Today I went along to the Nottingham Contemporary to see the new exhibition on there. This is the second one I’ve been to and I won’t lie I don’t always know exactly what is going on or what I’m looking at but I am always blown away by the imagery. The subjects that they show are always spectacularly wonderful but quite random and out of the ordinary, but this makes them all the more intriguing.
The House of Fame is a retrospective of the influential British artist and musician Linder. A large collection of photomontage, graphics, costume and performance is presented, divided into four rooms of Future, Rest, Unrest and Sound. Emerging from the Manchester punk and post-punk scenes in the 1970s, Linder’s work focuses on questions of gender, commodity and display.
The first room, The House of the Future, is a space inspired by architects designs of the house of the future and what life might be life 25 years on. The domestic is portrayed as a performance.
In the House of Rest, mourning and melancholy is conveyed.
In the House of Unrest, spiritualism, surrealism and political agitation is collected.
In the final room, the Abode of Sound, an exhibition-within-an-exhibition is conveyed, with art, jazz and textiles. I particularly liked the artwork in this room; I love the use of collage and the compositions and designs. They are vibrant and eye-catching and visually and emotionally provocative.