Burn The Village 2019
Handprinted Zuber wallpaper, aluminium lightbox with LED lights
184 × 75 × 8 cm
During the summer of 2011, the streets of London were witness to a series of violent riots in which young protesters ran amok within the city. In the aftermath of the devastation, social networking sites used the phrase ‘burn the village, feel the warmth’ to describe the feeling of discontent which sparked the rioters’ anger. Taken from an African proverb, the phrase acts as a caution, warning mankind of the possible destruction which might ensue if the young are estranged from society.
In particular, Nathan Coley was interested in how this phrase was appropriated from the spoken word to the written word—from oral history to being ‘texted’ on a mobile phone. Subsequently, the artist used the proverb as the start-ing point for a new illuminated text piece to adorn Hoog Catharijne shopping complex in Utrecht. Re-contextualizing the phrase, the artist generated a new reading of the proverb. While his text pieces are usually aligned horizontally, Burn the Village, Feel the Warmth (2013) sprawls vertically down the side of the shopping centre’s façade like that of a hotel sign. However, the sign acts as a warning rather than an advertisement. Splitting the proverb into two, and displaying the resultant halves back to back, Coleyexploits this form of display to accentuatethe condition of cause and effect stipulated within the text. The work’s locationis particularly poignant in light of the fact that numerous shops were looted and burned down during the London riots, thus lending the work a sense of foreboding.
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Born 2019
Handprinted Zuber wallpaper, aluminium lightbox with LED lights
184 × 215 × 8 cm
‘If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you will probably want to know about is where I was born.’
First line of The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J.D. Salinger
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Installation view, Parafin,
2019
London,
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Installation view, Parliament Hall, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, 2019
Looking For Luck
2019
Handprinted Zuber wallpaper, aluminium lightbox with LED lights
184 × 191 × 8 cm
2018. A man and his family are travelling on foot to the Mexico/America border as part of a mass exodus of thousands of migrants from Central America. Asked by a CNN TV reporter why he is trying to get into the USA, his reply is very simple:
‘I’m Looking for Luck!’
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You Better Not 2019
Handprinted Zuber wallpaper, aluminium lightbox with LED lights
184 × 144 × 8 cm
At the beginning of The Color Purple (1982) Alice Walker writes: ‘You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.’
This sentence, which apparently appears as advice, is in fact, a warning and a threat to Celie, the main protagonist. It contains the substance of what some commentators term ‘the violence of language’ within the book. This language impacts on the life of the characters – particularly the female ones – and victimizes them. By advising or warning Celie not to tell anybody but God about her experience, the unidentified speaker warns her of the potential consequence this could have on her: her mother may have a heart attack or a moral shock that cancertainly cause her death. Indeed, though an inevitable and common destiny for human beings, death causes both fear and trauma in them. Thus, knowing that her mother’s death will affect her, Celie accepts her burden and silently suffers.
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You Don’t Know About Me
2019
Handprinted Zuber wallpaper, aluminium lightbox with LED lights
184 × 168 × 8 cm
First line of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain:
‘You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by a Mr Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly’
‘A new US edition of Mark Twain’s classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to be published with a notable language alteration: all instances of the offensive racial term ‘nigger’ are to be expunged. The word occurs more than 200 times in Huckleberry Finn, first published in 1884, and its 1876 precursor, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which tell the story of the boys’ adventures along the Mississippi river in the mid-19th century. In the new edition, the word will be replaced in each instance by ‘slave’. The word ‘injun’ will also be replaced in the text.’
— The Guardian newspaper, 5 Jan 2011
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We Are The Monument 2019
Handprinted Zuber wallpaper, aluminium lightbox with LED lights
184 × 272 × 8 cm
New York has its pillars of light and readings of names for the anniversary of 9/11, but it seems to lack any invitation to the citizenry to feel its own power and prepare for the next calamity. For there will be next times for San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, and possibly – in this era of extreme and turbulent weather, and economic upheaval – a great many other cities and towns in this country and elsewhere.
The rebuilt city, the eventual rise of disaster preparedness, the people who go on with their everyday lives – these are the monument San Francisco needed and every city needs to transcend its calamities. New Yorkers could gather in Union Square and elsewhere to remember what happened, really remember, remember that the heroes weren’t necessarily men, or in uniform, but were almost everyone everywhere that day.
