Exhibition
John Bock: New3 commissions for The Curve - Barbican
The internationally-acclaimed, Berlin-based artist John Bock is renowned for his surreal installations combining performance, sculpture and film. Drawing on an idiosyncratic range of interests, Bock creates an absurd amalgamation of references from the disciplines of economics, fashion, film, politics, philosophy and music, among others.
In Bock’s installation a modified mobile home lands like an alien space ship in the middle of The Curve, where it docks with parasitic structures suspended from the ceiling. These make-shift architectural structures house various enterprises: a pub, a noodle restaurant and shops. Resembling a utopian, plug-in city constructed of found materials and handmade elements, the installation alludes to the original plan for the Barbican’s Frobisher Crescent which was to include a shopping arcade one level above The Curve. Live performances by Bock and other actors periodically animate the installation and can be viewed on screens in the gallery.
