Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Bath Spa University
John Wood and Paul Harrison: Answers to Questions (solo exhibition and tour with accompanying publication)
This exhibition documented the development of Wood and Harrison’s work between 1993 and 2010. The exhibition in Houston contained twenty video works, five of which were made after January 2008 together with thirty giclee text prints from 2011.
The exhibition articulated the way that Harrison and Wood exploit the technical and aesthetic limits of moving image technology. The use of their bodies and everyday objects are situated and isolated by the framing of the screen and the spatial containment of the image. This facilitates their embodied minimalist aesthetics and their playful sense of immanent self-discovery, involving the spectator in a historical reconsideration of the aesthetics of everyday object-hood, performance and studio production.
This exhibition had a strong architectural component in terms of installation. In the process of turning 2D drawings to 3D constructions in the studio, back to 2D in terms of video image and then back into 3D in terms of gallery installation. Each work was housed in specially constructed rooms and architectural objects that were a direct response to the filmed set. The exhibition layout was designed and constructed to enhance the pluralist approach or sensibilities of the videos.
A fully illustrated catalogue: 216 pages, with essay by Toby Kamps, Chief Curator, Menil Collection, Houston, USA was produced to accompany the exhibition.
