在这部极简之他纪录片片中,‘It for Others’, 2013, (16mm film transferred to digital video, 54 minutes) Duncan Campbell produces films that look at representations of the people and events at the heart of very particular histories – figures such as John Delorean and Bernadette Devlin. Combining archive material with his own footage, his work questions the authority, integrity and intentions of the information presented. For Scotland + Venice 2013, Campbell has taken Chris Marker and Alain Resnais’ 1953 film ‘Les Statues meurent aussi’ (Statues also Die) as both source and artefact, to pursue a meditation on the life, death and value of objects. In the exhibition, Campbell presents the older film alongside his new work, a social and historical examination of cultural imperialism and commodity that combines filmed footage, animation and archive footage. ‘It for others’ includes a performance made in collaboration with Michael Clark Company that seeks to illustrate the basic principle of commodities and their exchange. Outset Scotland supported the commission of new work by the three artists featured in Scotland’s national presentation at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, curated by The Common Guild. Scotland + Venice is a partnership between Creative Scotland, British Council Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland. The work will return to The Common Guild in Glasgow in 2014.
With 'It for Others', Irish artist Duncan Campbell has created an impressive study of the web of ideas that we enshroud things, art, consumption, life and death with - nothing less. Combining essayistic combination of gorgeous archive footage, animation and a new performance by Michael Clark Company, his latest work elaborates on Chris Marker and Alain Resnais's essay film 'Les statues meurent aussi' (1953), where the Western exoticisation of African art is presented in an elegantly questioning meditation about how we see objects and movements, and endow them with meaning - be it a wooden African sculpture, a packet of cigarettes, the touch of a hand or the exchange of consumer goods. 'It for Others' refers both formally and discursively to a great number of modernistic art movements and theories, but brings them up to date with a twist, which simultaneously undermines the coolly aloof analysis that we are first presented with, and subsequently anchors it in real situations - namely ...
