Last year I collaborated with Chris Graham on a complex and disorienting installation at Bank Street Arts that was eventually called Sans Terre / +. The work sprang from a re-consideration of Théodore Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa in terms of the then burgeoning refugee crisis.
After the installation was dismantled we began work on documenting the work in book form. What began as a record of something that had passed soon sprouted legs of its own and became an altogether new work. The images that accompany this post are details of the books.
The books – a printed collision of an arms catalogue and photographs of the installation as well as fragments of the source material that inspired it – have been extensively reworked by hand with paint, ink, scissors, and collage, and have become a visceral reworking of the source material and a new work that reflects the complexities of migration, terrorism, the military-industrial complex, exploitation of the Third World, Beyoncé, depleted Uranium, art, Disney, Gorgons, drone strikes, and spray paint.
On August 12-13th a Bank Street micro-exhibition will re-present elements of the installation and provide a platform for launching these books which will be available to buy for £25 each. If you want to pre-order one, look at the Sans Terre / + Facebook page. Search for @artiscomplicit
The ‘+’ in the title of the work is a deliberate allusion to the idea of ‘more’. For this iteration of the project we will be joined by Richard Bolam who has created a film that uses a film he made last August of us in the space when the installation was nearing completion but also includes material from other sources and images from the new books. This film is an integral part of the new show.
Join Sans Terre / + for the launch of these books. There will be a performance / reading at some point during the show (details to be confirmed).
Show Details:
Admission is free
Friday 12th August: 11am – 4pm
Saturday 13th August: 11am – 4pm
Banks Street Arts, Bank Street, Sheffield
Links:
Web: bankstreetarts.com
Twitter: @BankStreetArts
Bryan Eccleshall 