A Bigger Canvas

London Fields # 68
First published Inpress, Melbourne on 19 August 2009
NB: Each column has a name, but these do not appear in print; printed versions may differ slightly to those displayed here

For years the fourth plinth of London’s Trafalgar Square has been the centre of discussion and controversy. It is no longer the age of Empire, so what is an appropriate subject for a new permanent statue? Artist Antony Gormley has come up with an intriguing, albeit temporary solution in a work entitled One & Other. Over the course of 100 days and nights, 2400 ordinary folks will each get one hour on top of the empty plinth to do almost whatever they please. So far, around 32 000 have applied to take part. Andy Warhol’s famous quote about fame may be true in another way here too, for some ‘plinthers’ (as they’re known) seem to run out of steam after about fifteen minutes, and end up twittering on their mobile. Via the live streams on the website I’ve seen someone dressed as a giant pigeon (Trigger Happy TV anyone?), another dressed as a giant CCTV camera, and some partial nudity. Last week someone went to whole hog and took off all their clothes (until police made him cover up after about five minutes). But it’s also been a place where music and art meet. Chris T-T took his guitar and a small PA up with him and busked, and a woman named Verity stood serenely while she resolutely and quietly sung wordless laments into the darkling air.

Music also met art over at the Roundhouse in Camden, where Nick Cave gave his first ever public reading from forthcoming novel The Death Of Bunny Munro. When I interviewed him about Grinderman for this paper a few years ago, he told me that he’d love to write a second novel, “...but I just don’t have the fucking time”. After the reading he revealed that this had been written over an intense six-week period while touring, late at night after shows, and in the mornings, and had a very different creative process to And The Ass Saw The Angel some twenty years ago. It transpires that this was originally a screenplay he wrote for John Hillcoat, and when the project stalled (at least temporarily) he just started telling the story in prose form, and liked how it turned out. It was fascinating to see him in this light, made somewhat hesitant and uncertain by venturing outside his comfort zone. The novel itself reflects some of his music; the spirit of Grinderman especially seems to permeate the text, from a reference to lampreys, to the naked need for sexual congress at any cost. The modern setting allows Cave to create some new verbs and adjectives from brands such as iPods, Zippo lighters and Tarzan, and in this digital age it is being released on multiple formats, including a talking book, and accompanying soundtrack.

Over at the Horse Hospital, DNA was a short art exhibition in praise of, and inspired by the pioneering work of John Foxx. Rather than a retrospective, all the work here was contemporary, and featured a blend of the analogue and the digital. Perhaps the physical centrepiece was The Grey Suit, one of four suits that over the years John has lent to friends and colleagues for the seeming properties that allow its wearer to become anonymous and move through the city without being noticed. These ideas and reflections have all contributed to The Quiet Man, a forthcoming work which Foxx has been spent over 30 years in refining. Gary Numan contributed an OSCar synthesiser (interestingly the keyboard of choice for the Foxx-free Ultravox of 1983) and a video interview about Foxx, while Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran had two digitally manipulated prints on display. Most interesting to me was Andrew Back’s No Numbers which breaks down the 3’18” of Foxx’s own Mr No into sets of numerically displayed digital samples which if transcribed on the paper provided at the rate of one number per second it would take four weeks to transcribe. Sadly Alex Proyas’ film was unable to be screened at the time I attended due to its gritty subject matter. Foxx told me he had enjoyed last year’s Australian Tour, and thought the ACMI in Melbourne (which he performed Tiny Colour Movies last May) had the best sound system of any venue he’d ever played. Although he won’t be working with Louis Gordon for a while, this is a verdant creative period for him, as he currently has five completed albums just waiting to be released.

Back at The Roundhouse, David Byrne has taken the combination of art and music one step further. His Playing The Building seeks to convert the structure, built over 150 years ago to turn railway locomotives around like a giant turntable, into a giant music instrument. At the centre is an old pump organ, reinforcing the steam-punk feel of the enterprise, and like One & Other, the general public are part of the installation, and can even be the ‘musician’.


© James McGalliard 2009