01 Feb 2017

Opening: The Institute of Things to Come - Bedwyr Williams

Opening 9 February, 19h
BEDWYR WILLIAMS - ECHT

curated by
Ludovica Carbotta & Valerio Del Baglivo


Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo presents The Institute of Things to Come, a temporary research centre on futurological scenarios proposing a series of four solo exhibitions and an educational program, from February to September 2017. The Institute of Things to Come is realized thanks to the grant ORA! from Compagnia di San Paolo.

For the first chapter of The Institute, artist Bedwyr Williams presents Echt a film installation depicting a dystopian near future in which a fast-track feudal system has left the Britain divided among new chieftains. His curious and fantastical film imagines a future in which an apocalyptic event has forced humanity to reform society, having disregarded previous rules. In this new world where social status is determined by consumption, compulsive accumulators are kings. These accumulators of objects and junk have set up their new courts in former dancehalls and nightclubs, and are accompanied by a host of Williams' acutely observed characters.

Artist Bedwyr Williams is interested in worst-case scenarios and their effect on people. His performances, films and installations often involve comic narratives about dystopian futures, in which serious concerns are undercut by moments of absurd humor or banal observations. Previous projects have seen Williams build an observatory in homage to amateur astrologers and assume a range of different personas, including a one-eyed preacher, the Grim Reaper and a character known as 'Count Pollen'. His work was shown at the Barbican Curve Gallery (London), The Whitworth (Manchester), Tramway (Glasgow), IKON (Birmingham) and Kunstverein Salzburger, among others. Williams represented the Welsh Pavilion for the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 and is a shortlisted artist for Artes Mundi 7, 2016.

Beside the solo show, from the 7th to the 9th of February, Bedwyr Williams will also co-lead with artist Tai Shani 'Demonio! Demonio!', a performance and film workshop culminating in a film exploring representations of 'The Demonic Self', using the city of Turin as backdrop to construct this theatrical, malevolent self-portrait. Selected participants of the workshop are: Elena Bellantoni, Sara Bonaventura, Edmund Cook, Jürgen Dehm, Carl Gent, Aoibheann Greenan, Jaime González Cela y Manuela Pedrón Nicolau, Inda Peralortega, Ambika Thompson, Camille Tsvetoukhine, Lucia Veronesi, Saul Williams.