MOMENTARY MOMENTUM: animated drawings
29 January - 30 March 2008
This exhibition pulsed from philosophical crabs struggling to accept their lot to George Bush and Condoleeza Rice rapping in the White House. The animations were in turn funny, dreamlike, political and often simply beautiful. An international survey, it drew on artists from France, South Africa, Japan and Iran.
In Part 1, William Kentridge drew and redrew a beach scene, with waves coming in and children playing. Closer viewing revealed a subtle oppression present in three unnerving men and the gradual explosion of a newspaper. Christine Rebet’s theatrical 3-screen installation in a wooden cabin conjured up cowboys, prairie girls, pistols and magic tricks in a saloon bar.
In Part 2, Takashi Ishida’s drawings unfurled and curled across the screen in mesmeric waves. David Shrigley’s black and white line drawings unravelled events when a man takes his horse to a launderette for a wash. Data from the met office was used by French collective Qubo Gas to create a digital drawing that was constantly updated according to the weather. The film loop included Michael Dudok de Wit’s touching portrait of a father and his small daughter saying goodbye at a riverbank, and Lisa Milroy and Paul Bush’s animation of a geisha’s beauty routine.
Momentary Momentum was co-curated by Ziba de Weck and Laurence Dreyfus and organised by Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, London.