Gillian Wearing: Mass Observation

September 4 - December 14, 2003


Gillian Wearing
Self-Portrait, 2000, chromogenic development print, 67 3/4 x 67 3/4 inches, Collection of Anthony T.Podesta, Washington D.C., Courtesy of Maureen Paley Interim Art, London
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is pleased to present "Gillian Wearing: Mass Observation," the first United States survey of this 1997 Turner Prize winning British artist.

In the past decade, Wearing has emerged as one of the foremost artists of her generation. In the simplest terms, her videos and photography explore the intimacies and complexities of human relationships to portray a range of human types, from the familiar to the marginal -- her family and friends, drunks, children, men on the street, victims of abuse. Some works focus on individuals whose emotional and psychological behavior has been stretched to the limit, stunted, or not yet fixed by society. Other works show people at their most mundane, sharing minor hopes and fears as if admitting secrets to a friend. Unlike traditional documentary, however, Wearing is very present as a participant in her work, her lenses recording relationships between people that are active, adjusting and performative.


Gillian Wearing
Drunk, 1997-1999, video installation, 23 minutes, dimensions variable, Collection of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, Mark Ranney Memorial Fund 2001.1.a-c
The ICA is presenting the only East Coast showing of "Gillian Wearing: Mass Observation," a survey of her work from 1992 to 2002. Curator and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Associate Curator Dominic Molon, states, "Gillian Wearing's videos and photographs engage in the process of documenting alternately shocking, amusing, and tragic stories and behavior of ordinary people from Britain. By elevating the mundane, she offers the viewer a very discomforting view of reality."


Gillian Wearing
2 into 1, 1997, video installation, 4 minutes 30 seconds, dimensions variable, Collection of Eileen and Peter Norton, Santa Monica
The title of the exhibition, "Mass Observation", is based on a pre-World War II British social documentary project whose goal was to mass data based on the observation of people's everyday lives. Wearing's mass observation signifies her interest in a collective of individuals in a large group. In Sixty Minute Silence (1996) she assembled 26 British police officers to pose for a formal portrait. Although on first glance the life-size work resembles a backlit photograph, the viewer soon learns that it is a video with tension and strain building up over the hour they try to remain perfectly still. Wearing effectively reverses the power relationship between the viewer and the viewed; as the authority normally given to the officers is stripped as they are held captive by the portrait photograph-like situation.

Born in Birmingham, England, in 1963, Wearing moved to London to study art at the Chelsea School of Art. She received her fine art degree from the acclaimed Goldsmiths College, now recognized as the training ground of the "Young British Artists," or YBAs, a closely-knit group of artists who have achieved international attention for their often sensational style of art. Wearing is a key figure alongside other YBA compatriots Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Jane and Louise Wildon, and Chris Ofili.


Gillian Wearing
Sixty-Minute Silence, 1996, video installation, 60 minutes, dimensions variable, Collection of Anthony T. Podesta, Washington D.C.

The artist's fascination with social behavior has been influenced by the 1970s 'fly-on-the-wall' style of British documentary such as Franc Roddam and Paul Watson's The Family (1974) and Michael Apted's 7-Up (1964) and brings to mind the recent documentary "Capturing the Friedmans" by Andrew Jarecki. Today, American audiences can relate aspects of Wearing's work to the flood of indistinguishable confessional-style TV talk shows and reality programs. Like Jarecki's film, however, Wearing is more complex. In 2 into 1, she separately interviewed a mother and her two sons. She then filmed them lip-synching the critical commentary made by the others, forcing participants (and even viewers) to confront the true nature of their relationships.

The exhibition is complemented by a comprehensive, full-color catalog with essays by the curator Dominic Molon and writer Barry Schwabsky.

"Gillian Wearing: Mass Observation" was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. This exhibition is generously supported by Margot and George Greig, Robert and Sylvie Fitzpatrick, The Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, and The British Council.

ICA acknowledges the generous support of Annette and Jack Friedland, Urban Outfitters, Tanqueray No. TEN and the members of ICA's Leadership Circle: Christopher J. Carrera Foundation; Paul M. Curci; Cecile & Christopher D'Amelio; Glenn Fuhrman; James G. Fulton, Jr. & Eric B. Rymshaw; Katherine Greenberg; Paula & Robert Hoy; Carolyn & Michael Jacobs; Kirk Kirkpatrick & John Wind; Ladd McQuade; John Pcsolar & Alan Sandman; Structured Asset Sales LCC; Sara Fitzmaurice & Perry Rubenstein; Suzanne & Jeffrey Koopman; Jennifer & Marc Lipschultz; Craig Beresin; Wendy & Howard Berk; The Ford Family Foundation; Carolyn Gould; Janedesign, Inc.; Myles Kelly & Rick Wilson; Eric S. Lane; Marc Lisker;Thomas M. Miles; Amy & John Phelan; Norma & Larry Reichlin; Scott N. Resnick; The Right Stuff Foundation; Pamela & Arthur Sanders; Daniel Scheffey; & Joey & Christopher Schlank. Additional support has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation Inc., The William Penn Foundation, the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. (Information complete as of 6/30/03.)


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