Overview
Borrowing its title from George Orwell's dystopian novel, '1984', 'Facecrime' evokes an absurd and unsettling contemporary ruin that the audience wander amongst as though discovering the signs and visual languages of a once prosperous civilization.
'Facecrime' is a touring solo exhibition by British artist Jonathan Baldock which opened at Camden Arts Centre, London in April 2019. The show features a series of ceramic columns inspired by the discovery, in 1974, of more than a thousand perfectly preserved clay tablets, inscribed in cuneiform, an early writing system, ca. 2500 BC in the ancient city of Ebia, Syria. The exhibition pays homage to these extraordinary artefacts, developing an alternative history of clay as a tool of communication and a carrier of language that defiantly stands the test of time.
Drawing from histories of labour, folklore and storytelling, Baldock experiments with glass, basketry and spinning to highlight the decline of traditional making and skills lost due to technology. In 'Facecrime', Baldock uses these traditional techniques to depict contemporary forms of communication, creating classical-digital hybrids which draw early human script into dialogue with the emoji, the fastest growing language.
'Facecrime' was commissioned by Camden Arts Centre through the Freelands Lomax Ceramics Fellowship and in partnership with Tramway, Glasgow.
Borrowing its title from George Orwell's dystopian novel, '1984', 'Facecrime' evokes an absurd and unsettling contemporary ruin that the audience wander amongst as though discovering the signs and visual languages of a once prosperous civilization.
Bluecoat
School Lane, Liverpool
L1 3BX
Installation Views
