WILLIAM COBBING / WIll.Je.Suis to Will.Ik.Ben, 2020
PREDSTAVLJAMO EKO 8 UMETNIŠKE PROJEKTE
WILLIAM COBBING / Will.Je.Suis to Will.Ik.Ben, 2020
series of 20 videos
courtesy of the artist
Through his work, which frequently uses crude, basic materials such as raw clay, William Cobbing creates surreal performative pieces that show the protagonist engaging in repetitive, almost compulsive cycles of manipulating formless material. The relationship to the clay is that of a blind manipulation of matter, sensing and probing the haptic possibilities of the surface rather than attempting to form it into a fixed shape. The collection of works presented here shows videos made by the artist over twelve months of lockdown. These works were all made in conditions of total isolation and in the artist's studio with just himself as witness.
Presented on four screens in different rooms of the MTT, these short, intense physical pieces are looped. The performative, visceral quality of art, of contemporary work with oozing materials and bodily presence right in front of us has been strangely absent from 2020, with the pandemic ceasing nearly all performance possibilities. During this unsettling time of the pandemic, the head, face, and hands have received unprecedented attention. As a series they play out like an artist diary during this remarkable year.
The series, titled Will.I.am, was named after the American musician, and then translated into multiple languages. They show the banging of heads and conjure our own fragile state, where there is little piece of mind to be found. In these works, the actions are looped, often engaging with slapstick humour and absurdity. The works, whether moving image or sculpture, appear to be caught in a state of incompletion, and we are unable to fully grasp their meaning.
William Cobbing (b. 1974, UK) studied BA Sculpture at Central St Martin's and De Ateliers artists' institute in Amsterdam. Exhibitions include LER! Museum Jorn, Denmark (2018), Further Thoughts on Earthy Materials, GAK Bremen & Kunsthaus Hamburg (2018), The Ground We Have in Common, Gallerie delle Prigioni, Treviso (2019), Haptic Loop, Cooke Latham Gallery, London, Human After All, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, The Netherlands (2020/21), and forthcoming in 2021 Human Conditions of Clay, Chapter, Cardiff, and a residency at EKWC, European Ceramics Work Centre in The Netherlands.
