Cullinan Richards: Second Act. Plot Twist
Past exhibition
Overview
Paula Radcliffe in a disappointing third position, 2010
But the proof of the work is not in its imagery; it’s in an endlessly inventive and heedless practice of making and transformation that overwhelms all references.
—Barry Schwabsky, Artforum, May 2008
Cullinan Richards: Second Act. Plot Twist follows Retrospective, the first iteration of Cullinan Richards’ solo exhibition at Alma Pearl. Second Act is defined as “a second period or stage of something, especially in which its initial aspects are followed up, expanded, or further developed”. The development here aims to foreground the social and performative aspects of their work while highlighting the centrality of a non-linear notion of time in the artists’ practice: from the temporality of exhibitions conceived as multiple ‘staged events’ to the variations on an artwork’s modes of display, from the re-use of materials from previous exhibition, to the inclusion of newspaper clippings in the presentation of their work.
The element of a ‘plot twist’ mirrors the device of a second act, which details content and produces dramatic reveals unannounced and unexpected. This can be considered a plot twist in traditional gallery programming, where a different exhibition is expected. At the same time, the plot twist operates within the exhibition through a series of interventions.
Intervention No. 1 | date and time unknown
The initial intervention affects the exhibition itself and takes place privately before the public opening. Some works have been secretly removed, while others have joined the show. This is a newly found material landscape where subtle absences and novel presences function as markers of possible transactions or, indeed, curatorial choices. The formality inherent in Retrospective is partially disrupted in this second iteration. Here, in their second act, Cullinan Richards further expose the seamless and frictionless aspects of the exhibition-making process alongside the gallery’s operations to reveal a total context for one’s work and its reception.
Intervention No. 2 | 14 November 2024, 6–8pm (Opening Reception)
An event will take place during the opening. There are rumours of a screening. Those attending are invited to experience surprise.
Intervention No. 3 | 23 November 2024, 12–6pm
In 2013, Cullinan Richards established 4Cose, an Italian grocery store and art installation at the front of their studio on Vyner Street, London. For their last intervention, the artists operate the shop from within the gallery space. The desk used daily by the gallery team becomes the support to display and sell olive oil, Parmesan cheese and Italian pasta to the passersby along Regent’s Canal. The mise-en-scéne captures the commercial yet often hidden activity of the gallery space, while also disrupting the very place where the gallery operations normally take place.
