MICHAEL DEAN – QUALITIES OF VIOLENCE
MELANIE GILLIGAN – THE COMMON SENSE
JANUARY 24 – MAY 10
De Appel arts centre presents
the first solo exhibition in The
Netherlands by Michael Dean,
entitled Qualities of Violence.
Dean is exhibiting his latest works
in consoles designed in response
to the exhibition spaces. During
the same period The Common
Sense is presented, a new film
project by Melanie Gilligan. This
film, a triptych, was created as a
result of a unique collaboration
between de Appel arts centre,
De Hallen Haarlem and Casco,
Office for Art, Design and Theory.
MICHAEL DEAN
Michael Dean (1977) produces sculptures
and photographs, performances and
publications – without exception, works
that invoke diverse associations. As one
critic wrote, “They evoke torture, salt licks,
laughter, charcuterie.” In presentations
his sculptures are usually accompanied by
texts and images of text, dialogues of unallocated voices, or minimal, repetitious
utterances of letters and words. Text and
sculpture go hand in hand.
Dean’s works arise from his writing.
He gives a physical form to a language
which he has himself developed, based
on a series of typographic alphabets which
he designed. The images are therefore
cryptic for the viewer – in fact inscrutable
and impossible to read – but that is
precisely what fascinates Dean: how can
you transform spoken or written language
into physical objects? How does the
viewer interpret (i.e., read) these
works, without recognizable letters?
Furthermore, how does this experience
of the illegible work compare to the artists
experience of the world that gave origin
to the work?
Michael Dean uses democratic materials.
Some years ago Dean discovered the
equally democratic and inanimate
qualities of language and concrete.
Initially he used it primarily to produce
heavy, physical casts of typographically
folded photographs, but more recently
he has been making all sorts of seemingly
natural forms, which rather often are
reminiscent of body parts: a muscle, a
tongue or a limb. In his work he tacks
between the abstract and the figurative,
between a sometimes legible, sometimes
illegible visual language.
QUALITIES OF VIOLENCE
MELANIE GILLIGAN
In this exhibition Michael Dean moves
the visitor or should we say, Reader,
through a series of display consoles in
which works appear to both ignore and
implicate the reader or should we say
viewer. If the works are words, the
arrangements could be seen as syntactical,
with the objects (including the body
of the reader/viewer) becoming
properties staged in a physical grammar
of sentences and phrases seen and experienced. A physical linguistic space.
“I guess I see my work as something for an
imagined future moment, after the film
and TV industries crumble and new hybrid
forms of D.I.Y. video making, viewing
and thinking about what we watch have
evolved. I would be happy for divisions
between film, TV, and artists’ films and
video to collapse along with the distinction
between edifying information (e.g. news
or documentary) and entertainment.”
Melanie Gilligan in an interview with
Thom Donovan, 22 My, 2012
Qualities of Violence
In her work – films, performances,
texts, installations and music – Melanie
Gilligan (Canadian, b. 1979) creates stories
that touch upon our lives and experiences,
but are not the present. In her films she
unfolds futuristic scenarios, often over
multiple episodes, played by characters
with whom you can identify. As a result,
that future sometimes seems very close
at hand – and all the more so because the
stories arise from what Gilligan perceives
in the here and now: from events and phenomena that engage all of us.
See some dictionary definitions of
Qualities:
1 the standard of something as measured
against other things of a similar kind;
2 a distinctive attribute or characteristic
possessed by someone or something;
3 an inherent or distinguishing characteristic; a property.
See some dictionary definitions of
Violence:
1 Behaviour or treatment in which
physical force is exerted for the purpose
of causing damage; 2 Intense force or
great power, as in natural phenomena
3 Extreme or powerful emotion or
expression 4 Distortion of meaning
or intent.
After her studies in London Melanie
Gilligan began her career, not as a visual
artist, but as an author of articles and essays
about politics, science, economy and art.
She was also a script writer, in hopes of
someday becoming a film maker. She has
now achieved that, and that experience
has shaped her later work as an artist, in
which text (stories) and theory are very
important. Her rich and eloquent use of
language and the way in which a specific
language, terminology and manner of
speaking are used to deal with particular
subjects, is characteristic of her work.
