There were some furious hushes and tutting at the sound of noisy chattering emanating from the back of the gallery as poet Anne Carson and actor Simon McBurney began their joint reading of Carson’s new poem Hack Gloss. The text had been written in response to Roni Horn’s drawings and marked the finissage of her show at Hauser & Wirth on Saville Row, London, last Saturday (25 July).
However it soon became evident that this intrusive interruption was intentional and came courtesy of artist Tacita Dean, whose intervention had been carefully orchestrated to co-ordinate with Carson and McBurney’s two-hander. Then, as the piece unfolded, there were more planned disruptions as Mark Wallinger and Robert Currie wandered round the gallery, delivering muttered interjections which were largely inaudible to the audience—which included Horn herself, as well as the Tate’s director of collection Frances Morris and Artangel’s co-director Michael Morris. In the question and answer session with Carson, Horn, McBurney et al afterwards, it transpired that the intention was that the audience would move around the space during the recital and thus negotiate the various unfolding fragments (in the same way that viewers can compile their own poetry out of the evocative words arranged across many of Horn’s surrounding drawings). Yet, thanks to the cushions and chairs thoughtfully provided by the gallery, everyone had stayed firmly put with no promenading taking place, and ears straining to catch what was unfolding around them.
Which yet again proves that sometimes it is necessary to suffer a bit for the full artistic experience. Although, when McBurney was asked what it was like to work with artists rather than actors, his simple and heartfelt reply was: “A huge relief!”
