John Smith

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News

Small World
13th Taipei Biennial, Taipei City

18 November 2023 – 24 March 2024

Atlas of Modernity. Exercises
Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
1 October 2021 – Ongoing

Biography

Born 1952, Walthamstow, London. Lives and works in London.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2022

John Smith: Introspective (1972 – 2022), The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London
Waldeinsamkeit: Films from the 21st Century, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany

2020

S.O.S – Recent Films by John Smith, Kate MacGarry, London
John Smith Programme of Short Films, CAST, Cornwall

2019

John Smith: The Girl Chewing Gum, Fine Arts, Sydney

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023

Small World, 13th Taipei Biennial, Taipei City (forthcoming)
Life is More Important than Art, Whitechapel Gallery, London (forthcoming)

2022

Street Life: The Street in Art from Kirchner to Streuli, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany
Instantly! Street Photography in Vienna, Museen der Stadt Wien, Vienna

2021

Atlas of Modernity. Exercises, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź
Language for Sale, Edith-Russ-Haus, Oldenburg, Germany
Biennale für Freiburg, Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany
Tourism, Stadtgalerie, Bern, Switzerland
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Go), Centre Photographique Marseille
Hearing Aids, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco
Hidden in Plain Sight, Steven Lawrence Gallery, London
Crocodile Cradle, curated by Simon Moretti, PEER, London
Peter Morrens: ‘Minstens 1½ Uur, En Terug, Cultuurhuis De Warande, Turnhout, Belgium

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Press

00:00

John Smith, unusual Red cardigan, 2011

SD video, colour, sound, 12 minutes, Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Excerpt (5 minutes)

“unusual Red cardigan recounts Smith’s discovery of one of his videos on sale on eBay, and how his curiosity about the identity of its seller led to his purchasing some of the other items she had up for auction on the site. The attenuated virtual connection between buyer and seller metaphorically suggests our limited access, as viewers, to the world which Smith is revealing to us with his camera. The eBay item descriptions of the objects – ‘Unusual Red Cardigan’, ‘Furry Green Handbag’ – have preceded the appearance of the objects themselves, so that as Smith draws them from their packaging we witness their transition from virtual name to actual object as though at the same time as he does. If the eBay objects are Smith’s traces of the mysterious seller, the objects in his films are our traces of Smith. As though mindful of the quantum physics dictum that the viewer of an experiment must factor his observation into his results, he exposes his role as his own protagonist even as his self-deprecating persona makes it clear that the purpose is to reveal the richness of reality and not the richness of his perception of it.”

– Mark Prince, Die Welt, 2013

John Smith, unusual Red cardigan, 2011

SD video, colour, sound, 12 minutes, Edition of 5 + 2 AP

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