Artist's Studio is a 1-year project located in a Victorian House in Knightsbridge, in a large apartment generously donated by a benefactor. Looking specifically at the idea of exclusive and yet informal dialogues between artists, 7 artists have been invited over the 1-year period to propose individual projects (lasting up to 6 weeks each) that undermine or interface with the space of the apartment / studio. A programme of talks and events will accompany the project, which will result in a publication.

Artists' Studio presents a new site-specific video installation by Szuper Gallery (Susanne Clausen & Pawlo Kerestey). Working with a group of actors/performers in the Artists' Studio apartment in a specifically designed set, Szuper Gallery have divided the lower space into a dark mirrored studio/living space and the upper space into a light gallery. The video evolves as the performers move through and inhabit the plush Knightsbridge location. They are rehearsing an interview, focusing on the context of the space, Szuper Gallery's history as a commercial gallery and its alleged relations to the Post-Soviet Mafia.

The video performance deconstructs the process of performing an act; concentrating on entrances, rehearsals, documentation, the set, the mechanics of the space, repetition and looping, re-enactment, awkwardness and delay. With an emphasis on notions of time and how artistic practice and experience is constructed.

Szuper Gallery's previous activities have ranged from the occupation of Bloomberg's London headquarters after hours, to CRASH! at the ICA, in which they set up a day-trading office within the gallery, to Performance with Police Uniforms, an intervention into a nightclub in which the participants were costumed in the police uniforms designed for the 1972 Olympics.

Szuper Gallery launches on the 16 th January and continues till the 25 th February, Artists' Studio is open to the public Friday, Saturday & Sunday between 2-5pm, and otherwise by appointment. There will also be a special live performance on the 3 rd February 2007 at 4pm.

Szuper Gallery have been supported by the Arts Council of England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Loughborough University.

Video:
work/arbeit/rabota, 2007
DVD, 15 mins

Actors:
Mansel David, Igor Guelman-Zak, Lyndsey Housden, Alison Mackenzie, Eun-Jung Lee, Christer Lundahl, Michael Moso


Video stills: