Henry VIII's Wives
dal 26/1/2009 al 14/3/2009
Segnalato da
26/1/2009
Henry VIII's Wives
Pump House Gallery, London
Henry VIII's Wives (The Wives) are a collective of artists founded in 1997, and include Rachel Dagnall, Bob Grieve, Sirko Knupfer, Simon Polli, Per Sander and Lucy Skaer. For their first exhibition in a London gallery they presents 2 time-based installations; Mr Hysteria, 2005 and The Returning Officer, 2007. Although both projects are very different in approach Mr Hysteria informed and inspired the development of The Returning Officer, paving the way to an experimental use of narrative.
Henry VIII's Wives (The Wives) are a collective of artists founded in 1997, and include Rachel Dagnall, Bob Grieve, Sirko Knupfer, Simon Polli, Per Sander and Lucy Skaer. For their first exhibition in a London gallery they will present two time-based installations; Mr Hysteria, 2005 and The Returning Officer, 2007. Although both projects are very different in approach Mr Hysteria informed and inspired the development of The Returning Officer, paving the way to an experimental use of narrative.
Inspired by people and their relationships to specific places, The Returning Officer takes three fictitious stories, shot in 16mm film, in three key locations as its starting point; The Legacy House, Belgrade, Serbia - a house owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art (which was used as a casino and brothel during the Milosevic era), an organ builder’s adapted house and workshop outside Vilnius, Lithuania and an opium poppy field in rural Austria. Chosen by the artists for their peculiarity and resonance, each film delves into a hidden social and political history. Visually seductive, the films are accompanied by a live soundtrack of a church organ which will be installed in the gallery.
Mr Hysteria explores the changing meanings of Hysteria over the last century. Previously thought of as a solitary illness exclusively affecting women - the 'wandering womb', hysteria became a more social phenomenon, with instances of mass hysteria becoming more frequent in the 20th century. Mr Hysteria is filmed in a maternity hospital, a stock exchange trading floor, a police station and a newspaper archive. In each location, non actors recite a script compiled from interviews conducted by 'The Wives' on diverse themes, from memories of mass migrations and the fall of the Berlin Wall, to simple descriptions of objects no longer present.
The six members of Henry VIII's Wives met at art college in Glasgow in the mid 90's and are now based in various northern European countries. In the last two years they have been commissioned by Kunsthalle Bern Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade and NIFCA that also travelled to Frankfurt Kunstverein; The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and CAC, Vilnius.
EventsExhibition Talk
Tuesday 27 January 2009
5.30 – 6.30pm
The Artists in conversation
An opportunity to hear the artists’ collective Henry VIII’s Wives discuss the ideas explored in their practice and in the exhibition.
Family Workshops
Suitable for children aged 3 upwards. All children must be accompanied by an adult (maximum of two children per adult)
22 February 2009 1.30 – 3.30pm
Translucent Landscapes Workshop.
Henry VIII’s wives are an artists’ collective who have produced poetic and lushly coloured films inspired by the stories associated with specific buildings and places. Each film in the gallery tells the story from a different perspective. In this workshop you will work together and use translucent materials to create your own colour-saturated stories about Pump House Gallery which will come alive under light.
Opening: Tuesday 27 January 2009 6.30 - 8.30pm
Pump House Gallery
Battersea Park - London SW11 4NJ
Opening times Wed - Sun 11am - 5pm
Free admission