IN MY SHOES

Space

Longside Gallery has a very organic location and interior space. It is surrounded by green grass and sometimes we can see the flock of sheep. There is only a major square-shaped space as the exhibition hall, where all works are placed. Some works are placed directly on the ground, which makes the exhibition more organic. ‘In My Shoes’ divides this hall from the centre into four areas. This structure enables audience to enjoy each area either clockwise or counterclockwise. In addition, the success of such a space division is that the audience can linearly experience  different topics of different regions, which is quite similar to the way people memorize and experience things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Display & Theme

The exhibition is divided into four different parts, which is Past and Present, The Artist's World, Physical Evidence and The Self as Other. Each part showcases various perspectives of self by different artists in different ways, such as Helen Chadwick, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas... These art works are well-organised by curators in the huge space of Longside Gallery, and built up a unique connection with each audience.

 

In Self as Other, Scrapheap Services (1995), Michael Landy, Self-Portrait ‘Black Men Public Enemy’ (1990), Donald Rodney, Untitled (1998), Jananne Al-Ani, Becoming (M)other (2004), Stewart Home, Lamentations in the Garden (2000), Veronica Ryan... can be seen in this part, the artists have assumed other roles to explore a wide range of issues including identity, family, class or community. Some have used performance and acting skills; others have transformed their appearance using clothing, make-up and digital manipulation.  Past & Present focuses on the function of self-portraits which can act as historical documents, capturing artists at particular moments in time. The conventions of the memorial, the diary or the biography have informed the work of a number of artists. Audiences can see The Simple Truth (1993), Tracey Emin, Both before and after, I had to write your obituary (2008), Ryan Gander and Bedwyr Williams, Senza Titolo (2012), Jonathan Monk... In The Artist’s World, the works of Richard Billingham, Gillian Wearing, Jesse Wine and Bedwyr Williams are showed. They have made direct reference to their daily lives, routines and surroundings in their work and the aim is to convey a sense of authenticity, or to reflect upon intimate moments and interactions. The last part, Physical Evidence, includes Self Portrait (1991), Helen Chadwick, I need an axe to break the ice (1992), Marc Quinn, Dee’s Tree and Kiss (2005), Lindsay Seers, Fork Face (2017), Emma Hart... all of these works are looking to the physicality of the human body to investigate consciousness, mortality and transformation. These four ways of self-awareness act as mirrors to encourage audiences looking for methodologies of knowing themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                    Interior Map

Ways of Accessing the Artists

Self is amplified by the artists, it is no longer individual, but exposed in thousands of relationships in the human society. Digital Media plays an important role in our daily life today, we are centralized by information which offered by the electric equipment like phones and laptops, staring at the screen as a child who is hearing fairy tales. However these 2D screens is weakening the physical experiences while enhancing the logical receiving, so their is a sense of destiny of artists to push the boundaries with new technologies or sculptural approaches. Bedwyr Williams was shortlisted for the Beck’s Futures prize in 2006 with an interactive installation, Walk a Mile in My Shoes, where visitors were invited to clomp about the ICA gallery in a pair of the artist’s size 13 shoes. These shoes serves as a medium for connecting himself to the audience. This size is not suitable for the majority of the public, therefore, people may experience a sense of unconventionality. This inappropriate sense is exactly the gap between the artist and the public, and only when the audience feel the difference, can they feel being connected with the artist. However, in the exhibition In My Shoes, due to some reasons, the audiences are not allowed to wear these shoes on. Although missing this profound opportunity to interact with its audience, the Saachi gallery which I believe who has the ownership keep the touchability of hands.

 

Feed Me (2015), Rachel Maclean, is put alone in the Viewing Room with a big screen and a projector. There are four bean bag beds on the ground so that audience can watch the whole video and relax their tired feet caused by long-distant walk from YSP center to Longside Gallery. Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool also use the same method to rich the experiences of the visitors, some bean bag beds are put in the exhibition of Renaissance Art. When lying on them, there is a huge well-designed ancient carpet hanging on the wall in front of the audiences’ face. Then a complex feeling will be generated when the scene linked with the satisfaction, by now I will call it generally a sense of being a part of history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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                                                                                                                                'Home-Like' Viewing Room

Activity Space

The Activity Space includes several activities, some spherical mirrors can be found on the wall and there are some words around them which are used to encourage the visitors to think about the theme, Selfie. Audiences can sit on the chair in front of these mirrors and chose some costumes like clown’s fake hair and nose in the box. Making activities also offered in this space, the outcomes will be hanging on the wall after finishing. In the perspective of enhancing audiences’ experience, I think these activities are not strong enough to evoking their memories or trigger feelings. Self-awareness should be built on memories, it is a crash of past and present. So I suggest some words could be designed on a booklet to trigger the memories of each individual, they may think backwards to find the past shadow of themselves and linked it with now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Lavi

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