18/08

Laure Prouvost - Wantee (2013, 15')

Laure Prouvost created a dark muddy room at Grizedale Arts, which forms the setting for this video work. The room is conceived as the living room of Prouvost’s fictional grandfather. This invented relative is described as a conceptual artist and one of Kurt Schwitters’ close friends. Prouvost’s work draws upon the dual aspect of Schwitters' work – his celebrated 'Merz' works, as well as his conventional portraits and landscapes. The room also shares the features of a tea room, inspired by Schwitters' companion’s nickname 'Wantee', due to her habit of asking: "Want tea?". Prouvost combines language and images to construct invented storylines that seduce and disturb, whist exploring the slippage between fiction and reality.

YOU ARE 6 MINUTES LATEYOU ARE HERE YOU ARE THE NOWYOU ARE THE NEXT 12 MINSYOU ARE GOING TO DIT-LEARNYOU ARE THE NEXT 4 PARTSYOU ARE TO BECOMETHE SEAT YOU ARE | SAT ON

'Speak' (1962, 10') by John Latham

‘Speak’ is his second attack on Cinema. Not since Len Lye’s films in the thirties has England produced such a brilliant example of animated abstraction. 'Speak' burns its way directly into the brain. It is one of the few films about which it can truly be said, “it will live in your mind”. – Ray Durgnat