was somewhat cynical about the rest of the Copperas Hill building. However, I am glad that I put this prejudice to the side and proceeded to visit the City Scapes exhibition space, as with some of the most ambitious and largest pieces within the whole biennial residing within it, it produced a very engaging and memorable experience. The viewer is spoilt for choice in terms of pieces that possess an innovative and original feel, as they inhabit arguably one of the most impressive exhibition spaces of the whole biennial. 

▽ INHOSPITABLE LANDSCAPE @ WCS

Inhospitable Landscape brings the outside, inside with its large-scale installation, which entirely consumes the exhibition space. In a reaction against the biennial’s theme of Hospitality it explores the uncomfortable and inhospitable facets of social and cultural landscapes. Upon entering the space, notions of fairytales and literature pervaded my mind; an abundance of small trees and foliage adorn the dimly lit space. Fallen leaves and earth cover the ground. Video installations are dotted ambiguously throughout the greenery, suggesting a juxtaposition of technology and nature, or the artificial and the natural. As the viewer meanders through the disarray of branches and foliage, eventually reaching the back of the exhibition space they come to a rather interesting area that could almost be an allusion to the renowned tea party scene within Alice and Wonderland - a long dinning-room table, lamp and chair fill this area. I found this area particularly entrancing – there was something both haunting and beautiful about it; the light produces a particularly seductive effect through the trees when one is relatively distant from it. What was most strange was that there was something almost vaguely familiar about the piece; I knew I had seen it somewhere before, in a film perhaps. It seems somewhat possible, however, that it had resonated with something, which had long before existed within my imagination but I have, until present, been significantly aware of.

What is also worth mentioning is the music that accompanied the piece. It was very mystical and atmospheric sounding. It therefore adhered stylistically to the visual aspect of the piece and consequentially became integral to it. Though I thought the video installations, which were distributed throughout the piece, looked extremely effective and emphasised the atmospheric feel of the piece, I was honestly quite reluctant to notice them, as I have come across far too many video installations throughout the duration of this biennial. Most of the video installations I have seen tend to be constructed from randomised images that play in loops, which seem to lack any degree of narrative or story telling. However, the video installations within this piece were not the complete work, they were only a small part of it; therefore, they did not ruin my experience by any measure.

Interestingly, the exhibition has its own ‘inhospitable library’, which is made up of books that inspired the curators during the production of the exhibition. Visitors can borrow a book from the library for a small cost, which in turn denotes the interactive nature of the exhibition even further. Being able to interact with the piece and to tangibly experience it creates a more memorable experience, whether it be good or bad. Getting tangled and caught within branches and foliage may have been an irritating experience to some of my peers, but this kind of physical contact with art undoubtedly leaves a lasting impression on the viewer.

I was actually rather reluctant to leave the space, and interestingly, others were too. It is possible that the space recalled a part of our childhoods that growing into adults we have albeit lost touch with – a space that captures the imagination, which lacks the systematic and authoritative atmosphere of the typical established gallery space. Thus, it may be that utilising exhibition spaces in creative ways may be the key to engaging audiences more competently, as this certainly proved the case amongst my peers and myself during this exhibition visit.

▽ BLOOMBERG NEW CONTEMPORARIES @ COPPERAS HILL

Bloomberg New Contemporaries is the UK’s principal organisation for supporting new, emerging talent from British art schools. Interestingly, their exhibition during this year’s biennial is hosted in the Copperas Hill building, a large abandoned sorting office, open to the public for the very first time. During my visit curator and selector of the exhibition Rosalind Nashashibi provided a guided tour and some interesting behind-the-scenes information regarding the selection process and curatorial approach.  It was great to meet someone integral to the production of the exhibition such as Rosalind who could answer questions, and provide a bit of background information, as though I was vaguely familiar with it, I had not before visited the exhibition.

Much of this biennial site’s appeal, aside from the exhibiting art, was being able enter a space that was not before open to the public. My curiosities were certainly fulfilled upon entering the building due to its evident vastness, and even more so when I entered the exhibition space. There were, in fact, times when I felt more drawn to the left over relics of the sorting office than the art itself, which I suppose, in theory is quite detrimental on the part of the exhibition, but nevertheless, I think it was interesting being able to juxtapose the space with the exhibiting art. The exhibition space, however, had a rough, gritty feel about it  - it had not been altered or changed since its use as a sorting office. However, I felt its inherent grittiness and raw, industrial feel significantly complemented the cutting edge contemporary art that was displayed within it.  It was also a nice change to see art presented in an interior space that is not a gallery or museum, as it really did transform the overall experience. I did not get the sense of control and authority that one usually gets when they enter a gallery or museum space – it felt much more laid-back and informal, which made it much easier to enjoy the art.  The only problematic attribute of the exhibition space was its flooring; being slightly slopped and quite bumpy it did not provide the best of surfaces for sculptural pieces.  Nevertheless, its vast scale must have given the curators a delightful array of possibilities in terms of displaying works.

Circumspects, a video piece by George Eksts was a notable work that Rosalind regarded within her tour of the exhibition.  The focus on architectural space within the video recalled back to many other pieces I have come across within the biennial. It seems that many artists are investigating architectural spaces and how they affect us both physically and psychologically.  The large architectural structure that is central to Eksts’s piece reminded me a lot of the Dan Graham piece that is currently residing outside of the Bluecoat chambers. With its circularity and its allowing of the viewer to voyeuristically look into a space I felt it reflected Grahams piece to an evident degree.  The video is looped and thus denotes an incessant sense of movement and dynamicity that ceases to end. It as though Eksts portrays a plane outside of time and space, where there is only permanency and no sense of transition.  

It was not only the left over features of the sorting office that at times took my attention away from the art – I was particularly interested in the exhibition’s curatorial approach. I was intrigued as to how the curators had utilised such a vast, innovative space alternate to that of a gallery or museum, and whether the space was detrimental or beneficial to their practice.  When I questioned Rosalind on the curatorial approach of the exhibition her response denoted that aesthetic value had primarily dictated it – the main concern was to make the pieces look eye catching. What was not desired was to take attention away from smaller or subtler pieces by placing them next to more larger or audacious ones.  Medium was also considered in regards to the curatorial approach, as projections and some video installations would require their own cut-off spaces or rooms.  I did feel quite disappointed when I heard of the concept behind the curatorial approach, as I am more partial to concepts dictating the curation, as opposed to mere aesthetic matters. I was also keen to ask Rosalind if there were any pieces within the exhibition that she felt did not translate well into the space.  She suggested that all of the pieces had translated well, apart from the two video pieces by Simon Senn, as she thought they were placed too close together, and this had apparently caused a common misconception amongst visitors that they were one piece. 

Though I felt somewhat more occupied with the curation of the exhibition and the fact that it resided in a space unorthodox to typical art exhibitions, the exhibiting works still took my interests.  I particularly favored the many video instillations within the exhibition, as they brought a laudable sense of movement and dynamicity to a space that had long before been dead and desolate - abandoned and still. They thus provided a warm reminder that art and culture can provide a new lease of life to public areas and spaces that initially appear barren and uncultivable.