More than a fleeting visit
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Darcy Langeat Adam Art Gallery
23 Mar 2007 - 13 May 2007
by John Hurrell 22 Apr 2007
0 Votes - 0 Stars
22 Comments
 To visit Darcy Lange: study of an artist at work sensibly, you probably need at least two to three hours up your sleeve. It's required in order to attend to - not all, that would be impossible - but a sufficient number of these videos, films, photographs, tapes, labels and transcripts, to grasp what Lange was up to in the mid seventies when he made many of these works about labouring conditions, and different varieties of employment. Because his body of work is difficult and complicated, it is at a disadvantage with no catalogue available to accompany it. However the labels are very good. And this happens to be the best looking Mercedes Vicente curated exhibtion she's done in New Zealand, and it might well be the best designed display the Adam has ever had in its history. Even the stupid slot the architects placed in the top floor suddenly serves a purpose. It allows the long looped strips of vertical film to be seen as they are projected. All the Adam gallery space looks terrific, especially the sloping access ramps that negotiate the corners, with their rows of monitors and photographic stills. Vicente thinks that Lange's processes of recording working life in various industries is 'objective' but personally, to make that claim would worry me. I think the 'meat' of the work is in the dialogues that occurred between the artist and the people he filmed, conversations about the film he accumulated. This is far more important than the fact he was an early user of video technology. It is what he did with the new medium that counts. To find out you need to get past the speckled opacity and streaky bluriness of some of the b/w images. They bring an accidental abstractness to the project, a obstructive filter that forces you to concentrate on the sound to provide clues on how to interpret the moving images.So stoke up on some coffee, or whatever stimulants you require, and check out this show. It's highly unusual. There is a lot for people who like digging around, as it is open in the sense you have to excavate the connections and bring them to the surface yourself, using the labels as pointers. Okay Bashers, you have my comments here and Flake's review down below, but more would be fun. Further contributions welcome. In the meantime here is a terrific article from Mark Amery on this show: http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/947
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22 Comments, showing 1 to 20
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Perhaps he was some sort of video artist equivalent of Allen Maddox who was plagued for much of his life by medical /psychological problems, or is that simply inaccurate?
Today artists are taught how to interact smoothly with institutions, and of course the institutions should worry about that.
I think these days many arts institutions are bending over forwards...
Bring back the days of Maynard and the other art-institutional mavericks who operated -- in fact, who were required by their employers to operate -- from the courage of their own convictions rather than the deliverables of a business case.
Maybe he hated institutions. Some artists do - for ideological reasons. Some very good ones.
I prefer to think of it as Darwinian. We've moved on. Surely.
That 70s hatred of institutions led to Te Papa eventually. Thinking inspired by Bourdieu about the priveleged classes and the desire to reach a bigger but less educated audience. An interesting seminal period the seventies.
There are a few diehard Marxists around though, even now. Good luck to them...They'd rather read about shows on Artbash than actually venture through a museum or gallery door.
I reckon Artbasher would agree with your Darwinian assessment, Sooty. Eh, AB? Te Papa is an advance you reckon?.
It is interesting how extremely pointed headed thinking in the 70's led to an era of crass museum infotainment in the 00s, a phenomenon in itself denigrated by intellectuals -- including the old jokers around in the 70's. One of life's rich ironies I suppose.
the reality of sitting in any institution is that from time to time a colleague will arrive/phone/email asking for a list of reccomendations of some sort...the generic question: do you know anyone who might be suitable for such and such a thing Im organising?.... how do those lists get formed? if an artist does not 'relate' in some way to an institution how do they get on the radar? 'waiting to be discovered' is hardly a reliable method. cold calling with proposals is also low dividend unless you have the all important stamp of approval from within the existing network. of course this will lead to sycophantic behaviour and attention seeking stunts.
any influence that enjoy or, say, a group such as gambia castle may have comes about via institutional linkages or industry network visibility. this is not a news flash.
The funny thing is that while group shows compromise the best work, the unexpected interconnections make them a valuable source of discovery. They generate ideas through comparison and get hitherto marginalised works a share of the spotlight.
