Visual Art

Th fourth

wall: te

THE SELF IS MERCILESSLY SHATI'ERED

Alexander Kennedy is shaken back to reality faced with an exhibition of new installed films by Catherine Sullivan.

e are witnessing a return to the hermetic.

the abstract and the dissonant in art. This is

because the falsely unified. centered subject the awful misconceiyed and misunderstood soy‘et'cign child of the linlightenment » has not been dethroned or fragmented as our deconstructiye predecessors hoped. Liberating difference did not materialise -- it seems it can only exist as a postulate.

(‘atherine Sullivan‘s exhibition of installed films t'lce liloes of l‘ran/ Joseph Land and "l‘he Resurrection of l'plifting’) at the (‘(‘:\ is in line \yith this reassessment of our sorry reality. Her filtn ‘lce liloes . . .‘ ('ulture theatre in Moscmy' of 2002 by ('hechen rebels as its primary influence. It would be wrong to label this eycnt the yyork‘s ‘subject matter‘ as it would redttce both the political enormity and horror of the eyent. and the power of the Work itself. The psychic and political stand-off between the audience and the actors. the rebels and the hostages. the yieyy'ers and the art object fortns a spiralling unsteady core to the piece that should not be reduced to an originary ey‘ent. primary cause or explanation. This is not. therefore. simply a piece of Brechtian theatre. the fantasy of a purely political ayant-gardist art that hopes to force the people to rise up. This work becomes laughable tragedy. somberly marking the many failed attempts of artistic practices that hoped to achieye such an outcome.

Here we all are on the screen. social actors as subjects wondering what our motiyation is. In ‘lce liloes . . .‘ actions are ruthlessly chopped tip into repeatable units. made a mockery of and etnptied out through endless repetition. Signs act the body in Sulliy‘an‘s \york: subjects are stuck in existential traps

80 THE LIST -'- it"

takes the occupation of the House of

that clamp around their limbs forcing robotic spasmodic moyements. (‘haracters shout. tnoan. cry. eat. smile and grimace in a theatre and what appears to be its surrounding locale. Madcap cappers interyyeay'e \y ith hysterical histrionics \y ith the play ers acting out scenes that they haye rehearsed to ’death and back to lift“ again. On one of the ~ screens a character barks: ‘I am a prisoner of the .-\rctic Sea'. as the chorus holler hack mockingly: ‘You are the /)(’l'l'(’l'l of the :\rctic Sea'. mm the relentless scene then going right back to the beginning. lilseyy‘here. figures line tip. rocking back and forward and from side to side. mirrorng the y'ieyyers who stand in the firing line before them.

The \‘ieyying subject is bombarded by signs that refuse to giye its any purchase: there is no easy. traceable narratiye that alloyys the yicyyer to dominate the scene and let her/him forget the mess of life. We cannot melt into the luxury of following an inaner unfolding plot: the glorious sensation of forgetting oneself through oyer-identification is thyyarted. The self is mercilessly shattered into agitated psychic fragments in front of the clamour of a cacoj‘ihonic art. Subjectiyity has re—solidilied in the boyyels of the ego. toughened under the enormous critical pressure. as anti-philosophy'. anti-theory and an ayersion to ‘diflicult’ politics takes hold. 'l'hese ignorant negatiye poses are taken for liberating indiyidualism. But the subject is only another illttsory object amongst the Test. the effects of the tltllillllttlll ideology demonstrating the commodilication of the subject as a shiftable unit.

Catherine Sullivan, CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Jan 2007 0000

Hit

THE BEST EXHIBITIONS

* Catherine Sullivan

This installation of new films by the LA-based artist takes the Brechtian theatrical device of alienating the audience to new heights and depths, with action, narrative and dialogue put through a deconstructive mincer. See review. opposite. CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 27 Jan

* David Shrigley

Quirky, dark little sketches and sculptures by the Glasgow- based artist fill DCA with a wry look at humanity. Serious topics are treated flippantly and vice versa; a smorgasbord of cut-and- shunted pathetic figures and objects limp and gesticulate at themselves and the rest of the world. See review, page 81. DCA, Dundee, until Sun 27 Jan.

* Friedrich

An exhibition by a group of artists using Casper David Friedrich’s darkly Romantic landscapes as subject matter. Artists include Marcus Amm. Helene Appel, Eva Berendes. Ellen Gronemeyer Alex Heim, Karin Ruggaber and Nicole Wermers. See review, page 81. Doggen‘isner, Edinurgn, until Sat 3 Feb.

* The Metal Bridge

This exhibition brings together tour artists working across a range of disciplines Steven Claydon. Craig Mulholland, Thomas Helbig and Duncan Marquiss. The show is divided into two parts, with the ‘bridging' of materials being both a literal and a metaphorical vehicle used for the exploration of ideas. Sorcha Dal/as, Glasgow, until Sat 20 Jan.

* Christine Borland Borland's installations re- examine the narratives behind various scientific advances and phenomena, adding new stories to the objects she has freed from a reductive positivist past. Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, until Sun 28 Jan.