Last weekend I made my way to a warehouse in Hoxton for an appointment to see Ryans Gander’s most recent site specific project Locked Room Scenario. Produced by Artangel, Gander is often described as a storyteller as much as he is an artist. His work is loaded with witty in-jokes, sub-plots and puzzles, and lacks any coyness in making art about art.
Earlier that morning I’d received a curious text message,
‘It’s in the pocket of Aston’s Yellow Macintosh. Spencer A.’
Arriving at the open building, discreetly signed as the Kimberling Gallery, Locked Room Scenario is both self-conscious and uneasy. Standing at the bottom of a littered stairwell I’m faced with a sullen teenager sitting on the stairs and against my better judgement squeeze past him toward the darkened doorway at the top of the steps, which turns out to be locked. As is the next one. Peering through the gaps in the newspaper puzzle pages that cover the windows, a door slams and a tall, long haired man disappears down the stairs. I’ve just missed him.
The ground floor is more familiar, flawless white walled corridors frame a large but inaccessible gallery space. A press release in the deserted foyer outlines the work of the ‘Blue Conceptualists’, an overlooked group of artists active since the 1960′s and details the work of Mary Aurory, Aston Ernest and Spencer Anthony (this mornings mystery text message sender) among others. Nearby boxes are piled high containing postcards of humorously named artworks; a large, phallic, blue fur sculpture wears a sign around it neck reading “If I was in monochrome I would be better appreciated”. Increasingly confident in my detective skills I take a risk and call the Kimberling Gallery on the number on the press release, a phone rings in the distance but remains unanswered.
Gander engineers elaborate and convoluted clues; overheard conversations, a glimpse of blue fur through the gallery window, the yellow Macintosh flung over a chair, everything remains just out of reach. Layering tensions of the personal relationships of the exhibiting artists over their fictitious art histories, there are hints at an incident that jeopardised the opening of the exhibition, and it all seem to hinge around the enigmatic Spencer A……… The crosswords disguising the windows were weighted with more significance that I’d granted them previously, Locked Room Scenario is as close as conceptual art comes to a murder mystery weekend.
A quick scout around the shabby exterior of the warehouse reveals scrawled apologies to Marie Aurory. The plot thickens but I’m not closer to making any sense of it all. I’m quite sure now that I’m not going to. What’s more, people are acting very strangely. Locked Room Scenario successfully disarms you to a point that it’s near impossible to distinguish what is real and what is constructed by the artist.
Leaving the depot, I’m still trying to pick apart fact and fiction… looking over to the pub across the road I had to actively reassure myself that the men drinking outside are not all in on it too. A woman taps me on the shoulder and gestures towards a folded sheet of paper on the floor behind me. She signs that it had fallen from my bag and disappears back in the direction of the exhibition. Unfolding the paper, a page torn from a book, the text is littered with the names of now familiar artists, one sentence is underlined in blue and I remain immersed in intrigue and suspicion.
Ryan Gander: Locked Room Scenario is open until 23 October 2011, tickets must be booked at least a day in advance of your visit from the Artangel website.
http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2011/locked_room_scenario
