Constance DeJong: On a Continuous Present

About

Chelsea Space is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in the UK of the American artist, writer and performer, Constance DeJong. Comprising material from DeJong's expansive career, this exhibition highlights DeJong's iterative approach to art making - where language, text and image making combine - to further complicate our understanding of where an art work begins and ends.

Taking its title from Gertrude Stein’s assertion that writing and reading language is a simultaneous experience or ‘continuous present’, where seeing and saying are inseparable, the exhibition will explore DeJong’s innovative and complex explorations into the intersections of the formal avant-garde through experimental prose writing, multi-media spoken text and media works, and user-navigated digital projects.

First visiting London in 1976 to perform Modern Love, a spoken-word performance derived from her experimental novel of the same name, DeJong’s experiments with writing include self-publishing; founding the imprint Standard Editions in 1976 to publish her own work alongside the surrealist Dorothea Tanning. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication featuring material relating to this visit alongside other archival elements and an interview between DeJong and curator Lara Pan, in addition to a one-night only performance at the experimental venue IKLECTIK on Tuesday 10 October.

Constance DeJong: On a Continuous Present was made possible with Art Fund support and co-curated by Karen Di Franco and Lara Pan. With thanks to the artist, Tony Oursler and Bureau, New York.