British artist Andy Holden and 4 of his childhood friends worked for years to preserve sincerity in their lives. Like all enduring projects, this eventually became art. A record of it is on display at the Zabludowicz Collection in London.
The playful installation of Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity is an unfolding of the time and space in which the project grew. The time is the eternal time of childhood; that of Holden and his friends, of their contemporary doubles appearing again and again on the screens scattered around the rooms, of all those who ever were and still are children, of the viewer who is allowed to blush at the cute teenagers performing Come on Home (a song as ridiculous as the title suggests). The space is a series of walls looking like they were taken from an endearing family home, covered in nostalgic images of childhood and the above-mentioned screens.
This tickling of the senses might be what a contemporary art lover needs. This recalling of postmodernism’s faults a necessary gesture for those who are constantly lured into experiencing art as a project of the mind, whether its scope is to be critical or to sell more. In sum, this might be part of a trend. But this really isn’t on one’s mind whilst they’re smiling at the innocent-looking faces on the exhibition walls.
Everything is there to make you (want to) believe. In the end, it is your own responsibility to always be aware of the kid in you.
by Cristina Bogdan
All images:Â Andy Holden. Installation view, Maximum Irony, Maximum Sincerity: 1999-2003, Towards a Unified Theory of MI!MS. Zabludowicz Collection, 2013. Courtesy Zabludowicz Collection and Andy Holden. Photo by Andy Keate
Zabludowicz Collection Annual Commission: Andy Holden
Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity, 1999–2003: Towards a Unified Theory of MI!MS
26 September –15 December 2013