spacesof[aesthetic]experimentation

Even tstructu re and other works, Lisson Gallery, London

While I was preparing the paper I presented at Aarhus, my research touched upon the work of John Latham (1921-2006), as he is a great inspiration for the work done by the Office of Experiments.

Latham had a visionary outlook that questioned scientific thought. An important contributor to the Destruction in Art Symposium, 1966, and a founder member of the Artist Placement Group, 1966-89, he created performances, paintings, assemblages, sculptures and films. This apparently eclectic practice was united by his concept of Event Structures and Flat Time Theory. Through his experimental and radical work he linked science and art, proving influential in both fields.¹

By some strange chance - coincidence? – it transpired that there was not one but four exhibitions of Latham’s work in London at the time I was writing about him! I took the chance to go to London the weekend before travelling to Denmark and visited both the Lisson Gallery and Whitechapel Gallery. I was unable to explore the collected works at Karsten Schubert as they were shut at the week-end, and Flat Time Ho, Latham’s former house, was too far away for me to manage it. As I was searching for the details (see below), I also found that there had been an exhibition of some of Latham’s art in New York, curated by the same person who had co-curated the archive at Whitechapel.

The Lisson Gallery, not far from Edgware Road underground station, was incredibly quiet; somewhat surprising given that it was the last day of the exhibition. One of Latham’s pieces which had particularly interested me, ‘even tstructu re’ (1966-67), was on display. A large collage, it has the words MAKE EVENT and SPECTATOR EVENT, which are linked by string according to different sets of conditions, illustrating the entanglement of artist, artwork and viewer. I asked the Gallery if I would be able to document the exhibition and they were happy for me to do so, as long as it was for my research. I assured them that if anything were to come of my trip and my materials, I would be sure to acknowledge them. So, my sincere thanks to the Lisson Gallery for enabling me to make a collage of some of Latham’s works. They also offered to provide copies of any publications that I might need, which was very generous.

The ‘Anarchive’ at Whitechapel Gallery was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, and was limited to one of the smaller galleries (#4). There were only a few of Latham’s works on display but interestingly, there were many of his publications, in particular exhibition catalogues, out on the tables of the adjacent room. This turned out to be the main archive room. I asked if I was able to take photos of these documents but was unfortunately unable to. Instead, I sat down and read through them, jotting down the publication details.

Here are the details for the exhibitions but please note that only Anarchive is still on:

Whitechapel Gallery | Anarchive | 02.04 – 05.09 | Tue – Sun, 11:00-18:00 | Aldgate East

Lisson Gallery | The Lisson Gallery Does Not Exist for 100 Years | 05.05 – 05.06 | Mon – Fri, 10:00-18:00; Sun, 11:00-17:00 | Edgware Road

Karsten Schubert / Richard Saltoun | Works 1958(61?) – 1995 | 05.05 – 11.06 | Mon – Fri, 10:00-18:00 | Piccadillly Circus

Flat Time Ho | The Story of the RIO | 06.05 – 06.06 | Thu – Sun, 12:00-18:00 | Peckham Rye Rail

apexart | The Incidental Person | 06.01 – 20.02 | Tue – Sat, 11:00-18:00 | New York (!)

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This post is tagged archive, event, event-structure, latham, OoE