The Serpentine Gallery presents a new exhibition conceived by Mark Leckey. In a multi-disciplinary practice that encompasses sculpture, sound, film and performance, Leckey explores the potential of the human imagination to appropriate and to animate a concept, an object or an environment. Drawing on his personal experiences as a London-based artist, who spent his formative years in the north of England, Leckey returns frequently to the themes of desire and transformation.
Leckey's fascination with the affective power of images is another recurring theme. Meticulously sourced and reconfigured archival footage is a predominant feature of some of his best-known works. Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) is a seminal exploration of the history of underground dance culture in the UK from the mid- 1970s to the early 1990s. Through the brands of clothing they wear, the way they dance and the drugs they take, the clubbers depicted seek meta-morphosis to a state beyond the mundanity of their daily existence.
In the recent performance piece GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction (2010), Leckey sought to communicate the inner life of a 'smart' fridge - one that keeps an electronic tally of its contents - and to render audible its 'voice'. In his bid to become one with the appliance, the artist inhaled refrigerator coolant and draped himself in a green cloak that, at a certain point in the performance, allowed him to morph into the green-screen backdrop against which the fridge was set. Advancing the notion that we can be in constant communication with every aspect of our environment, that everything feels alive, Leckey's universe is mediated on multiple levels.
For BigBoxStatueAction (2003-11), Leckey places one of his Sound Systems 'in conversation' with a modernist sculpture. In order to elicit a response from the sculpture, Leckey serenades it with a sound piece created from sampled music and archive material. If the community of clubbers depicted in Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore share a group mentality and the 'smart' fridge of GreenScreenRefrigeratorAction is an appliance with a mind of its own, in BigBoxStatueAction Leckey attempts to coax the sculpture to reveal its thoughts.
Mark Leckey, born 1964, was awarded the Turner Prize in 2008. His work has been widely exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, in 2008 and at Le Consortium, Dijon, in 2007. His performances have recently been presented in New York at the Museum of Modern Art, Abrons Arts Center; at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, both in 2009; and at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2008.
Talks
Mark Leckey in discussion with Matt Webb, Wednesday 8 June 2011
Events
Mark Leckey will present four live evening performances of BigBoxStatueAction, designed specifically to suit the unqiue acoustic qualities of the Serpentine Gallery.
Free
Booking essential
information@serpentinegallery.org
Press Coverage
Turner prize artist Mark Leckey reveals plans for new exhibition, The Independent, Wednesday 18 May 2011
Mark Leckey: The Transformative Power Of Hedonism, The Creators Project, Wednesday 18 May 2011
Mark Leckey at Serpentine Gallery, Spoonfed, Thursday 19 May 2011
Mark Leckey: See We Assemble, Serpentine Gallery, London, The Independent, Friday 20 May 2011
Art Talks, Mark Leckey, AnOther Magazine, Friday 20 May 2011
Mark Leckey's art creates noise without meaning, The Guardian, Monday 23 May 2011
Mark Leckey warns of and celebrates gadgetry, London Evening Standard, Friday 27 May 2011
Mark Leckey: 'The idea of things assembling themselves has always fascinated me' - video, The Guardian, Monday 30 May 2011
Mark Leckey's Top 5 Objects, Dazed Digital, Wednesday 1 June 2011
Mark Leckey's Fusion of Technology and Theatricality, Aesthetica, Tuesday 7 June 2011
Teachers' Notes
These notes are designed to support your visit to the Serpentine Gallery, including planning prior to your visit and suggestions for follow up discussion and activities.
Download Mark Leckey artist and exhibition information
Mark Leckey
Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London
(19 May - 26 June 2011)
© 2011 Mark Blower
Mark Leckey
Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London
(19 May - 26 June 2011)
© 2011 Mark Blower
![Fiorucci-head%20press%20page[1]-365.jpg](http://www.serpentinegallery.org/Fiorucci-head%2520press%2520page%5B1%5D-365.jpg)
Mark Leckey
Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore 1999 (still)
Video
Courtesy of the artist, Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York,
Galerie Daniel Bucholz, Cologne, and Cabinet Gallery, London
© 2011 Mark Leckey
Mark Leckey
GreenScreenRefrigerator 2010
Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York
© 2011 Mark Leckey
Photograph: Thomas Muller
Mark Leckey
The March of the Big White Barbarians 2006
Performed by Jack too Jack.
