Gerard Byrne, State of Neutral Pleasure

Interesting exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery of work by Gerard Byrne, which explored how we can understand the present by looking at the past.

I must admit I found the video works to begin with a bit long. Called me old fashioned but if I’m to watch an hour long film I want a comfy chair not to stand in a gallery however I loved the collection of photos based on the opening line of “Waiting for Godot” and showing trees in places in Ireland and France which were important to Samuel Beckett. These were playing with the idea of whether the space of the play is real ir imagined.

I also like the photos of newsstands showing the passing of time by the changing dates on the magazines and the reenacting of magazine interviews from the 1970’s.

I am interested in how the past and present connect and this has left me ideas to thin about rather than having an immediate effect.

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