Gilligan’s intention is to make her viewers
think how the future could develop, in
political, economic and social fields, which
enables them to to reflect on their present
situation. She treats big questions, which
often deal with the human consequences
of radical social or economic changes, such
as the economic crisis in 2008 or (as in the
case of the film shown here) the influence
of technology on our everyday lives.
THE COMMON SENSE
The 15-installment science fiction
miniseries The Common Sense was
created as a unique collaboration between
de Appel arts centre, De Hallen Haarlem
and Casco Office for Art, Design and
Theory. This latest work by Melanie
Gilligan is based on the future large-scale
use of a technological application called
The Patch. This is a sort of prosthesis that
makes it possible to directly experience the
feelings and physical sensations of another
person. When this technology breaks
down, the result is massive disorientation,
because without this latest technological
aid interpersonal communication breaks
down as well. When the system gets back
online and The Patch is functioning again,
the story line splits. In one scenario (to be
seen in de Hallen, Haarlem) a protest break
out. In the second version (to be seen here
in de Appel) the society ‘normalizes’ again
and The Patch continues as an unchallenged part of ordinary life. The run-up
was to be seen in Casco in Utrecht.
The Common Sense is about the use of
technology by man, and what direction
that could take us. The artist raises
questions about how our dependence on
the mobile telephones, iPads, apps, etc., is
not only the result of the design and function of the devices themselves but also the
result of social and economic imperatives
that define our way of living. Gilligan
interrogates the way in which people
are shaped by technologies and adapt in
relation to them, and fantasizes about
completely different ways of relating to
each other.
By treating this subject in the form of a
miniseries, Gilligan assures it will occupy
the viewer for a longer period. In producing
the work, she has drawn inspiration from
many different fields: “My art makes no
distinctions between high and low culture.
On the contrary, I borrow from culture of
all sorts, for instance by using a television
format. In my view, art and popular culture
are connected with each other.”
www.thecommonsense.org
The quotes in the article above are
sourced from:
On the coporary-practice-melaniegilligan/#.VI20kvmG98E
http://www.cultuurbewust.nl/kunst106717-interview-melanie-gilligan/
TIME LINE: THE COMMON SENSE
COURTESY MELANIE GILLIGAN
GALLERY MAX MAYER, DÜSSELDORF
14 NOVEMBER 2014 – 25 JANUARY 2015
THE COMMON SENSE, PHASE 1
CASCO – OFFICE OF ART, DESIGN AND
THEORY, UTRECHT
13 DECEMBER 2014 – 1 MARCH 2015
THE COMMON SENSE, PHASE 2A
DE HALLEN HAARLEM
24 JANUARY – 10 MAY 2015
THE COMMON SENSE, PHASE 2B
DE APPEL ARTS CENTRE
SPECIAL THANKS TO BEAMSYSTEMS
COURTESY MICHAEL DEAN
HERALD ST, LONDON, MENDES WOOD,
SAO PAULO AND SUPPORTICO LOPEZ, BERLIN
PUBLICATION ON SALE DURING EXHIBITION:
NOW LEAVES, MICHAEL DEAN
PUBLISHED BY BOOK WORKS AND WYSING
ARTS CENTRE IN ASSOCIATION WITH DE APPEL
RABBIT’S MOON (US, 17’17”)
ARTS CENTRE AND EXTRA CITY KUNSTHAL
DURING THE EXHIBITION THE SHORT FILM RABBIT’S
MOON BY AMERICAN FILMMAKER KENNETH ANGER IS
SHOWN IN EXPO S. THE PLOT REVOLVES AROUND A
CLOWN, PIERROT, HIS LONGING FOR THE MOON AND
THE COMMON SENSE IS A CO-PRODUCTION
OF CASCO, DE APPEL ARTS CENTRE AND
DE HALLEN HAARLEM.
HIS FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO JUMP UP AND CATCH IT.
COLOPHON
THE PROJECT THE COMMON SENSE IS FINANCIALLY
SUPPORTED BY DOMMERING FOUNDATION,
MONDRIAAN FOUNDATION AND FONDS 21.
ORGANISATION:
TEAM DE APPEL ARTS CENTRE
CONSTRUCTION:
SJOERD TIM AND TEAM
TRANSLATION:
WORD & PICTURES
DESIGN:
THONIK
PRINS HENDRIKKADE 142
DE_APPEL
1011 AT AMSTERDAM
DEAPPELARTSCENTRE
020 625 56 51
DE_APPEL
WWW.DEAPPEL.NL