Hanging by a Thread II
Hanging by a Thread II
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Artist
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Production Date
2009
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Medium
digital print on canvas, photographic paper, hardwood, bamboo, wire, found objects (chamois, printed label, bandage, hair, hair tie), portable CD/DVD players, videos (single channel, standard definition, 4:3, black and white/colour, stereo sound)
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Size
35 x 190 x 150 mm
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Credit
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2009
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Accession Number
C2009/1/11
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Accession Date
30 Mar 2009
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Department
New Zealand Art
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Classification
Installation
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Collection
Chartwell
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Chartwell Notes
Hanging by a Thread II incorporates a quartet of delicate sculptures, text, appropriated images connected to the Iraq War, and documentation of News — the 2006 reconstruction of Allen's performance Newspaper, originally performed in 1976. The work follows Hanging by a Thread (2000), a video montage in which Allen creates and rearranges a poetic sculptural assemblage. On one channel, we see Allen performing News/Newspaper, repeatedly reading and crumpling a newspaper until it disintegrates; on the other, we watch the camera operator Peter Wareing filming the performance. Natasha Conland writes in the catalogue for the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki exhibition Made Active: The Chartwell Show, “Allen’s aim is not to help us ‘fade out’ the [political system which accepts human suffering], but to recognise that we are entangled in it. Any opportunity for simple heroic opposition or closure is undercut.”
