Caught in The Act:
Richard Butler, Ian Giles, Karl-Oskar Olsson, Joseph Popper

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Samuel Beckett

In Caught in the Act, implausible contraptions, eccentric gizmos and sinking boats, pranks and practical joking prevail. There is a kind of contemporary Heath Robinson quality that sits at the heart of much of the work presented in this group exhibition by recent graduates of Chelsea College of Art and Design.

Working within performance, video and photography the four young artists allow themselves to share a spirit of play, they recognize absurdity and silliness as hopeful and emotionally resonant possibilities. These artists also share a fascination with documentation and an idea that perhaps the artwork is not only in a performance itself, but in its traces and representations. The artists in Caught in the Act make use of playful methods and associations, but at the same time they explore the power tensions between personal and institutional relationships. They create spaces of cynicism and humour, and occupy a zone between sincerity and absurdity.

The title of the exhibition confirms an understanding and acknowledgement of the relationship to documentation and online antics. Sounding not dissimilar to You’ve Been Framed - the popular television programme of montaged recorded blunders. Not only do these artists share the habitual, lo-fi quality of the 'reality outakes' genre but they also embrace, at times, a deliberate lack of formal consideration for the media by which they document their performances: photography and video. However, the performances in this exhibition are no accident. They are carefully constructed and realised.

CHELSEA FUTURESPACE

Hepworth Court, Grosvenor Waterside
Gatliff Road London SW1W 8QP

Open seven days a week 11.00am - 6.00pm

Telephone 020 7514 6000 ext 3710

Director of Exhibitions: Donald Smith