[What follows is from a review on the New York-based arts website Hyperallergic of an exhibition at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art:]
Nathan Coley, “Lockerbie Witness Box” (2003)
Nathan Coley’s “Lockerbie Witness Box” and “Lockerbie Evidence” series (2003) developed out of the time he spent as a court artist during the 2000 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial. The trial was held in the Netherlands but, for its duration, the area in which the court stood was declared Scottish territory. Surrounding an exact replica of the witness box are Coley’s drawings of the evidence presented at the trial: briefcases, ID cards, luggage tags, and dry-cleaning bills. Coley has often examined trauma and the aftermath of terrorist acts through his work, but seen in the context of this exhibition, the eeriness of the piece also encourages questions of nationhood, such as: If a nation can be so easily recreated on foreign soil, then what exactly is its value?
Devils in the Making continues at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow G1 3AH) through February 28.
By default everything that keeps the memory of this case alive is a good thing.
ReplyDelete"Devils in the making"
The Devil is in the details - the details that are filtered out by selection by those who need to further a specific view.
Would be nice to see a set of books there too, from Marquise to Kerr. Art for art's sake only is too often a restricted and limited matter.
Drawings? What can be seen in the picture just looks like reproductions of the photographs presented in court, copies of which were provided to those attending.
ReplyDelete