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Straight to Camera to Straight Oxford OXFORD MODERN ART MODERN STUART BRISLEY STATE OF DENMARK EXHIBITION GUIDE EXHIBITION EXHIBITION GUIDE MODERN ART STRAIGHT TO CAMERA TO STRAIGHT OXFORD PROGRAMME STUART BRISLEY STATE OF DENMARK production. of choices and practicalities the Geta Bratescu CURATED BY DAVID THORP WITH THE MUSEUM OF ORDURE In STUDIO No.1 we see the performance of a process, artists’ the also but itself performance the Upper Galleries The Studio, 1978, 16mm transferred to digital film number of Foley sounds (sound effects for radio and witnessing only not is audience the vision, Atay’s 20 September - 16 November 17 – 24 October film), enacted within a purpose built sound stage of possession self the latterly more or productions in his native Czech Republic. This studio however Beckmann’s of theatricality the Tests, Screen Geta Bratescu was an important figure in history This exhibition presents a selected survey of where Brisley worked gathering information on the was never used as intended, due to the invention Warhol’s of intimacy the In work. live a within of Romanian conceptualism. Although largely historical and recent work by seminal British history and customs of the area in an attempt to of recording tape, and the space and it’s props audience the to denied often Something making. marginalized by the regime in her homeland in the artist Stuart Brisley (b. Surrey, 1933). Celebrated create an active social tool which would develop remained empty – a forgotten site for performance performance- of process the also but film the of mid 20th Century, following the political thaw in the as a performance artist, the great breadth and the town’s sense of community, rather than simply reactivated only for Štětina’s camera. However manipulation the both exposes films these Watching 1970s Bratescu worked as an illustrator and graphic diversity of Brisley’s practice will be explored in here the process is inverted and we see only the produce a mere archive. This presentation is designer alongside her artistic practice. At the end State of Denmark through a range of sculpture, complemented by a study room where key texts actions, there is no sound except that which we are reference. of points fixed no were there which of the ’70s, she rented a studio that served both as photography, film and painting. and resources which relate to the history and asked to imagine as doors are slammed and feet in paradigm led process exciting an produce to film a place of work, but also increasingly functioned as culture of mining in the UK is available for you to walk up stones stairs. of reproducibility controlled the with merged event the subject of her artistic practice, becoming a stage Throughout his career, now spanning six decades, explore. for temporary installations as well as a production Brisley has consistently interrogated the political live the of dynamism ephemeral the how describes Fikret Atay Hoberman time. the of atmosphere the of sense venue for her films. conventions of the time. From his early projects Stuart Brisley’s engagement with the act of painting and gives a strong strong a gives and Tinica, 2004, digital film in ‘60s post-war Germany and his recurring is explored in a passage of works in the Piper Sake Own it’s for Performance Like Canyons and Rivers: Rivers: and Canyons Like The Studio is an action documented on film in 10 – 16 November engagement with the politics of Northern Ireland Gallery. Titled Royal Ordure (1996), the painting essay, his in Hoberman which the artist used her own body to investigate Fikret Atay’s films capture moments of private, to his more recent critique of the British monarchy evokes an ongoing and increasingly central J critic film the by life to brought vividly is 1960s, her studio’s spatial proportions. By contrast to her sometimes intimate, performance. In Tinica, a and systems of power, Brisley’s profound and concern in Brisley’s practice; the tussle with a late the during beyond and Europe to migrated Conceptual contemporaries, such as Bruce Nauman young man stands on a hill overlooking Batman, singular voice resonates with a younger generation social and cultural detritus; real, metaphorical and quickly which York, New in genre this of genesis The and Paul McCarthy, Bratescu does not view the of artists working today. imagined. Similarly, The Missing Text, Interregnum Turkey. He prepares with utmost care a makeshift performance. relationship between the studio and the body as 1-3 (2012-13) depicts a jumble of debris, remnants drum set from used cans, plastic bottles, and and film of marriage this by suggested freedoms independent from life’s daily problems: she aims In a time marked by widespread dissatisfaction with of failed businesses which Brisley discovered in container covers. He gives a bravura performance the exploit to began filmmaking and music theatre, constantly to dissipate the boundaries between the our political institutions, from the protests against an abandoned shop during his 2010 residency at to an indifferent