SHARON HAYES, IN THE NEAR FUTURE

About

New York-based artist Sharon Hayes (b. 1970, USA) creates and documents situations that investigate the history and construction of pubic opinion, speech and gesture in relation to processes of individual and collective subject formation. Her performances and installations engage with the critical potential of art to question the way in which we take part, both as speakers and listeners, in current political discourse. For In the Near Future, Hayes stages anachronistic and speculative solo protests that investigate the figure of the protester and the act of speech of the protest slogan. In this series of performative actions, Hayes stands on the street holding signs, some of which are culled from past protests while others hold more elusive and speculative messages. The work questions how our knowledge of the past is mediated by images and in turn these produce meaning in excess of the original events and represent a future possibility for action. In London, Hayes will develop three new actions based on the city's specific history of dissent. As part of the work, Hayes invites the audience to both watch and participate through documenting the actions. These photographic documentations, which will be presented as a multiple slide installation at LUX 28, raise issues of circulation and production of meaning. In the Near Future is part of Perplexed in Public, a series of off-site works and performances organized by Lisson Gallery and taking place across central London during the months of June and July 2008.