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Kompromat shoe, Optic white goat leather with gloss Italian box calf, gunpowder fuse trim and printed components Laboratory 12, Benjamin John Hall 2016
Exhibition
Laboratory 12
22 Apr 2016 – 16 Jul 2016
Event times
mon-fri 10am-6pm
sat 10am-4pm
sun closed
Cost of entry
FREE
Address
- 20 John Princes Street
- London
- W1G 0BJ
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- 3, 12, 88, 94, 159, C2, N3
- Oxford Circus
- Marylebone
Benjamin John Hall, Fashion Space Gallery’s first design resident, took inspiration from current geopolitical issues and espionage. His starting point and continued focus of interest is the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko.
About
Benjamin John Hall, Fashion Space Gallery’s first design resident, took inspiration from current geopolitical issues and espionage. His starting point and continued focus of interest is the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko. The title of this exhibition, Laboratory 12, one name for the KGB’s secret poison laboratory tasked with developing colourless, tasteless, odourless poisons. One such poison, Polonium - was identified as Litvinenko’s cause of death.
Through a collection of highly engineered footwear, Hall explores the extent to which governments potentially could or already are securing their best interests in a current global political and economic environment that is marked by uncertainty. Each of the eight pairs of shoes on display in this exhibition highlights a specific notion or concept unearthed through his extensive research into documented tactics used by various security agencies worldwide. These range from subtle psychological warfare to concealed recording devices.
By interrogating the possibilities or – in some cases – the realities of how far governments are prepared to go to maintain the balance of powers by bending international law and manipulating the media to hide this from the public eye, Hall draws attention to the precariousness of contemporary world politics.
