Alex Margo Arden & Caspar Heinemann at Cell Project Space

Artists: Alex Margo Arden, Caspar Heinemann

Exhibition title: THE FARMYARD IS NOT A VIOLENT PLACE AND I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE JUDY GARLAND

Venue: Cell Project Space, London, UK

Date: November 28, 2019 – January 26, 2020

Photography: Rob Harris / images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Cell Project Space, London

Cell Project Space presents a collaboration, between artist Alex Margo Arden and artist-writer Caspar Heinemann, which takes the form of a theatre space and a play acted out in varying intervals over the course of the exhibition. The production emerges from several years of friendship and conversation around the artists’ shared interests in pre-history, gender illusion, marginalised mediumship, ‘the end’ of ‘the world’, theatrical convention, soft power, binary oppositions, cults, chronic wounds, puppetry, and fate.

Arden and Heinemann are ‘going camping’ in the gallery space as universe, with an entirely collapsible stage set. Acting as sole writers, directors, choreographers, performers, set, costume, lighting, and sound designers, the artists have structured a series of transitional moments, bringing a counterpoint to the traditional language of theatre and to coerce the audience into communal psychological engagement. Between performances the deactivated space will evoke a closed shop, or off-season seaside town, and will be accessible as an exhibition to the public from Thursday—Sunday 12—6pm.

The play text, which includes non-stageable segments designed to challenge the directors and performers, will become a standalone publication depicting relics of the production process and traces of the imaginative labour. Launching in 2020, the publication will become part of an ongoing series of commissioned writing, the first being ‘Partners’, Ghislaine Leung, published in January 2018 and the second ‘Shit and Doom – NO!art’ published in September 2019.

Alex Margo Arden is an artist based in London. Her previous projects have been presented at The Royal Standard, Liverpool; Matthew Gallery, New York; AND/OR, London; Serf, Leeds. She has an ongoing relationship with Montez Press, writing for the ‘Interjection Calendar Project ‘and recently featuring on ‘Montez Radio’. She graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she won the Hamad Butt Memorial Prize.

Caspar Heinemann is an artist, writer and poet based in London. His solo exhibitions have been presented at Outpost Gallery, Norwich; Almanac, London; and KevinSpace, Vienna. Recent group exhibitions have been held at Georg Kargl Fine Arts,Vienna; ICA, London; Cabinet, London; and PDX Contemporary, Portland. Heinemann participated in the 2019 Bergen Assembly, and has recently read at Camden Arts Centre, Sussex Poetry Festival and Tate Modern. His first poetry collection ‘Novelty Theory’ was published in 2019 by The 87 Press.

THE FARMYARD IS NOT A VIOLENT PLACE AND I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE JUDY GARLAND, Installation View, 2019

If I wasn’t here, I could be having tea with Judy Garland, 2019 [detail] Assorted seating, chain, padlocks, Dimensions variable

When the Sun says goodbye to the Earth my staying is the saddest part of your going, 2019, Backpacks, permanent marker, ribbon, tambourines, Dimensions variable

The last thing to collapse is the surface, 2019, [detail] Assorted fixtures and fittings, sockets, switches, hooks, first aid kit bracket, rope, Dimensions variable

THE FARMYARD IS NOT A VIOLENT PLACE AND I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE JUDY GARLAND, Installation View, 2019

Changing the face can change nothing, but facing the change can change everything, 2019, Assorted furniture, luggage, ladders, mirrors, lamps, ivy, 180 x 320 x 285cm

THE FARMYARD IS NOT A VIOLENT PLACE AND I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE JUDY GARLAND, Installation View, 2019

Changing the face can change nothing, but facing the change can change everything, 2019 [detail] Assorted furniture, luggage, ladders, mirrors, lamps, ivy, 180 x 320 x 285cm