"I still have control over my limbs but it has been a long time since I had any control over my mind and my entire unconscious dictates to me with impulses which come from the depths of my nervous frenzy and swirling blood. Quick, hurried images which to my mind spell out only angry words and blind hate, yet which are over as quick as a knife thrust or lightning in a congested sky."

"Fragments from a Diary in Hell" Antonin Artaud

EXHIBITION expands ideas present in some of my previous works where prolonged neutral states are combined with disruptive 'tics' or prevailing crisis points. Sometimes these tics seem to be the result of mounting emotional tension or disequilibrium (A HOMO A PRETTY BOY & A FACIAL TIC, 1995); at other times they jump out of nowhere, momentarily traumatic and comic, animating an otherwise tranquil state (ATTACK, 1997). But there is no gradual cessation or recovery period following the tic, rather an immediate switch back to the passive state - sleep, trance or zombie stupor.

Stemming from my own fears of losing motor control and an overwhelming excitement/anxiety when confronted with disruptive involuntary actions, this work tries to communicate directly with resonance and humour rather than personal reflection. The audience's involvement however is not limited to receiver. They are the catalyst, whether intentional or not, which triggers my bodily reaction. Aroused and alarmed by your presence, I present you my insides. EXHIBITION here makes reference to the idea of an art work being a site for the artist to reveal personal turmoil or externalise their 'inner world.' Like the momentary exposure of the flasher in the woods, you get everything and nothing.

[Richard Squires]

EXHIBITION was commissioned by the RADIATOR Festival for New Technology Art in 2003.
Also shown at TRAMPOLINE Prater Volksbuhne, Berlin 2003, THE FUTURE IS STUPID
MAMA Rotterdam 2005 and SUTURE The Old Operating Theatre Museum, London 2005.

EXHIBITION was realised in Paris 2003 with the assistance of Ameneh Mahloudji,
Phillip Warnell and Bertrand Lamarche.