The Model was delighted to welcome artist Phil Collins to the gallery at the successful opening night of his exhibition on Saturday Oct. 12. The exhibition showcases three room installations which have never before been shown in Ireland. free fotolab, 2009, dunia tak akan mendengar, 2007, and the meaning of style, 2011. The night kicked off in the black box with Collins and Dr Declan Long in conversation about his work. This was followed by a wine reception and a chance for the public to catch a first glimpse of the exhibition which was received with much admiration.
Originally from Runcorn, England Collins now resides in Germany teaching at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. After studying Drama and English in Manchester he moved on to study an MA in Fine Arts at the College of Art and Design in Belfast. After completing his MA, he was picked as one of the New Contemporaries in 2001 and in the same year won the Absolute Prize. In 2001 he won a Paul Hamlyn Award for visual arts. His project ‘Shady Lane Productions’ was nominated for a Turner prize in 2006.
In his films, photographs and live events, he investigates the relationship between the camera and its subjects, and the affective potential of various recording media in their everyday context.
In order to create free fotolab, Collins invited inhabitants of various European cities to submit their undeveloped rolls of 35mm film. He processed and printed films free of charge, and in return the amateur photographers relinquished the rights to their images. The selected images are by turns coherent and surprising, poignantly reminding us of the experiences and visual cues that are shared by people around the world.
In Dunia tak akan mendengar, Collins collaborates with fans of The Smiths across three continents to create a karaoke video version of the 1987 eponymous compilation album. The artist initially re-recorded the entire album, song by song, with musicians in Bogotá (Colombia) and created a karaoke machine that was toured to subsequent far-flung locations, including Istanbul (Turkey), Jakarta and Bandung in Indonesia, where this particular installment was filmed.
the meaning of style, is a short 16 mm film transferred to video, produced with a group of young anti-fascist skinheads in Penang in Malaysia. Here Collins looks at the local adoption of skinhead subculture, originally a black and white working class movement, in the form of a cinematic reverie set to an original soundtrack by Welsh musician Gruff Rhys and North Wales surf band Y Niwl. Incorporating a rich collage of symbols and architecture from East and West, the film provides a delicate frame for reflection on the relationship between British colonial history, complex racial politics, and contemporary cultural styles in this region of the world.
The Phil Collins exhibition runs until January 2014.
