“One never knows how long these things have actually been there, placing them somewhere between alive and obsolete, trash or treasure, transient but enduring, trade and collection, commodities or gifts; and back again.”
At the heart of the exhibition are two installations. One takes the history of the barrel as a starting point to reflect on both global and local economics, from international distribution chains to small-scale local recycling networks.
The second installation features a sculptural piece based on five shipping crates, each filled with goods collected by the artists from auctions, abandoned storage units, internet sites, junk shops and street finds. As well as exploring movement of goods outside the mainstream, the work taps into narratives that can spring up around items and the lives they have touched.
Alongside a programme of film and workshops, the show provides a springboard for academics from University of Brighton's pioneering School of Humanities and Social Science to engage with key themes in a series of six free online talks, bookable via the Brighton CCA events page.
Talks include:
- The Fetishism of Commodities with Toby Lovat: 2 March, 4.30-5.30pm
- Salvage Stories: Personhood, Property and the Sea with Anita Rupprecht: 9 March, 4.30-5.30pm
- The Social Life of Unwanted Things with Annebella Pollen: 16 March, 4.30-5.30pm
- Travelling Images, Translocal Imagination with Zeina Maasri: 23 March, 4.30-5.30pm
- Graphic Interventions with Harriet Atkinson: 30 March, 4.30-5.30pm
- Tracing the pursuit of (modern) happiness: personal project, status symbol, commodity? with Emma Anderson: 6 April, 4.30-5.30pm