ART-PRESENTATION: Lisson Presents… Speech Act
First launched at Lisson Gallery London in 2009 to explore narratives of contemporary art conveyed through the gallery’s history, “Lisson Presents…” is a special program of curated exhibitions to assert and question the relationship between new and historical artwork. Re-launched this year as part of Lisson Gallery’s 50th anniversary celebrations, this new iteration of “Lisson Presents…”. runs in parallel with the main exhibition program.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Lisson Gallery Archive
Words can be used not only to present information but also to carry out actions. Through the work of Allora & Calzadilla, Susan Hiller and Laure Prouvost, the exhibition “Lisson Presents… Speech Act”, examines the way in which the construction of image and text populate the political imaginary. Though different in their aesthetic and political register, each of the works of the exhibition reflect on the relationship between language and its delivery apparatus, highlighting the coercive potential of such coalescence in the public domain. In Allora & Calzadilla’s film “Amphibious (Login-Logout)” (2005), viewers hear boat engines throttling, hydraulic lifts for shipping containers clanking and the Pearl River gurgling while they follow six turtles balanced on a wooden log placidly floating through the waters of the Pearl River Delta, the fount of one-third of the world’s manufactured commercial goods. Showing shipping containers from Costco and Maersk, the video connects viewer to world, consumer to commodity fabrication. Their “Figures of Speech” (2007), a photographic work that continues the artists’ investigation into the meaning and impact of political rhetoric, utilises images and newspaper cuttings from recent world events. The imagery, compositions of human figures, graphically forms individual letters and spells out quotations, thus functioning as a new figurative alphabet. Susan Hiller’s paintings “Brickwork” (1984) and “Native” (1984) relate to her interest in automatic writing, a technique she first experimented with in the early ‘70s and to which she has frequently returned. Part of her “Home Truth” series, the works are composed of decorative wallpaper – t layered with sub-conscious and free-association graffiti-type markings. These paintings are very rare as many ended up being burned and transformed into ashes for Hiller’s “Relics” works. Laure Prouvost’s video “It, heat, hit” (2010) constructs and propels an inferred story through a fast-moving sequence of written commentary and excerpts of everyday incidents and pictures that have been filmed by the artist. The mood of the film gradually becomes darker and more unsettling, though nothing is stated directly. The growing intensity is reinforced by the oppressive rhythm of a drum, which accompanies snatches of music and speech. Repeated viewing subtly shifts what is understood each time, as Prouvost highlights the slipperiness of meaning and notions of reality.
Info: Lisson Gallery, 67 Lisson Street, London, Duration: 25/11/17-13/1/18, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-17:00, www.lissongallery.com