They could open their hearts and minds to discuss mourning, joy, death, violence, power, weakness, truth and lies, as they did that week. They could consider what constitutes safety and security, what else this country could be, and what its foreign and energy policies have to do with these things. They could walk the streets together to demonstrate that New York is still a great city, whose people are not frightened into going into hiding or flight from public and urban life. They could more consciously and ceremoniously do what new Yorkers, perhaps best of all American, do every day: coexist boldly and openly in a great mixture of colors, nationalities, classes, and opinions, daring to speak to strangers and to live in public.
The dead must be remembered, but the living are the monument, the living who coexist in peace in ordinary times and who save one another in extraordinary times. Civil society triumphed that morning in full glory. Look at it: remember that this is who we were and can be.
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities (2005) by Rebecca Solnit
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Nathan Coley
Biography
Born 1967, Glasgow, Scotland
Lives and works in Glasgow
Education
1985-89 Glasgow School of Art
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 The World Without, The World Within, Perth, Scotland
Tentative Words Change Everything, East Sussex, England
2020 From Here, St George’s Dock Pumping Station, Liverpool
2019 A Place Beyond Belief, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand
The Future Is Inside Us, It’s Not Somewhere Else, Parafin, London
The Future Is Inside Us, It’s Not Somewhere Else, Parliament Hall, Edinburgh Art Festival
2018 The Basic Material Is Not The Word But The Letter, University of Edinburgh And We Are Everywhere, Brunnshogg, Sweden
Nathan Coley, East Gallery, Norwich University of the Arts, and St Laurence’s Church, Norfolk
2017 Palace, The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock
For other People and other Works, permanent public sculpture, Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany
Nathan Coley, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Nathan Coley, Parafin, London
The Same For Everyone, Arhus2017, Denmark
2015 New Art Centre, Salisbury, UK
2014 You Imagine What You Desire, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
The Lamp of Sacrifice, 286 Places of Worship, Edinburgh, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
From the People, to the People, for the People, Future Perfect, Singapore
2013 A Place Beyond Belief, NDSM-Werf / Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam
Burn the Village, Feel the Warmth, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany
2012 Knowledge, Kindliness and Courage, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver A Place Beyond Belief, Haunch of Venison, London
2011 The Ballast Project, Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam
Appearances, ACCA, Melbourne, Australia
2010 In Memory, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
ACCA, Melbourne, Australia
There Will Be No Miracles Here, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
2009 Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway
46 Brooklands Gardens, Jaywick, Essex
2008 De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, England
Palace, Haunch of Venison, Berlin
2007 Doggerfisher Gallery, Edinburgh
We Must Cultivate Our Garden, George Square, Edinburgh
2006 Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland
Gathering of Strangers, ICA, Nottingham
Camouflage Church, Santiago de Compostella, Spain
2005 Jerusalem Syndrome, University of Dundee
Cooper Gallery, Dundee
Haunch of Venison, London
2004 Showhome, City Arts Centre, Dublin
Frutimarket Gallery, Edinburgh
2004 Showhome, Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK
2003 Black Tent, Portsmouth Cathedral, Portsmouth
Showhome, Locus+, Northshields, Newcastleupon-Tyne
2002 Ruskin’s Road, Leidsche Rijn, Netherlands (as part of SuperUtrecht)
The Black Maria, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand
2001 Nathan Coley and Bas Jan Ader, Vilma Gold, London
The Italian Tower, Keilder Reservoir, Northumberland
The Land Marked, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon
2000 International Style, Architectural Association, London
Nathan Coley (with de Rijke / de Rooji), Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich
1999 Der Standard, Museum in Progress, Vienna
1998 A Public Announcement, The Changing Room, Stirling
Urban Sanctuary: A Public Artwork, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh
1997
Demolition in Progress (collaboration with Thomas Bechinger), Pavillon der Volksbühner, Berlin
1996 Galleri Index, Stockholm, Sweden
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Resurrection, Dark Mofo, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
2020 Miracles, Museum Catharijne Convent, Utrecht
Utopias, The Whitworth Museum & Art Gallery, Manchester