and distant city-scape - there is dance, art, visual including disciplines of range a spaces of art and of everyday life. inequality mounted by the ‘Occupy’ movement PEER, London and which reminded the artist of the no audience and no response. Only the camera is from Artists necessity. a longer no are audiences to the proposed dismantling of the Unions, this Conservative Party’s slogan for the 2010 general there to record his activity. live - recorded and restaged repeated, be now Ericka Beckman exhibition highlights the urgency of the critique election, ‘Broken Britain’. We Imitate; We Break Up, 1978, Super 8 transferred Finally he kicks the drum set down the hill, the which Brisley has relentlessly pursued throughout could performances and happenings works, Whole to digital film cans and bottles roll down the slope towards the his work. The enduring relationship with the body as art. performance for possibilities the explore to 25 October – 1 November town and finally come to rest among the rubbish subject will be traced through an accompanying which within parameters of set new a with artists State of Denmark will include early and rarely seen presented cameras handheld small of invention at the bottom as the performance, and even the film programme, in which some of Brisley’s Based in New York, Ericka Beckman has been making works which reappraise historical moments that The moment. ephemeral an of record static a as instruments that made it, dissolve back into the city. most prescient performances can be seen in the films since the 1970s, combining choreographed chime with the contemporary political climate. Basement. photography stills through primarily documented tableaux, set designs and manipulated camera was art performance 1960s late the to Prior Marcus Coates work, her films anticipate the work of a generation In the Upper Gallery Before the Mast (2013), is a State of Denmark is curated by David Thorp in Out of Season, 2000, Digital film film. and performance of history the in of younger artists. Beckman’s creative methodology series of photograph’s from a ten-day performance association with the Museum of Ordure. The 17 – 23 November link important an describe to attempt an rather but initially saw her transforming her studio into a sound exploring the decimal calendar introduced after exhibition assert’s Brisley’s influence as one of the is not a comprehensive history history comprehensive a not is the French Revolution. This attempt to eradicate all Camera to Straight stage on which to produce her performances, with Marcus Coates is best know for his shamanistic most important and enduring voices in international religious and royalist influences from day-to-day life future. digital a in suggests it possibilities the of the aide of some trusted assistants, she describes performances and films in which he adopts the contemporary art. The exhibitiob is accompanied reveals Brisley’s fascination with the Revolutionary sense a give and form this identify clearly more to her practice as producing films which costumes and tropes of First Nation peoples to by a new pamphlet featuring a text by David Thorp. moment which has played itself out consistently aims It performance. live of nature the and theatre consider the tribes, rituals and superstitions of programme maps the relationship between film, film, between relationship the maps programme throughout his career. This interest is also revealed Stuart Brisley’s destabilisation of received narratives rituals. personal performed or TV reality ‘challenge traditional aesthetic, and cultural values, contemporary society. In Out of Season we see a practice of making performance for the camera. The The camera. the for performance making of practice in State of Denmark (2014), a new installation resonates with the challenging tone of the work in comedy, of nature the examine to techniques same that mix games with fairytales to create hybrids man wondering the woods alone chanting football changing exhibition of artists’ films examining the the examining films artists’ of exhibition changing created especially for Modern Art Oxford. Here, an PLATFORM in the Project Space. While Brisley and the applying today, working artists of practice the with new rules.’ songs to the sky. Removed from the stadium and is a a is Camera to Straight Century. 20th mid the since iron crown is hung over a collection of clothing. this group of emerging artists hail from different in resonate to continues performance and film of the context of the opposition fans, Coates’ film For Beckman play is central to her message, artists to seductive consistently proved has audience Beside this stands a wooden structure; one side generations, both exhibitions present alternative intertwining early the However production. its to strips away the accepted social perceptions of his creating constructs and scenarios playouted before expectant an of gaze the from away studio the in comprised of removable panels and demarcated positions on the society in which we live today.
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