The furtive eye of Lloyd's camera records scenes of urban life, among other objects, illuminating the modern city as a site of voyeurism, fetishism, and sexual ambivalence. Her practice is not limited to the filmed image; the installation, with monitors, flat screens, and projectors also acquires a strong presence. Her installations from the early 1990s point up the mutual dependency between people and their city.
curated by Nikola Dietrich
The Museum für Gegenwartskunst presents the first exhibition in Switzerland surveying the work of
the British artist Hilary Lloyd (b. 1964; lives in London). The furtive eye of Lloyd’s camera records
scenes of urban life, among other objects, illuminating the modern city as a site of voyeurism,
fetishism, and sexual ambivalence. People engaged in everyday rituals and routine gestures of self-
projection draw the artist’s interest, as do architecture, advertising, and the play of lighting effects on
different surfaces.
Her installations from the early 1990s, which involve videos, slide projectors, and ambient sound,
point up the mutual dependency between people and their city, which condition each other in an
indivisible union. Workmen, waiters, skaters, DJs, and clubbers become the subjects of Lloyd’s
inquiry. But her camera also captures unexceptional architectural elements or flowers, transforming
them into autonomous images. The selective gaze paints a picture of urban fascination permeated
by a dynamic choreography of static and moving sequences. Such effects of perception fused in
pictorial montages are most obviously achieved by virtue of mirror reflections, split screens, and
rotation, in works like Building (2011) and Motorway (2010). Other pictures present abstract studies
that recall liquid quicksilver, broken glass, or bright concentric circles. In some instances, the viewer
cannot infer the material reality of the surfaces. The pictures of lighting effects, architecture,
advertisements, and poses in Lloyd’s most recent work (e.g., in Striped Man, 2011) emphasize this
structuralist aspect. They are reduced to pure surface and materiality.
Yet Lloyd’s practice is not limited to the filmed image; the installation, with monitors, flat screens,
and projectors elegantly and meticulously set out in the room, also acquires a strong presence. The
visitor is inevitably confronted not only with the pictures, but also with their manifestation. Since the
technical means are recognizable at first glance, the beholder immediately comprehends all spatial
interrelations. This method moreover triggers an altered—and oddly mechanical—perception of
time.
The numerous works selected—and in some instances specifically created—for the exhibition not
only convey an impression of Hilary Lloyd’s immense productivity; in the ensemble, they also mark
a significant moment in her evolution as an artist.
In 2001, Hilary Lloyd spent a year in Basel as a fellow of the Laurenz-Haus Foundation.
She was nominated for the renowned Turner Prize in 2011.
A catalogue produced by Hatje Cantz publishers in conjunction with the exhibition will feature
essays by Kirsty Bell, Sabeth Buchmann, and Pablo Lafuente. The first monograph on Hilary
Lloyd’s oeuvre, it also represents the first comprehensive engagement with her art.
Sponsors: Fonds für künstlerische Aktivitäten im Museum für Gegenwartskunst der Emanuel
Hoffmann-Stiftung und der Christoph Merian Stiftung and george foundation.
Image: Hilary Lloyd, Sunglasses, 2011, 2 JVC 42" Monitors, 2 Western Digital HD Media Players, 2 Unicol Trolleys. Installationsansicht: Sadie Coles, London, 16. November – 21. Dezember 2011. Fotograf: Marcus J Leith
Press Office:
Christian Selz, Tel. 0041 (0) 61 206 62 06, pressoffice@kunstmuseumbasel.ch
Exhibition Opening: Freitag > 11.05.2012 > 18.30
Welcome: Bernhard Mendes Bürgi, Director
Introduction: Nikola Dietrich, curator
Kunstmuseum Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst
St. Alban-Rheinweg 60, CH-4010 Basel
Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Admission:
Adults over 19 years 21 CHF
Teenagers 13-19 years 8 CHF
Students 20-30 years 8 CHF
Disabled visitors with ID 8 CHF
Groups (over 19 pers.) 16 CHF
Artists with valid identification 16 CHF
Freiw. Museumsverein Basel, freiw. akad. Gesellsch. Basel 16 CHF