Mike Nelson: Extinction Beckons
Mike Nelson: 逝去的召喚

Hayward Gallery

02 Feb – o7 May 2023

 

The Hayward Gallery is currently showcasing a survey exhibition of large-scale immersive installations and sculptural works by acclaimed British artist Mike Nelson, titled “Extinction Beckons.” This exhibition features psychologically charged installations that transport viewers into captivating fictional worlds with a resemblance to our own. Nelson, who has represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale and exhibited in various renowned galleries worldwide, aims to create immersive works that operate on multiple levels, including narrative, spatial aspect, and psychological effect on the senses.

 

‘This exhibition was a real challenge to make. Mike and his team spent four months in a warehouse in Kent before bringing all the thousands of pieces here and spending a month with 30 people working six days a week, seven days at the end to get this done. But without taking that extra step, you can never have this kind of experience.

The show starts with a display of storage that belongs to Mike’s installation for the 2011 Venice Biennale when he represented Britain. The exhibition ends with an enormous, sprawling, three-dimensional grid of rebar with concrete heads floating in it, which is a recreation of Mike’s former studios. The exhibition is about how an artist makes work, and Mike never tells us what things mean, but he creates these incredibly dense, rich situations where we can find many different kinds of meaning.

Throughout the show, you will see works that hint at disaster, violence, and disorientation. While some may find them slightly uneasy, I find them completely thrilling as they transport me into a fictional universe that mirrors our own.

Nelson creates very vivid, dense, atmospheric, richly detailed scenarios that allow our imaginations to wander. He’s not telling us what things mean or what narratives to create. Instead, we are free to piece together the clues and spin our own potential narratives.’ Ralph Rugoff, Director of Hayward Gallery, said.

 

 

At the ground floor space, visitors are greeted with Mike Nelson’s recreated artwork “The Deliverance and the Patience” (2001). This larybinthe-like work is comprised of a complex web of rooms and corridors, each with a unique interior, such as a gambling den, captain’s bar, and travel agent’s office. Moving through these spaces in quick succession creates a disorienting experience, more akin to the shifts in space and time found in literature, film, and dreams, rather than traditional architectural movement.

Although the rooms are empty, they convey an unsettling feeling, as if they were just vacated. While wandering through these spaces, visitors may encounter other viewers, which adds to the unique and eerie atmosphere of the scenes. Through these diverse spaces, Mike hints at a range of conflicting values and beliefs, painting a kaleidoscopic portrait of a society marked by ambiguity and impermanence. The title, “The Deliverance and The Patience,” alludes to a 17th-century shipwreck, where survivors – many of them prisoners or indentured labourers – tried to establish a new society in Bermuda before constructing new ships to continue their journey to Virginia.

According to Ralph, Nelson’s installations are theatrical and have incredible visceral impact, but they are also intellectually complex, with material complexity mirrored by the kind of illusions they create. The exhibit references people on the margins and fringes of society, summoning the ghosts of factory workers who lost their jobs when the roofing industry was outsourced overseas. In addition to the dark vision, there are also hints of humour throughout the show, often overlooked by people who write about it.

Constructed using materials gathered from salvage yards, junk shops, auctions, and flea markets, Nelson’s immersive installations possess a life-like quality that draws upon science fiction, failed political movements, dark histories, and countercultures. They explore alternative ways of living and thinking, including lost belief systems, interrupted histories, and cultures that resist inclusion in an increasingly homogenized and globalized world.

Mike Nelson said,’ I follow a trajectory that is not didactic or political; I read fiction and found a more somber form of fiction. The equation of that fictive structure with a more rigid form of making art for others did not work, so I made more fun things that were far more loose and open. The multiple histories and people’s memories, and the works’ placement within their memories, makes the world far richer.

I am fascinated by the idea that I can build something that will disappear but still exist within people’s memories. The works can expand in that way, and that is why I am interested in the way matter can be reconfigured into something of meaning and then fall back into matter. The matter is almost as interesting as sculpture, and the process of it building up and falling down constantly.[…] I am not interested in creating pieces, but in reimagining them. That openness is unusual and a crucial part of my practice. I am not forced to do this because of my failures and successes.’

The Hayward Gallery has a long history of pushing boundaries and inspiring new ways of thinking about art. Mike Nelson’s exhibition “Extinction Beckons” has perfectly utilized and transformed the unique space of the Hayward Gallery, adding a bold new chapter to the already impressive portfolio of this acclaimed artist.It is a must-see for anyone interested in immersive art, science fiction, and exploring alternative ways of living and thinking.

