Setting up a piece for the Venetian Biennial in 1995 must have been a traumatic experience for Tom Gidley. Why else would he make a video of it that reports in a remarkable way the adventures preceding the presentation of his work. Hanging upside down in his studio, the artist tells his story. We hear nothing however, for the sound is off, but we can read subtitles to follow what he is saying. It starts on the evening before departing for Venice when, after some heavy drinking, the artist falls and hits his head on the pavement. Except for a headache he seems to be all right, but he has one disaster after another from this moment on. With dry humour he describes the problems he has trying to attach a mini-Ferris wheel to the ceiling. It is not well-made, the parts are of useless quality and it just will not turn at the required speed. Adding gears or fixing weights in the tubs does not help at all. The evening before the opening the artist goes to the opening party totally disillusioned. In addition to the reference to the sculpture that has to be hung from the ceiling, the upside-down hanging artist refers to the symbol of the 'hanged person'. The symbol, also used with tarot cards, represents a revolutionary upheaval. The hanged person consciously turns the world upside down and tries to look at his surroundings from another perspective. It is necessary to take distance: what's done is done. The artist seems to be able to look at his nightmare-like experiences from a distance. At the end of his story, shaking with laughter, he adds that he was just as happy with a stationary wheel after all.
– Nathalie Zonnenberg
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Tom Gidley ° 1968, Birmingham (UK)
Lives and works in Londen (UK)
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