Cornelia Parker at Ikon Gallery | BBC Collective
In case you’d forgotten we are in a constant state of flux, and Cornelia Parker’s current show, Never Endings at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery, is about to remind us of this. Taking over two gallery floors and spanning 10 years, her abstract visions of the tempestuous characteristics of nature and the shadow left by people are pushed to their limit in her sculptures, installations, photographs and, most recently, films.
Science, politics and religion are all big subjects explored by artists throughout history, but it’s the manipulation, deconstruction and re-reading of these that’s at the core of Parker’s practice. Found and created objects are conditioned into a state of metamorphosis. In works such as Heart Of Darkness, Stolen Thunder and Bullet Drawings, we never witness the act of transformation, only the ensuing state - damaged, removed and/or remoulded - hinting at a previous existence. The histories of these collective works are restructured, suddenly turning wood, dirt and metal into artefacts fit for a gallery, to be reconsidered and thus re-categorized.
Yet it’s not just the “matter” of objects but also their symbolic status as monuments and icons which captures Parker’s fancy. Blue Shift is the nightgown worn by Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, hanging like a ghostly apparition behind opaque glass. Shrouded in disbelief, you wonder if it actually exists, or if it is even the real nightgown as it’s hard to fathom you’re in the presence of such an object of cult importance.
Recently, Parker has begun working in real time capturing these phenomenal occurrences on film. We have the rare joy of watching philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky talk about decoding mythology and the environmental crisis in which we presently find ourselves. Yet, in true Parker style, we never know the questions that trigger his reactions. Just as in Killing Time, where a four-way split-screen relays tourists gathering at the same point to watch an incident we never see, turning the tourists into the spectacle.
Truth and the repetition of history resonate through the galleries; life, death and resurrection are amalgamated in all of Parker’s works. Our perceptions are challenged as she exploits the potential of various media. Momentary events are captured while the imminent air of destruction loiters just outside the gallery entrance.
Yet it’s not just the “matter” of objects but also their symbolic status as monuments and icons which captures Parker’s fancy. Blue Shift is the nightgown worn by Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, hanging like a ghostly apparition behind opaque glass. Shrouded in disbelief, you wonder if it actually exists, or if it is even the real nightgown as it’s hard to fathom you’re in the presence of such an object of cult importance.
Recently, Parker has begun working in real time capturing these phenomenal occurrences on film. We have the rare joy of watching philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky talk about decoding mythology and the environmental crisis in which we presently find ourselves. Yet, in true Parker style, we never know the questions that trigger his reactions. Just as in Killing Time, where a four-way split-screen relays tourists gathering at the same point to watch an incident we never see, turning the tourists into the spectacle.
Truth and the repetition of history resonate through the galleries; life, death and resurrection are amalgamated in all of Parker’s works. Our perceptions are challenged as she exploits the potential of various media. Momentary events are captured while the imminent air of destruction loiters just outside the gallery entrance.
Cornelia Parker – Never Endings is at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham until 18 November 2007.
REVIEWED FOR BBC COLLECTIVE PUBLISHED 4 OCTOBER 2007
