Unreliable Witness

Group Exhibition

'Outlaw Cowgirl (Brown)', 2005 Susan Hiller

Unreliable Witness is a group exhibition exploring how artists deal with ideas of authorship, originality and the creation of histories. Featuring work by Andrea Fraser, Peter Friedl, Michael Fullerton, Susan Hiller, Nedko Solakov and Gabriela Vanga; it looks at how artists explore the gaps between truth and fiction, and the art of telling stories.

The exhibition is supported by a series of accompanying talks to further explore the ideas raised, details of which will be available on www.tramway.org by October.

Andrea Fraser (USA 1965) works across genres including performance, installation and writing to critique the politics and economics of the art world. In seminal works such as Museum Highlights (1989) she analyses the power plays involved in the creation of histories and exchange of information within a museum context.

Peter Friedl’s work (Austria, 1960) explores the relationships between politics, histories and aesthetics. Often using the actual display of his work within a gallery or museum context to critique the idea of representation itself, he aims to highlight what is not seen as well as what is.

In his paintings Michael Fullerton (Scotland, 1971) explores the mediated nature of the information we receive and the role of the artist in the gathering and dissemination of information. He often explores in both subject and the media, modes of communication and the unreliability of interpretation.

London based Susan Hiller’s (USA 1942) background as an anthropologist led to a career exploring similar concerns through artistic means. In a variety of media, including performance, installation and photography, she aims to bear witness to what she describes as ”...things that are there but no-one sees…’.

Nedko Solakov’s (Bulgaria, 1957) installations employ wit and irony to question or undermine accepted hierarchies and supposed authentic values both within the art world and everyday life. Born in Cherven Briag, Bulgaria, he graduated in mural painting from the Art Academy in Sofia in 1981 and is still based there.

Gabriela Vanga’s (Romania, 1977) practice often involves the actual as well as the intellectual participation of the viewer. In varied media Vangas work encourages the viewer to abandon his or her received and unquestioned notions of what is made-up and to begin to rethink the roles played in our lives by imagination, memory, and dreams, coupled with fiction, cinema and the media.

History on Film: Unreliable Witness Film Programme
curated by Maxa Zoller
Thu 6 Nov, 7 – 8.30pm
Tramway 5

Since the early 20th century, film has been playing a crucial role in constructing a visual memory of things past. History has been inscribed into the celluloid strip of newsreel footage, documentary films and even classical Hollywood features.

This screening, compiled by London based curator Maxa Zoller to accompany Unreliable Witness, will present a selection of key works by filmmakers who dig deep into the archive of our cinematic memory, who use the poetics of film to narrate alternative histories, and activists who seek to change the course of history through their direct interventionist practice. The film/video works are Otolith I, The Otolith Group, 2006; Amer & Nasser, Iraqi Brothers Al Fadhil, 2001-04; Cine-tracts 1-16, Chris Marker and Jean-Luc Godard, 1968; Dans le Noir du Temps, Jean-Luc Godard, 2002.

'Outlaw Cowgirl (Brown)', 2005 Susan Hiller

Fri 31 Oct 2008 - Sun 7 Dec 2008

Tue - Fri 10am - 5pm
Sat and Sun 12 noon - 5pm
Closed Mondays

Tramway 2

Free