© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
Tate Britain presents O’ Magic Power of Bleakness, a new exhibition by Mark Leckey, the artist has created an immersive installation combining new and existing works which unfold over time to create a son et lumière (sound and light) experience.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
Leckey returns to the Tate Britain for the first time since he won the Turner Prize in 2008, the artist is known for his exploration of ideas of youth, class, memory and nostalgia.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
For this exhibition, Leckey fills the gallery space with a life-sized replica of a section of the M53, a motorway flyover close to his childhood home on the Wirral where he used to play with his friends. Underneath this bridge Leckey premieres a new audio-visual installation Under Under In 2019, inspired by a supernatural encounter he believed he had under the bridge as a child. The effect of this encounter is the bridge has become a recurring motif within his work. The ‘bridge’ becomes a theatrical set with video projections and using a 19th-century illusion technique known as Pepper’s Ghost. Tied to the visual effects is a new audio play that follows five teenagers under a haunted motorway bridge.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
Alongside this new work, the exhibition also features large-scale projections of two of Leckey’s works: Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore 1990 and Dream English Kid, 1964 – 1999 AD 2015.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
Leckey’s video Fiorucci is a compilation of footage from dance floors chronicling Britain’s underground club scene from the 1970s to the 1990s.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
In Dream English Kid the artist’s personal memories are explored through material found online, inspired by his discovery of a YouTube video showing a Joy Division gig he attended as a teenager.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
Although all three works can be viewed as independent pieces, they do present a cycle of experiences that explore social history, memories, subcultures, experiences and digital technologies.
© 2019 Visiting London Guide.com – Photograph by Alan Kean
This thought provoking and unusual exhibition takes the visitor into a large dimly lit space with screens providing videos which bring together lives of mainly young people and some of the digital images they were constantly bombarded with by different media formats. As you watch the videos, it is noticeable that over time, the collective experience has changed to a more individual experience. This has profound consequences for society, the ties that once bound us all together are being unravelled in a cyberspace where even your individual identity and reality is being questioned.
The full running time of O’ Magic Power of Bleakness is approx. 55 minutes with a 5-minute interval between cycles. The work begins on the hour, every hour.
Visiting London Guide Rating – Recommended
For more information or to book tickets, visit the Tate Britain website here
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