 

 

Mike Nelson: 逝去的召喚

Hayward Gallery 海沃德畫廊

2023年2月22日-5月7日

英國國際知名藝術家邁克·納爾遜（Mike Nelson）的宏偉沉浸式裝置及雕塑作品首度在海沃德畫廊亮相。展覽《逝去的召喚（Extinction Beckons）》呈現了充滿心理張力和氛圍的裝置藝術，帶領觀眾踏入神奇的虛擬世界，與現實產生奇特的共鳴。展品極具創意地改變了畫廊空間，包含宏大雕塑以及納爾遜過去經典作品的全新詮釋。

納爾遜曾代表英國參加第54屆威尼斯雙年展，並在全球知名畫廊展出作品。他亦參與多次國際展覽，如第13屆悉尼雙年展、第8屆伊斯坦布爾雙年展及第13屆里昂雙年展。

“這次展覽十分具有挑戰性。邁克與團隊在肯特郡倉庫花了四個月，隨後帶著大量材料來此，與30人共同耗時一個月，每週六天，最後一周七天，方得以呈現這次展覽。然而，唯有如此，觀眾才能享受如今的視覺饗宴。”

展覽一開始展示的是邁克2011年威尼斯雙年展英國代表作品的儲藏室，而展覽的最後一件作品則呈現了一個巨型三維鋼筋網結構，上面漂浮著混凝土頭像，皆為藝術家先前工作室的再現。這個展覽是關於一個藝術家如何製作作品的展覽，邁克雖不直接闡述作品含義，卻透過密集細緻的情境，讓觀眾發掘多元意義。

整個展覽中，觀眾可見暗示災難、暴力與失序的作品。雖然有人或許會感到不安，但這些作品令人興奮，因為它們將人帶入虛構世界，同時反映了我們自身的世界。”

在一樓的大廳，觀眾將踏入邁克2001年的作品《The Deliverance and the Patience》。

這個迷宮般的作品呈現出結構獨特且複雜的房間和走廊，創造了如賭桌、船長酒吧和旅行社辦公室等真實的空間。房間裡空無一人，卻散發著不安的氛圍，彷彿剛被遺棄。迅速穿越這些空間時會產生迷失感，彷彿置身於文學、電影和夢境般的空間和時間轉換，而非傳統建築空間中的行走。

魯戈夫亦在發言中提到，這個展覽讓人聯想到社會邊緣人士，如因建築業外包而失業的工人以及遊民和流離失所的人們。邁克的作品描繪出可能存在於主流文化之外的地方和生活。

除了黑暗的場景，整個展覽中還穿插著幽默元素，卻常被忽視。這種驚人的獨創性和創新性在公共藝術畫廊或其他場所都十分罕見。

本次展覽的特色在於其裝置均由拆解場、垃圾場、拍賣會和跳蚤市場回收的物料搭建而成。這些裝置營造的虛構場景栩栩如生，真實程度讓人驚嘆。作品中參雜著虛構的政治運動、黑暗歷史和反文化事件，探究替代生活和思維方式，如已消逝的信仰體系、中斷的歷史和文化等，這些都在日益同質化和全球化的世界中被忽視。

 

 

魯戈夫同時提到，這個展覽讓人聯繫到社會邊緣人士，當屋頂建造行業被外包到海外後失去工作的工人，還有流浪者、處於流離之中的人們。邁克的作品勾勒出可能存在於非常「乾淨」的主流文化之外的地方和生活。

除了暗黑的場景，整個展覽裡還穿插著一些幽默，但常常被人忽視。這種令人驚嘆的獨創性和創新性在公共藝術畫廊或任何地方都是罕見的。

此次展覽的特點在於它的裝置都是由從拆解場、垃圾場、拍賣會和跳蚤市場回收的物料搭建而成，這些裝置營造的虛構場景使人身臨其境，其真實程度令人震撼。它們參雜著虛構的、不成功的政治運動、黑暗的歷史和反文化事件，探討著替代性生活和思維方式，包括已失落的信仰體系、中斷的歷史和文化，這些都被一個日益同質化和全球化的世界所忽略。

 

邁克在預展時發言說道：“我所遵循的路徑並非說教或政治，而是從小說中找到了一種更為陰沉的虛構形式。多重歷史與人們的記憶共存，加上作品在觀眾記憶中留下的印象，使這個虛構世界變得愈發豐富。

讓我著迷的是構建某物，然後它們消失，但這些曾經仍留存在人們的記憶中。我的作品可以通過這種方式擴展，這正是我對‘物料如何被重新配置成有意義的事物，然後又回歸物料本身’的興趣所在。這些物料同雕塑一樣有趣，我已經多次經歷了它們不斷積累、創建並倒塌的過程，而我對此始終保持熱情。

我對創造物品不感興趣，而是對重新想像它們感興趣。這種開放性是我創作實踐的關鍵部分，而非因為失敗或成功而被迫這樣做。所有作品都非絕對，保持自由與限制之間的平衡很困難，但這至關重要。”

 

海沃德畫廊一直在突破界限，激發人們對藝術的新思考方式。邁克·納爾遜的《逝去的召喚》展覽，完美地運用並改造了海沃德畫廊的獨特空間，為藝術家原本就引人入勝的作品系列增添了新篇章。喜愛浸沒式藝術、科幻小說和探索替代生活與思維方式的人們，絕對應該親臨現場“漫遊”一番。

 

Edited 編輯 x Michelle Yu 余小悦