Press and Editorial
MARK WALLINGER – THRESHOLD TO THE KINGDOM
September 2023Annandale Galleries
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MARK WALLINGER
THRESHOLD TO THE KINGDOM
Video Installation
OPENING Wednesday 13 September 6.30 – 8.30 pm
EXHIBITION DATES 13 SEPTEMBER – 14 OCTOBER
Mark Wallinger’s stunning video work, Threshold to the Kingdom, was exhibited at the prestigious Whitechapel Gallery in London in an exhibition entitled Life is More Important Than Art (that’s why Art is Important). I was fortunate enough to see the exhibition whilst visiting London in early July. The exhibition, including video films, installation and painting by a number of artists, deals with themes of hope and loss in a post-Covid world. Exhibited in the last room before exiting the show, for me the work summed up the concerns and themes of the show and allowed me to leave with a richer understanding of how art intersects with us in our daily lives.
To make Threshold to the Kingdom Wallinger set up a camera, without permission and surreptitiously, opposite the customs hall at London City Airport. The video is shot from a fixed position presenting a frontal view of the airport’s international arrivals doorway for eleven minutes and ten seconds. Throughout the video’s duration the opaque electric doors open and close, revealing passengers and flight crewmembers as they move into the public arrivals lounge. The video exhibits images at about twice life size in slow motion and the moving soundtrack is from Miserere, a seventeenth-century rendition of the Bible’s fifty-first psalm by the Italian composer Gregorio Allegri.
There is a shared human experience in Threshold to the Kingdom, empathy for the audience on the part of the artist. He projects a camaraderie we feel for the people exiting the hall. The work takes us to the threshold of the cares and concerns of our day-to-day physical world, but also to the threshold of a spiritual world. There are religious overtones and this threshold could also be read as the gates of heaven. In a post-Covid world the video takes on a new impact. Our shared experience of the pandemic has made us question our priorities and viewing Wallinger’s work today, twenty-three years after it was made is more relevant than ever. It is with great pleasure that we are able to share this experience at Annandale Galleries marking Mark Wallinger’s Australian debut.
MARK WALLINGER came to International attention in 1995 when he was nominated for and won the prestigious Turner Prize in Britain. He represented Britain and showed Threshold to the Kingdom at the Venice Biennale in 2001. His work Ecce Homo was the first piece to occupy the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. Threshhold to the Kingdom is in the collections of The Tate Gallery, London and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Do not miss this opportunity to see a work by this Internationally acclaimed artist in his debut with the Australian public.
For further information, press, images or CV please contact Annandale Galleries.
MARK WALLINGER
THRESHOLD TO THE KINGDOM
Video Installation
OPENING Wednesday 13 September 6.30 – 8.30 pm
EXHIBITION DATES 13 SEPTEMBER – 14 OCTOBER
Mark Wallinger’s stunning video work, Threshold to the Kingdom, was exhibited at the prestigious Whitechapel Gallery in London in an exhibition entitled Life is More Important Than Art (that’s why Art is Important). I was fortunate enough to see the exhibition whilst visiting London in early July. The exhibition, including video films, installation and painting by a number of artists, deals with themes of hope and loss in a post-Covid world. Exhibited in the last room before exiting the show, for me the work summed up the concerns and themes of the show and allowed me to leave with a richer understanding of how art intersects with us in our daily lives.
To make Threshold to the Kingdom Wallinger set up a camera, without permission and surreptitiously, opposite the customs hall at London City Airport. The video is shot from a fixed position presenting a frontal view of the airport’s international arrivals doorway for eleven minutes and ten seconds. Throughout the video’s duration the opaque electric doors open and close, revealing passengers and flight crewmembers as they move into the public arrivals lounge. The video exhibits images at about twice life size in slow motion and the moving soundtrack is from Miserere, a seventeenth-century rendition of the Bible’s fifty-first psalm by the Italian composer Gregorio Allegri.
There is a shared human experience in Threshold to the Kingdom, empathy for the audience on the part of the artist. He projects a camaraderie we feel for the people exiting the hall. The work takes us to the threshold of the cares and concerns of our day-to-day physical world, but also to the threshold of a spiritual world. There are religious overtones and this threshold could also be read as the gates of heaven. In a post-Covid world the video takes on a new impact. Our shared experience of the pandemic has made us question our priorities and viewing Wallinger’s work today, twenty-three years after it was made is more relevant than ever. It is with great pleasure that we are able to share this experience at Annandale Galleries marking Mark Wallinger’s Australian debut.
MARK WALLINGER came to International attention in 1995 when he was nominated for and won the prestigious Turner Prize in Britain. He represented Britain and showed Threshold to the Kingdom at the Venice Biennale in 2001. His work Ecce Homo was the first piece to occupy the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. Threshhold to the Kingdom is in the collections of The Tate Gallery, London and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Do not miss this opportunity to see a work by this Internationally acclaimed artist in his debut with the Australian public.
For further information, press, images or CV please contact Annandale Galleries.