‘The Immense Ventriloquism’ – TC McCormack’s exhibition opens in Berlin – Friday 01 December

Image courtesy of TC McCormack

TC McCormack, Senior Lecturer of Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University, will be opening an exhibition titled The Immense Ventriloquism this Friday in Berlin. Taking place at nationalmuseum, the exhibition considers how our man-made structures exist both in and out of time, and how the course of history continually reappraises objects, resources and even nature.

The Immense VentriloquismTC McCormack
nationalmuseum, 10967 Berlin
Exhibition opens with private viewing 7PM on Friday 01 December, closing Sunday 31 December 2017

“if I could, I would be ungraspable, I’d rather be a broken hammer, than a nail, I surely would, If I could” [1]

The Immense Ventriloquism has a particular rhythmic structure, simultaneously achieved through the cadence of the films visual phrasing and via the recalcitrant curation of a series of patterned motifs, that in turn act upon the work and in the space. The title was inspired by the poem Not Ideas About the Thing but the Thing Itself, The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, Alfred A Knopf, New York 1954.

In this exhibition, TC McCormack considers how our man-made structures exist in and out of time, and how the course of history continually reappraises objects, resources and even nature.

Image courtesy of TC McCormack

A diptych of films sets up a dialogue in nationalmuseum, a type of spatial and tonal conversation that pervades the other works. Their sequential construction allows different scenes to move between and across the two films. Each scene appears as a material configuration: from a divergent fragmentation, as an unfolding act of dislocation, to a rupture that triggers a reclassification of place.

An arrangement of sculptures is situated on a low platform; this curated assemblage is animated by a new sequence of projected patterns. All participating artists have consented to their work being placed in close proximity. In modifying a technology [2] designed to displace the viewer’s ability to view, the patterns dissolve and dissemble, when placed in contact with form and surface. This form of curation sets the conditions to reexamine sculpture in a different light.

Assemblage platform features work by: Matthew Burbidge, Sonja Burbidge, Ingo Gerken, Marie von Heyl, Wolf von Kries, Lea Torp Nielsen, Michael Schultze and Oliver Zwink.

[1] A line taken from the film diptych.
[2] Commercial designs made for negating digital camera’s auto focus and sonar technology.

TC McCormack is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University and researcher at the Art & Design Research Centre. Follow @tcolmccormack and find out more about his work here.