Do I What? (Version 1)
Do I What? was commissioned for the exhibition In Your Dreams at the Centre d’art contemporain de Basse-Normandie, Hérouville-Saint-Clair, France in 1999. Panels of commercial wallpaper were screen-printed and flocked with a pattern of black chantilly lace. The installation includes a sound component based on the song Chantilly Lace by the Big Bopper.
Do I What? was a response to the built environment of Hérouville-Saint-Clair. The town was developed from scratch in the early 1960s in a particularly generic and brutal modernist style. This contrasted strongly with the resonance of its location close to the beaches of Normandy where dramatic battles of the Second World War took place. The victims of the War are buried in the many graveyards that surround the town. There are also a number of small museums in the region. One, in Alençon, has a lace collection where lacemaking is also taught. Lace was made both by hand and by machine in the area for hundreds of years.
The exhibition was curated by Gilles Forest and Brent Klinkum.
Made with the assistance of Steve Hallé and Glen Gear
Media: screen-printed and flocked paper; sound
Dimensions: approximately 50 m2 (540’2)
Photography: Didier Morel
Do I What? (Version 2) 2003
This version of the work was made for the exhibition Reading History Backwards, 2003, at the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff, Alberta. The exhibition was curated by Anthony Kiendl.
Made with the assistance of Beth Stuart and Maren Ullrich
Media: flock and paper, sound
Dimensions: approximately 37 m2 (399’2)
Photography: Walter Phillips Gallery