Humpty Dumpty
a transient history of Mardin earthworks
low rise
Fruitmarket’s words:
British artist Mike Nelson is known for immersive, absorbing installations that transform the spaces they inhabit. Nelson uses Fruitmarket’s Warehouse as the machine room, or driving force, for a major new installation that extends across all three spaces of the gallery. Built around two sets of photographs taken in London and a city in Eastern Turkey between 2010 and 2014, the work captures cities in flux, guided by their politics and leaders of the time.
The work seeks to make sense of both sites and their inter-relatedness through constructed environments, sculpture and photography. Turning the Warehouse into his studio since the start of May, Nelson transforms the space into both a site of production and part of the setting for his work.
Benoît’s words on the exhibition and intermediality:
Mike Nelson’s current show is a great example of a practice that sits between art forms: the exhibition goes back and forth between photography and sculpture/installation. The works also refer literary and cinematic references which Nelson often cites when discussing his own work, preferring references to Science-Fiction novels over art-historical concepts.
About Benoît:
Benoît is a final-year PhD student in LLC. His thesis explores the role of music in the thought of French poet, translator, and critic Yves Bonnefoy (1923-2016). More broadly, he is interested in contemporary poets’ writings on visual arts and in the relationships between art forms in these texts. For the past three years, Benoît has been working at Fruitmarket gallery, discussing contemporary art exhibitions with visitors of the gallery.
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