History of Nothing–inspired by the Eduardo Paolozzi film of the same name–at London’s White Cube explores the ‘super-sized’ American Dream, via the work of numerous artists including Anthea Hamilton, Eloise Hawser and Josh Kline. Here, curator Hannah Gruy tells us: ‘People are even brands in themselves, we are all caught up in this machine of advertising.’
Can you tell me a little about how History of Nothing come about?
I was at a Kraftwerk concert a couple of years ago and when they played ‘Man and Machine’ I started to think about how relevant everything about that song still is today, so began to look into discussions taking place about this relationship and stumbled on some great dialogues between Eduardo Paolozzi and J.G. Ballard. This is where I began to think about Paolozzi’s work and other artists working today, all dealing with similar ideas ultimately.
How do you feel globalisation and the digital age has reshaped the American Dream? At its root, has the message changed?
I like the term that Naomi Klein mentions in her book ‘This Changes Everything’ of the ‘Super-sized American Dream’ insinuating that it has not changed so much but has just exploded and consequentially imploded as well. I think the American Dream is now intertwined with environmental decay.
There is a strong reference to branding throughout the exhibition, and also to machinery. Do you feel that brands or machines have more of a hold on us?
I think branding has total control of us, even to the point where we don’t notice anymore! Branding and advertising are such powerful forces now that they have become part of everyday life, they are a machine within itself and this is what I wanted to point out in the exhibition as well. People are even brands in themselves and we are all caught up in this machine of advertising. Timur Si Qin’s work makes reference to this.
What was behind the decision to host an exhibition about the American Dream in London?
I think the ‘American Dream’ is not just an American one anymore. Growth, expansion and consumerist desires are just as present in Britain as they are in the States.
Which young artists are you most excited by at the moment?
I was really excited to include Nicholas Cheveldave in the exhibition. He is a young Canadian artist based in London. He is really looking into the surplus of imagery we are inundated with day in and day out. For his painting that we have included in the show, images of canned and ‘branded’ food items are pictured across the canvas with a text that says, ‘feed your kids right’ scrawled across the top, which is kind of sinister and so relevant.
‘History of Nothing’ is showing at White Cube, Bermondsey until 17 April.
