Beck’s Future, ICA, London, 4 April – 18 May 2003
[Published in A-N Magazine in June 2003]
The winds of social activism have blown over this year’s nominees for the Beck’s Futures. Adopting an idiosyncratic attitude, the artists have taken a historical perspective to bypass the art of their immediate predecessors. Humorous references such as Bernd Behr’s 'Theatre du Vide' in which the artist repeatedly attempts to climb the gate pole from where Yves Klein plunged into the void, or serious parodies, such as 'I am revolutionary' by Carey Young, overtly challenge the moral, social and economic conventions of our era and reflect on today’s political climate.
Inventory’s film of the Newark American Lifestyle Festival shows a group of British nationals who embracing the ‘American Way of Life’. The title 'Sleepwalkers' suggests the participants’ blindness. The voice-over is fierce but intelligent: ‘The special relationship between Britain and the US has always been a British idea A false commonality that Thatcher identified with by adopting America’s brutal brand of free market capitalism over the left-leaning social concerns of mainland Europe'. Capitalism is at stake in 'Coagulum', which testifies to their action in the real realm; they descend to the street using their own bodies to form a rugby scrum, clotting the flow of shoppers.
For 'An advancement into retreat', also set in a shopping street, David Sherry shows up badly disguised as a woman in a flowery dress. In this blatantly provocative outfit, the artist actively confronts passers-by staring at them with a smile, receiving insults in return. By siting his performance in the public arena, Sherry crosses the implicit line of what is commonly accepted and by doing so, reveals our strict code of social behaviour and read more