Exhibition
Radical Ventriloquism: Acts of Speaking for and Through
13 Mar 2020 – 19 Apr 2020
Regular hours
- Monday
- Closed
- Tuesday
- Closed
- Wednesday
- Closed
- Thursday
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 12:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 12:00 – 18:00
Address
- 26 Chapel Market
- London
England - N1 9EZ
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Angel Station; Highbury & Islington
Guest curated by Lee Campbell, 'Radical Ventriloquism', is a group exhibition bringing together script, film and performance to alter perspectives through polyphonic coming-togethers. In turn, questioning the power and autonomy present in notions of speaking for and speaking through
About
Ventriloquism, in its most common usage, refers to a form of popular entertainment consisting of performers giving voice to inanimate objects through a careful interplay between what is heard and what is seen. With in-human beginnings - the court jester gaining power by speaking through his sceptre - ventriloquists today speak through their puppets as a way of ‘distancing’ themselves from criticism and ownership. But as Karen Harris reminds artist Lee Campbell ‘it is always about who is telling/performing the joke, as issues regarding power and cultural identity are never far below the surface.’
Building on the 2019 conference stream, co-organised by Christabel Harley and Lee Campbell, 'Radical Ventriloquism, Acts of Speaking for and Through' cuts Campbell’s experience as an Academic Support Lecturer, and subsequent research into the ethical tensions created when speaking for someone, out of the academic sphere and pastes this into an exhibitionary setting. Curated by Campbell, the artists brought together use script, film and performance to alter perspectives. Through polyphonic coming-togethers, the project explores alienating processes, deadpan reproductions and power dynamics. In doing so it creates new narratives and introduces new adjacencies that question the position of power and autonomy in the complex notions of ‘speaking for’ and ‘speaking through.’
A discursive programme of free public events will soon be announced.