2019 Sculpture in the City, City of London
The Aerodrome, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
2018 Artistswhomakemusic,Musicianswhomakeart, Queen’s Park Railway Club, Glasgow
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Actions - The Image of the World can be Different, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2017 Age of Terror - Art since 9/11, Imperial War Museum, London
Behold the Man, Kunstmuseum, Magdeburg
2016 Glow, Van AbbeMuseum, Eindhoven Just Hanging Around, Center for Openness and Dialogue, Tirana, Albania That Which Remains, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland
2015 Bruges Triennial, Belgium House Festival, Brighton
2014 As if, Kings Artist Run, Melbourne, Australia information, Paisley Museum and Art Gallery,
2014 Small Happiness in Times of Abundance, Art Festival Watou 2014, Belgium
The Theatre of The World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico
You Imagine What You Desire, 19th Biennale of Sydney
2013 Mom, Am I Barbarian, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
12.Triennale Kleinplastik, Fellbach, Germany Call of the Mall, City of Utrecht, Netherlands Homelands, The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Kolkata
2012 Miracles, Art, Science, Religion, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
2011 Communities without Propinquities, Milton Keynes Art Gallery, Milton Keynes
2010 Let’s Dance, Mac/Val, Paris Park Liv, Marabouparken, Stockholm
2009 Mythologies, Haunch of Venison, London Nuite Blanche 2009, Nuite Blanche, Paris
The Enlightenments, The Dean Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh Jerusalem Show, Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem
2008 Tales of Time and Space, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone
Take Me There, Show Me The Way, Haunch of Venison, New York Oppositions and Dialogues, Lewis Glucksmans Gallery, Cork, Ireland
The Greenroom, CCS Bard Galleries and Hessel Museum of Art, New York Persona, Parc Saint Léger – Centre d’art contemporain, Paris Rosebud, Kunstverein Langenhagen, Hanover, Germany
Prospects and Interiors – Sculptors’ Drawings of Inner Space, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Nothing to Declare, Triennale Zeitgenössischer Kunst Oberschwaben Zeppelin Museum, Fiedrichschafen, Germany
2007 The Turner Prize, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool
Breaking Steps, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia
Northern City (Between Light & Dark), The Lighthouse, Glasgow
2006 Making History, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool
Off the Wall, National Gallery of Scotland
The Unquiet World, ACCA, Melbourne
As If By Magic, Bethlehem Peace Centre, Palestine
2005 Model Modernism, Artist Space, New York
British Art Show 6, BALTIC, Gateshead
Changes of Mind: Transformation and Belief, Haunch of Venison, London
2004 On Reason and Emotion, Biennale of Sydney
2004, Sydney
2003 Days Like These: Tate Triennial of Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain, London
Independence, South London Gallery, London
2002 Fabrications, Cube Gallery, Manchester
The Gap Show, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund
Happy Outsiders, Zacheta Panstwowa Galeria
Sztuki, Warsaw, Poland
2001 Audit, Casino Luxembourg, Luxemburg
Believe, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
Here and Now, Dundee Contemporary Art Circles 3, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Local Motion, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig
2000 Jahresgaben 2000, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
What If, Moderna Museet, Stockholm as it is, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Without Day, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh
Inside Out, Westfalischer Kunstverein, Münster
Continium 001, CCA, Glasgow
1999
Blue Suburban Skies, The Photographers Gallery, London
In The Midst of Things, Bournville, Birmingham, England
1999 School Reunion, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, London
1998
Exhibition without and Exhibition, Leipzig
In Visible Light, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Strolling, Musuem of Modern Art at Heidi, Melbourne, Australia
Artranspennine, Tate Gallery, Liverpool
Nettverk Glasgow, Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
1997 Correspondences, Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin
Glasgow, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
A Scottish Collection, Berwick Gymnasium Gallery, Berwick, England
1997 Wish you were here too, 83 Hill Street, Glasgow
1996
Girls’ High, Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow
Try, Royal College of Art, London
1995 Swarm, Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh
Cameraless Photography, National Museum of Photography, Film and TV, Bradford
1994
New Art in Scotland, CCA, Glasgow; Aberdeen
Art Gallery
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