description

"There are stains on the page, which I believe are her tears…”

Visitors to Red Room at the Showroom Gallery entered a darkened space which could only be navigated, and its contents observed, with the aid of a torch. Using detective fiction and forensics as its central references, Red Room set up a trail of discarded letters and photographs.

The work explores the nature of evidence and the process of piecing together fragments and clues to create narratives. Hugo Glendinning's photographs (raw material for the performance installation) recorded fragments of performance by Forced Entertainment in a range of urban sites, including tower blocks, stairwells, phone booths and the backs of cars. Continuously over a two-week period, these images — in which the event to be recorded endlessly slips away — were printed, heavily cropped and organised alongside fragments of text by performer Will Waghorn.

In its construction of space, Red Room strived to mobilise the viewer, turning the act of looking into its central performance,

1993. Performance installation. Forced Entertainment/Hugo Glendinning in collaboration with performer Will Waghorn.

Commissioned by ICA Live Arts/Showroom Gallery (London).