"THE SHAPE"
THE SHAPE is a group exhibition at Dundee’s Generator Projects that opens on Friday March 23rd, the night before this very issue of Yuck ’n Yum is scheduled to launch. The names involved will be familiar to seasoned observers of this zine: Darren Banks, 2011 AGK Winner Lachlann Rattray and myself, Ben Robinson. I caught up with Stephen Bloe of Generator Projects to ask a few questions.
What is the concept behind the show?
At its core, THE SHAPE is an exhibition that was put together to investigate the relationship between chance and determinism. More specifically, the compelling relationship between chance and determinism within the realm of Exploitation and European horror cinema. The idea came from an essay on Dario Argento’s Tenebre by Chris Barber and Stephen Thrower. Using Tenebre’s antinomies as a framework, I wanted to assemble a show that’d capture the bewildering narrative and ultra-violent stylisation of Giallo cinema. The name THE SHAPE is actually a deviation from the original template of the show but somehow it seemed particularly pertinent in the grand scheme of things.
Darren Banks suggested the name. In the original Halloween, the adult Michael Myers is referred to as The Shape. Michael is a Frankenstein of cinematic parts. Everyone loved the suggestion. It worked and it stuck.
THE SHAPE is a very relevant title, one that immediately makes me think about structure. Horror films have a specific structure, yet the genre can also be very flexible too. Sometimes, when artists and filmmakers have to work within these strict parameters, such situations are when the best ideas can happen. So how did you decide on these three particular artists?
I’ve been looking for an opportunity to work with Darren Banks since being made aware of his work centered around Palace Video, an early 80s VHS distribution company. Whilst researching the concept of the show, Darren’s name kept emerging on “The Girl Who Knew Too Much”, a blog that investigates the relationship between contemporary art and horror film. At this stage, THE SHAPE didn’t exist but the convoluted narratives in Darren’s found footage assemblages, within the horror genre, had a clear correlation with the ideas that were being discussed and, again, it made sense to approach him. I’d been familiar with Lachlann’s work as a musician in Gay Against You in the mid 2000s. Again, having a long-standing interest in Lachlann’s work, I’d been looking for an opportunity to exhibit him. His preoccupation with trash-culture and absurdist aesthetic seemed to correspond with some of the elements intrinsic to the Giallo genre. In like manner, your own involvement in the show was relatively organic. Working with such a distinct aesthetic, it seemed compulsory to have a Giallo aficionado and fearless artist on board.
There’s been some great communication between artists and gallery on Facebook, sharing links and YouTube clips and forming a kind of online sketchbook. What’s the schedule in the weeks leading up to the opening?
So far, everything is on track. The most beneficial thing at this stage is to maintain dialogue and idea swapping between the three artists. Logistically, the show will start coming together within the next few weeks when the artists begin to touchdown. We’re well underway with the press and marketing of the show and have already designed a poster that draws heavily on some of the commonplace motifs in Giallo poster design - see The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
I trust you’ve scheduled an appropriate after-event? I’d heard whispers about a legendary former Yuck ‘n Yum interviewee.
Of course! We’re very proud to be working in association with Zazou to bring the one and only William Bennett to Dundee. The Whitehouse and Cut Hands noise musician will be performing as the flamboyant DJ Benetti, one of the unsung pioneers of Italo Disco. This is a man whose first gig was at a Mafia-controlled pizza restaurant in Vigevano (Northern Italy) in 1980 and once lived in China for 18 months as a paid guest of the Communist town council. True fact... It’s an absolute privilege to have William involved in this project, given that his body of work was an undeniable influence on the development of the show.
THE SHAPE is on at Generator Projects, Dundee from 24 March to 15 April.