Whitechapel Gallery: Gerard Byrne: A state of neutral pleasure 17 January - 8 March 2013 : Blog 23

Morning

I just love serendipity. Decided to have a day off with my eldest daughter Grace yesterday, lunch, moseying around Whitechapel Gallery and a trip to an art supplier to pick up a portfolio for her foundation art course at the City Lit.

The choice of gallery was Grace's. I haven't been there for ages. Its nestled alongside cost cutters and a mobile phone shop, right next to Aldgate East tube. Its light, airy, welcoming and free!

The Gerard Byrne: A state of neutral pleasure exhibition opened a couple of weeks ago. 'The artist is renowned for his films installations which re-enact conversations from specific historic moments. His work explores the way we understand the present through revisiting the past. For this exhibition, Byrne's investigations range from the politics around sexuality to the the production and display of the art object. Premiering in the UK, A Man and a Woman make love (2012) This multi-screen installation reinterprets discussions about sexuality and eroticism held in the 1920s by the Surrealist group of artists and writers, including Andre Breton, Jacques Prevert and Yves Tanguy.' (From Gallery brochure)

We watched Man the first of the films, which last about 40 minutes. The gallery is set with 6 large screens propped up against each other, and at any given time up to three or four have projected film. The beauty is the dynamic which draws the eye simultaneously to different points of view as the dialogue plays out. So at one moment you are looking at one of the characters, and then at the back of the cameraman, from a wide shot to a close up on different screens. Its a brilliant use of the medium, and the experience is theatrical as you choose your view. Set in the 1920'a, the artist removes any sense of filmic absorption by reminding us always that we are on a film set. You can look over the shoulder of the cameraman and see the storyboard pinned to his camera and then in the next moment be drawn to the lips of an actor.

The conversation is funny, erotic and at times crude as these early Surrealists are played out by a group of actors. Its a mix of earthy references to sex and philosophical exchanges about the nature of soul, love and personal preference. The emphasis and direction of the conversation centres on the feelings, attitudes and behaviours towards women which move from idealisation of the goddess to an honest appreciation of the street walker. The nature of the conversation  has a certain artifice about it, and the form enables the viewer to travel between perspectives.

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Gerard Byrne: A Thing Is a Hole in a Thing It Is Not

Its theatre. You stand or pick up your little stool and move between screens, sometimes able to view three at a time. Its exquisite.

Inevitably part of the personal experience and referencing for me was in relation to my own practice. The form of this piece provoked new thoughts and ideas for me in relation to the use of film in live performance. Its a well established thing, often used in theatre. And I am curious about how we might experiment with it in the new work we are currently developing in an entirely other genre. 

The vitally central visual decision making process when making a new show is driven by the engagement of imagination of the director and designer working together informed by the text and genre. Its the juxtaposition of these different art forms that come together in theatre,  sometimes along with other disciplines such as dance and music composition. Where there is a genuine conversation between artists from these different disciplines lies the new, woven together in whatever shape it might manifest.

I have always found a starting point in new imagining to be the placing of two seemingly different objects, sounds or text side by side. The apparent randomness forces the imagination to forge a connection which makes a new sense, bigger usually than the two or more different elements. For example put a large ceramic jug in the middle of the studio next to an Ipod and play Faure's requiem at the same time, and suddenly the whole relationship takes on a new imagined narrative which resonates and is saturated with possibility.

So more food for the thought........ 

If you haven't been to the Whitechapel Gallery I urge you to have a visit and this installation is worth it alone.

Have a great day.