Doug Fishbone
Neither Here nor There
1 April – 6 May 2012
Neither Here nor There, an exhibition by Doug Fishbone, will open at the Highland Institute for Contemporary Art on Sunday 1 April, 2012, 2-5pm.
Neither Here nor There brings together two recent video works by the London based conceptual artist Doug Fishbone that extend his examination of consumer culture, mass media and the relativity of perception and understanding. Elmina and Untitled (Hypno Project) both question the way information is processed and presented in the contemporary visual landscape, and undermine the relationship between audience, meaning and context in different ways.
Elmina, a new feature-length melodrama which was shot in Ghana with a cast of major Ghanaian celebrities and scripted by leading local production team Revele Films, offers an unexpected hybrid of the contemporary art world and the West African popular film industry. What allows it to cross over is the presence of Fishbone, a white man from New York, in the lead of an otherwise completely African film – a part that would normally be played by a black West African actor. Released as both a limited edition art work for a Western art-world audience and an inexpensive DVD for mainstream African and African immigrant markets, Elmina upends conventional notions of value, authorship and celebrity, defying any single identity or reading.
In Untitled (Hypno Project), twelve protagonists are filmed as they watch a short video under the influence of hypnosis, each having been given specific suggestions instructing them to respond in certain ways at different visual and aural cues. Their reactions to what they watch unfold with a curious but humourous tension, raising a broad range of questions about manipulation, propaganda and behavioral conditioning in our media-saturated visual and political environment.
Fishbone's solo exhibitions include Tate Britain, London (2010-11), Rokeby, London (2010-11, and 2009), Gimpel Fils, London (2006) and 30,000 Bananas in Trafalgar Square (2004). Group exhibitions include Rude Britannia: British Comic Art, Tate Britain (2010), Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea (2008); Laughing in a Foreign Language, Hayward Gallery (2008), London; British Art Show 6, Newcastle, Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester (2006). He performs regularly at both international and UK venues, including appearances at London's ICA and Southbank Centre.
The exhibition runs from 1 April – 6 May, and is open on Sundays 2 - 5pm, or by appointment.
HICA, Dalcrombie, Loch Ruthven, Dores, Inverness-shire, IV2 6UA, UK
T: +44 (0)1808-521-306 info@h-i-c-a.org<mailto:info@h-i-c-a.org> www.h-i-c-a.org<http://www.h-i-c-a.org>
