Jesse Bruton, Kan Xuan, Zilvinas Kempinas, Sara Barker and Roger Hiorns at Ikon 2016/7
- Katharine Wade
- Mar 2, 2018
- 2 min read
As luck would have it I began working as an Information Assistant at Ikon Gallery in June 2016, after 8 months of Interning with the Programming team in their office.
Jesse Bruton was a founder at Ikon and it was extremely rewarding to be able to talk to people extensively about the history and progress of the gallery over the last 50 years. I still remember it by heart and meeting him just made me love his practice more.
He was the first art conservator that I was introduced too and was a great insight into the career.
And I couldn't help but always be very defensive of Kan Xuan's contemporary art. It was minimalist, straight forward and funny. Being from one of the first generation of Chinese artists who were able to engage with an international art scene, I would always implore people to see the freedom of expression in her videos!
Next up was Sara Barker and Zilvinas Kempinas. Barker's work was large and made of glass and metal, so a literal defence of her work from touchy hands was vital. Especially during private hires were we found ourselves prying hands off of metal sculptures and having eyes in the backs of our heads.
Kempinas's work was a rare show that was almost universally loved by everyone. The kinetic magic of fans and film tape keeping his art in a constant state of movemnet amazed so many people I never got tired of explaining how it worked.
I have never had to do so much than I did working on the Hiorns show. From filling up the foam sculptures every day and mopping all the spills, to dropping mannequins to the floor and hooking them up again, sweeping up atomised jet engines and bits of church after people purposely step on them. Invigilating a space that had naked life models that were sitting on airplane engines that had a small fire burning at the other end. It was quite amazing and all of the staff working on that show bonded quite a lot!
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