What's wrong with cinema in the gallery?
Hamlyn, Nicky (2012) What's wrong with cinema in the gallery? Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), 1 (2). pp. 265-269. ISSN 2045-6301
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This article builds on my earlier research (e.g. on William Raban's site-specific work) into the contemporary problem of showing moving image work in art galleries. The misfit between works' formal strategies and their mode of presentation is an ongoing issue.
The essay is based on a review of two exhibitions held in London in 2011 of video works by Philippe Parreno, and Douglas Gordon. Parreno's show was praised as novel and exemplary for the way in which it marshalled its audience from room to room to watch the films, but I argue that the relationship between the work and the way it is presented is arbitrary. In the case of Douglas Gordon’s show I argue that the work is a conventional movie masquerading as an installation.
In each case I conduct a rigorous analysis of the work itself and how it has been installed. My writing is informed by formalist and constructivist approaches, and considers the relationship between the work's form and its output / presentation, paying attention specifically to the relationship between these two aspects, which I see as equally important.
The article analyses contemporary exhibition practices in order to arrive at new theories and working methods for showing moving images in galleries. It draws attention to the tradition of exhibiting in alternative venues, where filmmakers, as opposed to "gallery" artists, have been much more successful in making moving image installations. The research aims to help artists and writers to better understand the issues and histories surrounding the making and showing of film and video in 'art' spaces. In a context where most art critics are not specifically informed about the history and theory of experimental film and video practice, the research seeks to raise the level of debate around video, and latterly film, projections in art galleries.
Editors: Professor Cate Elwes, Pryle Berman
ISSN: 2045-6298 (Print)
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