Laura Buckley and Andy Spence’s two screen video installation, Shields, creates an uncanny feeling that
epotomises the character of Disappearing
Into One.
Mystery and deception are explored throughout the group show at
the Zabludowicz Collection; an exhibit that leaves you with
the eerie impression of being lost within a haunted house. The notion of black
magic is a recurring theme in almost every work you come across.
The antique building creates a place in
which artwork is to be found rather than displayed. Works within the space seem
as though they are artifacts, left behind in an abandoned building. You begin
in a large open upper gallery with a view to the hall below. Looking down over
the oval banister, you are teased with future pieces that appear to have been
left in a hurry. A shattered square lies below you on a raised platform and you
question the anonymity of the work that unfolds around it.
Hidden works enhance the mystery and deception of the display from
the beginning. In the upper gallery, subtly placed upon the high walls are four
lacquered installations. The varnished replications of the gallery windows at
first appear as shadows. Luuk Schröder’s, four reflections, evokes the sensation
of an unknown and uncertain history, and yet are easy to miss.
As you make your way through the labyrinth like exhibit, works
emerge in unlikely places. Lindsay Seers’ photographic pieces Optogram and Backlands are placed in an unnervingly narrow corridor. Within the
opposing window an aged, ghostly reflection is created. The doubling of images
creates a new depth and illusive identity within the work.
The maze like space concludes in the large oval room upon which
you viewed from above. The curation of
the exhibit evokes a sense of déjà vu as it transpires
that the show space ends where it began. You find yourself in a large room inhabited
with multiple artworks that test the space around them. Michael Dean’s Door series, consisting of two
concertina formed blocks of reinforced concrete, block several exits. Dean
challenges the space by denying entry and manipulates the viewer’s ability to
escape bringing an underlying sense of agoraphobia to the surface.
The multidisciplinary show is populated with a variety of pieces
inconspicuously placed without labels. The lack of classification allows the
audience to explore the space unaided. You are left to discover pieces such as
Erin Shirreff’s film Moon. Passersby
could easily miss the works concealment behind a discreet curtain in the lower
gallery.
An old book lies torn upon the floor, open at a page depicting a
spider. A pin
board is fixed to the wall, darkened marks
outline where previous artifacts have been removed. A bewitching cane is
twisted and propped up against the opposing wall. There is the sensation that
you are standing within a space where sorcery and magic was once performed,
which the occupant has attempted to conceal in a rushed departure.
Disappearing into One compels
the viewer to question their surroundings and the history of what lies before
them. The works throughout toy with the concept of the slight of hand and black
magic. After migrating though the buildings narrow corridors and twisted
staircases, you feel that you have been misdirected around the entire exhibit,
ending where you began. Akin to the proverbial Alice Through The Looking Glass,
you begin to feel “curiouser and curiouser”…
