The second in a series of Reading Room sessions at Nottingham Contemporary's Study Centre as part of the group exhibition 'Star City: The future under Communism'. Short stories and utopic writings by artists and Sci Fi writers will make up this series of informal talks, which will be informed by the inclusion of special guest readers. This session will be attended by the authors, artists Heather & Ivan Morison, who are well known for their utopic installations and site specific work.
Just when I thought I had Heather and Ivan Morison pigeonholed as ecologically conscientious artists they go and write a sci-fi romp peppered with gratuitous gore and buggery. Rather than a confusion of intent, though, the novel Divine Vessel clarifies the Morisons' methodology. Through role-playing and self-conscious parody they probe the possibility of authenticity when making art, reflexively and heuristically redefining their practice with each undertaking.
Divine Vessel... is a great first stab at a novel, especially considering it was written during a four-week journey on a cargo ship from Shanghai to Auckland - invention and suspense are sustained, although the plot is absurd even by B-movie standards. But, as a sci-fi fan responded to the passage when aliens inhabiting the bodies of rabbits (which are like flight suits worn when operating human bodies from the inside - it takes some explaining) fall to earth: 'it was at this point that I would have normally thrown the book across the room'. The book is riddled with imperfections and, let's face it, real science fiction exists in abundance and brilliance enough. But for the emphasis is less on the authority of the artefact and more on its formulation and dissemination. Art often shakily approximates the machined products of commercial enterprise, but the efforts of amateurs often proffer more sympathetic and productive models.
Sally O'Reilly, Heather & Ivan Morison, Frieze, March 2006
Fantastic voyage. A fantastic and spectacular voyage... through the human body... into the brain. Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Donald Pleasance. Or perhaps Sleeper. Seth and Ruby, or rather, Ivan and Heather embarking on an overseas adventure. Is it really science fiction? Or merely the natural world seen through the eyes of a pair of artists? Divine Vessel is the result of a very interesting month spent aboard a cargo ship indeed. I admit to especially loving Oddbjorn and Margaret. I am on chapter 33 and relishing every page. Before this though, I have been fortunate to have received notice of Ivan and Heather’s whereabouts other the last three years. Vicariously living out my frustrated fantasies of wanderlust, sitting on a toilet reading the latest issue of National Geographic and wondering why I’m not out there experiencing this vast, glorious planet. I placate myself thinking my chosen vocation allows me a certain birds eye view of things. Mr. & Mrs. Ivan Morison do not understand it... Heather Morison is haunted by the horrific death of her two beautiful Java Sparrows... I know there are more, but I just can’t remember them. While I was in Boston I received them at work. At times baffled by their seemingly cryptic statements. I was very happy to get them nonetheless. I loved displaying them on my walls surrounding my desk and often wondered what Ivan and Heather were like and if I was ever going to meet them. Maybe that’s not important. There’s a subtlety and beauty to their project and I support them. I wish I had saved the cards.
Gilbert Vicario, (see cover illustration), Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
This event is free, but places are extremely limited. Please contact Nottingham Contemporary to book your place.
This event is free, but places are extremely limited. Please contact Nottingham Contemporary online booking service to book your place. You will be sent the reading material a week in advance of the event. Link coming soon!
