It's not the end of the world
A few weeks ago I was delighted to encounter a new project space in Nottingham, set up by four members of 3rd Space Studios in Sherwood. Prussian Projekte describes itself as a new exhibition space that focuses on showing video and film work from emerging and established artists.
The inaugural exhibit, on for a sadly short time over the course of one weekend was the work of artist Darren Banks. “It’s Not the End of the World”, was a collection of surreally funny, and bizarrely entertaining video works. In a relatively dour autumnal mood, on a damp and cold October evening, I visited the presentation put on in a section of a converted cinema space off Haydn Road. Expecting another industrial building cum white washed studio, such as one expects when visiting yet another ‘recently graduated artist led space’ in Nottingham, it was surprising and refreshing to see a well made bespoke space ideal for showing large video projections, and small intimate single screen presentations.
‘Found and made imagery, objects and film have become materials to explore my ideas about horror, the domestic, science fiction, defunct technologies, creation and the unknown. There is no high or low in this dominion, television and direct experience exists in the same place. Being open to this neutrality between objects, materials and media has enabled me to escape the confines of the physical; creating new spaces within the actual work where there are no rules, where gravity is optional and objects and themes can take on new meaning through the processes of rearrangement, balance and collage. Sculpture is not just confined to three dimensions, but can exist on and within different platforms and plateaus.’ Darren Banks
The fast paced, innovative and brilliantly assembled film in the main space took hold of my attention immediately as it utilised and sampled tricks by movie makers to create suspense alongside the catchy gimmicks favoured by advertisers and music video directors. This work had the skill and finesse of Dan Graham’s ‘Rock My Religion’, an 80’s salmagundi of text, old films, and found footage of shaker circle dancing forming an intriguing mini documentary about the trajectory from American Folk music to Rock and Roll. Banks’s apparently characteristic cut and paste style embraced suspense and emotion together with the wit and charm of Graham. Archive footage and unusual images combined to create absurd narratives, with dubbed foreign films spliced together with sugary pop music. Black and white horror films scrambled up with iconic Kodachomatic style images akin to something one might see in the National Geographic flashed before my eyes and made me smile. My overwhelming emotion: one of joy and delight. It wasn’t the end of the world, even though it was horridly wet and dreary outside.
