Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
London Gallery West, Harrow
26 October – 6 January
Reviewed by: Hannah Wise
With all my passion for modern art, I can’t help but have a niggling feeling that whenever the relatively contemporary medium of video art gets involved, things can go wrong. Previously interesting ideas can be perverted into theological, egocentric ramblings or morally demanding portraits that drive visitors away from galleries in flocks. This is why my heart can sink at the prospect of viewing exhibitions that are centred on the medium of film. Thank goodness then for London Gallery West’s small but perfectly formed gallery and its latest artistic showcase.
‘The Journey/Moscow to Beijing’ shows the contrasting experiences two artists glean from travelling on the long, somewhat arduous Trans-Siberian train. The first artist, Elly Clarke, produces an intimate portrayal of her journey as she interacts with her fellow passengers. Along with unedited video interviews Clarke hands out disposable cameras so the travellers can document their own journey. The results of both are displayed next to one another creating an interesting effect. On the one hand the videos display the unfamiliar as the heavy, subtitled accents of the travellers are contrasted with Clarke’s pristine British accent. Yet when we look at the shiny 6x4” photographs we see ourselves echoed in the typical holiday poses, the likes of which are shot all across the globe. In this way Clarke manages to make the viewer feel lost in a different culture whilst being peppered with the familiar, thus creating questions about culture, intimacy and familiarity.
In contrast Joram Ten Brink’s video seems to be set out to confuse and disorientate the viewer through use of sound, camera angles and competing visuals. The focus in Brink’s video, if there is one, is himself. The people he sees play roles as extras, the exotic but voiceless characters in the background, working round him as he contorts himself into strange shapes in the tiny train cabins. Where Clarke gave her subjects voices, personalities, occupations, Brink deliberately gives nothing. He seems to want the viewer to question meaning in the film as he mixes sinister soundtracks over gentile domestic scenes. In this way the viewer begins to scrutinise innocent civilians buying vegetables from a market just because the ominous music compels them to.
By itself Brink’s video is in danger of being portrayed as heavy handed, egocentrism. Yet next to Clarke’s it works in a different sphere, becoming almost an aesthetic sweet pudding after the morally and culturally heavy first course. The danger of one video being too surreal and the other too morally heavy-handed is cancelled out by the exhibition as a whole. These two pieces compliment each other perfectly, balancing each other’s extremes and leaving the viewer feeling content and complete as they leave.
Hannah Wise
Writer detail:
Hannah Wise
Venue detail:
University of Westminster
Harrow Campus, Watford Road, Harrow HA1 3TP
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