Something Special at the FACT

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

In an unusual and intriguing exhibition staged at the FACT Centre, associate curator Claire Doherty, heavily influenced by Andy Warhol, who attempted but failed in his aim of creating his own non-stop television show in the 1970s called ‘Nothing Special’ – created this exhibition under that term.

It features a series of works inspired and influenced by the conventions of television by over fifteen artists working across a span of 30 years.

“The show examines the ways in which artists have used video to disrupt or recreate their own versions of the mediated reel,” said Doherty.

“Throughout the exhibition, artists set out to mimic the blending of news with entertainment, questioning our mediated memories of historical events such as the assassination of John F Kennedy or the bombing of the Twin Towers,” she added.

In relation to 9/11, Leon Grodski’s ‘Great Balls of Fire’ presents a disturbing present-day soothsayer set against the backdrop of the horrific debris of the World Trade Centre soon after the terrorist attacks.
In regard to the shooting of Kennedy, Ant Farm’s piece ‘The Eternal Frame’ (1975) encompasses what might be termed a ‘mock-umentary’, a taped re-enactment of the assassination, and a simulation of the haunting home movie filmed by Abraham Zaprudeer.

The stereotypical images and cliches of global media, as presented in this exhibition, are almost exclusively, and unsurprisingly, American. Little has changed in this respect since the 1970s! One has only got to look at the coverage of the Iraq war this year as presented by the American broadcast media to a world audience. The notion of them being described as liberators of that country is utterly absurd, no matter what your political persuasion is.

Nothing Special which runs until 4 January in Galleries 1& 2 (Tues-Sun), is the opening segment of the so-called ‘Eternal Frame’ strand of projects which will be presented at FACT during the next 12 months. The second exhibition in this series, again curated by Doherty, is titled ‘Nothing Personal’, which opens in March 20.