The Ikon in Eastside
Written by Nicky Getgood on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Tags: He An, I Am What I Am, Ikon Eastside, Moat Lane Car Park, New Langton Arts, Paradise Circus, Soi Project, Tercerunquinto
When I went to a tour of Soi Project: Island at the Ikon Eastside, the guide told me about Terceruquinto’s plans to post a statement on the gallery’s back wall and wondered aloud whether or not it would be enough to fill the large room.
The answer is yes. The piece’s title I Am What I Am is cut out of the wall, exposing the brickwork, insulation and electric cabling within and the building site that is currently the rest of Ikon Eastside beyond. It’s well cool, as are Tercerunquinto. Too cool even for past commissioners, it seems. Their proposal that New Langton Arts ‘sacrifice’ their only asset the artistic archive, which the gallery understandably chickened out of, makes for inspirational freesheet reading (PDF).
After Wednesday’s launch party the Ikon bus ferried us around the corner to the Moat Lane Car Park to see He An’s installation. Cute chunky neon lettering along the top reads in Chinese and English: ‘I talked to Ah Chang on the way to work. After work I ended the relationship. I stood in Paradise Circus and cried for hours…’ It is apparently the experience of a friend of the artist’s, whose relationship broke down after she moved to the city. Birmingham – it breaks your heart.
