WORDS: WILL COOPER
IMAGES: SLG & TATE
Susan Hiller at Tate Britain
Despite combining these two shows into a single review, the work of Pollard & Forsyth isn’t really very similar to Hiller’s. Ok, so both of them sometimes make videos, but other than that, what else brings their work together? Having studied art history for three years I should probably be able to spout something quasi-intellectual, but on this subject at least, I can’t. In those three misspent years I think I spent more time hanging out in The Court of the Crimson King than I did in the library. However, since then I’ve grown up a bit. I’ve curated some shows and written some articles. I’m in a five-year relationship and comfortably in my mid-twenties. I’m nearly dead, for Pete’s sake. So if I think two things are nice together, that’s okay – no one can tell me otherwise.
Hold the phone; I’m going all off topic. Hiller – Pollard – Forsyth: that’s what we’re talking about.
So, their work may or may not be stylistically similar, may or may not share some common theoretical threads, and might be so closely related that I look a total eejit in my ignorance.
My usual stance when coming back from a show at the Tate galleries is pretty scathing. They seem to take the attitude that unless a retrospective or large survey contains every single known work by said artist, it’s not worth putting on. I appreciate that they are, in a way, stuck between a rock and a hard place. With more people visiting art galleries in recent years than going to football matches, the nature of some exhibitions has changed in order to cope with this shift in audience.
Like most Tate exhibitions, you certainly couldn’t leave the Hiller show and think it was short on work – it’s bloody crammed. But there’s a key difference here: it doesn’t have the usual Tate blockbuster feel, exemplified at its worst by the Rothko show of 2008. I’m not sure if this change is down to the nature of Hiller’s work, or the excellent curatorial decisions of Ann Gallagher. The answer, as it almost always is in cases like this, is a bit of both. There’s a great mix of work from Hiller’s illustrious career; perhaps her most famous works – from her postcard series – are the first pieces the visitor encounters, and from here we are lead on a carefully orchestrated route around a network of smaller rooms built specifically for this exhibition.
By doing this, Gallagher has cleverly created enough of a flow for it to feel free and independent, while leaving enough structure to create a kind of narrative or through line. The balance between mediums has been chosen perfectly; we are taken through black cubes to watch her video work and amusing interactive installations, with text-based work leaving the viewer a moment to pause and reflect. Towards the end of the display rests one of the most amazing pieces of sound work I have ever seen.
A still from Pollard and Forsyth’s video work
Publicsfear, the exhibition by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard at South London Gallery, confused me for quite a long time after my visit, perhaps lacking the attention grabbing punch I witnessed at Tate Britain. Living pretty close the gallery, I was keen to go just to see the newly redeveloped site. In all honesty, the exhibition that was on was of less concern to me. I had heard of their work, but nothing more than that, really.
For the first 40 minutes of my visit I was unimpressed. (This might seem a long time to spend in a gallery, but I bet you’ll be there just as long.) It wasn’t until I went upstairs that everything clicked. I’d thought I’d seen, or should that be heard, the best audio work on offer in London at the Hiller exhibition. However, the work hidden away on the mezzanine floor at SLG blew my little socks off. Following the near pitch-black maze of tunnels into a small and staggeringly intimate sort of anti-chamber creates a feeling of such anticipation it would be easy for all that build-up to fall flat. But it doesn’t, it really doesn’t.
Although the Publicsfear exhibition has now ended, you can visit the South London Gallery’s website at southlondongallery.org. Susan Hiller runs at Tate Britain, London until 15 May.
