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HYPERCOLON

In 2011, I was invited to co-curate an exhibition at SMART Project Space in Amsterdam, as part of their on-going statement series. The exhibition :HYPERCOLON: was conceived and realised by N. Mellors and myself as a product of the research we had been undertaking over the previous two years.

The eight rooms of the exhibition were used to create a narrative framework in which each space is mapped to a specific body part. The exhibition included a variety of work dating from the 17th and 18th centuries to the present. The full list of exhibited artists is: Vito Acconci, Paul Laffoley, spiritualist works from the Harry Prince archive, Nathaniel Mellors, Chris Bloor, Pieter van der Heyden, Linda Quinlan, Basil Wolverton, Robert Abel, Chicago Imagists Karl Wirsum and Gladys Nilsson, Bob Parks, Brian Catling, Mick Peter, Tala Madani, Timmy van Zoelen, Erkka Nissinen, James Gilray and James Ensor.

The exhibition diagram took the viewer on a journey in which each room was the result of research into specific aspects of a body part, how its function relates to art and image making, and how body parts are used in works of art to represent themes and ideas; particularly in works of social satirical commentary. Elements of the show were the result of research into the scientific optical understanding of the eye [vision] and the imaginary aspect of sight [visions]. The Brain Room, a screening of the especially commissioned film Ourhouse ‘the cure of folly’ by Nathaniel Mellors, was developed from research into the medieval trope of the stone of madness.

The exhibition was supported by The Netherlands Film Fund, The Netherlands Fund for Performing Arts, the Amsterdam Fund for Arts, the Mondrian Foundation and the Municipality of Amsterdam.