SANTIAGO SIERRA
VETERANS & PSYCHOPHONIES
curated by Sara Greavu & Jonathan Cummins
Void Gallery of Contemporary Art
Patrick Street - Derry
9/11/2013 - 21/12/2013
Santiago Sierra (born in Madrid in 1966) explores the relationship between labour, value and capital through poetic and frequently controversial actions. His representations of the exploitative transactions of everyday life often involve contracting people to perform useless, degrading or repetitive tasks. Sierra's work issues a coruscating critique of the brutality of capitalism, using capitalism's own logic and methods. His work touches on a range of related themes including immigration, exclusion, separation, invisibility, exploitation, dignity, resistance and the art market. Offering little by way of apology or solution to the predicament of those involved, his work often presents ethical dilemmas for spectator and art institution and implicates the audience in the events they witness.
In two new site-specific works commissioned by Void—Veterans and Psychophonies—Sierra addresses the legacies of the conflict in Northern Ireland through an engagement with demilitarised sites and former military workers. Employing flying drones, video, sound recordings and postering, Sierra's latest interventions engage with existing dialogues about the past in Northern Ireland, redrawing the boundaries of confrontation and struggle, and offering a chilling reflection on contemporary war cultures.
Veterans is a development of an ongoing project, in which Sierra employs military veterans to stand facing the corner within gallery spaces. In this instance, five British Army veterans were contracted to stage the action in Ebrington, a former army barracks located on the banks of the River Foyle. A flying drone camera captured the performance of the veterans, most of whom served in Ebrington, within the deteriorating decommissioned buildings. Still images from Veterans will be presented in public spaces throughout the city. A related work dealing with the legacies of conflict, the sound installation Psychophonies, will consist of three high fidelity recordings of locations in and around the city where torture is alleged to have been used.
Noirin McKinney - Director of Arts Development at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland said: 'This is the last, in a year of outstanding on and off site exhibitions from Void, as part of the UK City of Culture 2013. We are delighted to see what the gallery has achieved with assistance from National Lottery funding through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The programme has been the realisation of the gallery's wish list of artists being brought to audiences from and visiting Derry/ Londonderry during this cultural year.'
Sierra is currently exhibiting at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, KOW, Berlin in addition to an extensive retrospective at Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg. Recent solo exhibitions of Sierra’s work include the No– Global Tour, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo Artium in Vitoria, and exhibitions with Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Museu Madre, Naples, Italy; Lisson Gallery, London; Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid and the Spanish Pavillion, 50th Venice Biennale.
VETERANS & PSYCHOPHONIES
curated by Sara Greavu & Jonathan Cummins
Void Gallery of Contemporary Art
Patrick Street - Derry
9/11/2013 - 21/12/2013
Santiago Sierra (born in Madrid in 1966) explores the relationship between labour, value and capital through poetic and frequently controversial actions. His representations of the exploitative transactions of everyday life often involve contracting people to perform useless, degrading or repetitive tasks. Sierra's work issues a coruscating critique of the brutality of capitalism, using capitalism's own logic and methods. His work touches on a range of related themes including immigration, exclusion, separation, invisibility, exploitation, dignity, resistance and the art market. Offering little by way of apology or solution to the predicament of those involved, his work often presents ethical dilemmas for spectator and art institution and implicates the audience in the events they witness.
In two new site-specific works commissioned by Void—Veterans and Psychophonies—Sierra addresses the legacies of the conflict in Northern Ireland through an engagement with demilitarised sites and former military workers. Employing flying drones, video, sound recordings and postering, Sierra's latest interventions engage with existing dialogues about the past in Northern Ireland, redrawing the boundaries of confrontation and struggle, and offering a chilling reflection on contemporary war cultures.
Veterans is a development of an ongoing project, in which Sierra employs military veterans to stand facing the corner within gallery spaces. In this instance, five British Army veterans were contracted to stage the action in Ebrington, a former army barracks located on the banks of the River Foyle. A flying drone camera captured the performance of the veterans, most of whom served in Ebrington, within the deteriorating decommissioned buildings. Still images from Veterans will be presented in public spaces throughout the city. A related work dealing with the legacies of conflict, the sound installation Psychophonies, will consist of three high fidelity recordings of locations in and around the city where torture is alleged to have been used.
Noirin McKinney - Director of Arts Development at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland said: 'This is the last, in a year of outstanding on and off site exhibitions from Void, as part of the UK City of Culture 2013. We are delighted to see what the gallery has achieved with assistance from National Lottery funding through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The programme has been the realisation of the gallery's wish list of artists being brought to audiences from and visiting Derry/ Londonderry during this cultural year.'
Sierra is currently exhibiting at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, KOW, Berlin in addition to an extensive retrospective at Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg. Recent solo exhibitions of Sierra’s work include the No– Global Tour, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo Artium in Vitoria, and exhibitions with Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Museu Madre, Naples, Italy; Lisson Gallery, London; Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid and the Spanish Pavillion, 50th Venice Biennale.
