Underskog

Mark Leckey constructs a bonfire on the beach at Huk in Oslo in an invitation to celebrate the renegade traditions of Guy Fawkes — one of the protagonists in the celebrated failure of the Gunpowder Plot. On the fifth of November in 1605, a group of conspirators led by one Robert Catesby, and including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the House of Parliament in an effort to kill James I of England and to destroy protestant rule and the protestant aristocracy reigning at the time. Upon a flawed attempt, Fawkes was among those tortured and executed. The conspiracy of the plot transpired into a commemorated celebration that burns throughout the UK each year.

Still in 18th century England, it was common for children to parade the effigy of Fawkes around town streets in celebration of the anniversary of the plot. In present day traditions, fireworks and sparklers are set off throughout the night. The conspiracy, its celebration, and Fawkes have been mentioned in popular songs and ballads including more notably on the vinyl version of The Smiths’ album Strangeways, Here We come. Leckey, an artist who basks in the “chaotic spendor of metropolitan hubris,” brings this most celebrated commemoration of anarchical spirit within London streets to the beaches of Oslo.

More on Mark Leckey

Mark Leckey is currently Professor of Film Studies at the Staelschule in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. Born in 1964, Leckey is an artist whose obsessions range from the utmost refined fin-de-siecle decadence to ’80s clothes and club culture. He is together with Ed Liq, Bonnie Camplin, and Enrico David, the founder of the band donAtelier. His video Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, which has reached cult status, is a rigorous research on the world of dance and identification constructed through labels and tones. Music escapism and ambiguous sexual identities are the pivots around which Leckey constructs a succession of images whose fascination has to do with an ungraspable visual seduction. Leckey has exhibited widely in the UK (Tate Britain, ICA) as well as in the United States and Europe. He is represented by Cabinet in London, Gavin Brown in NYC, and Buchholz Galerie in Cologne.

This is the first of two projects Leckey will realize in Oslo. The second entitled Cinema in the Round will be held on 11 December, 19:00, at Frogner Cinema.

Office for Contemporary Art Norway

The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a private foundation and was founded by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in fall 2001. The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to develop collaborations in con