Host
Mix-media installation and performance
20 April - 30 June 2024, Pase Platform, Venice. Supported by Proforma.

Darren Nixon and I were commissioned to create new work for the Desire Lines Pavilion, a collateral event taking place during the Venice Biennale 2024, including a residency at Pase Platform in Venice. This invitation prompted us to consider the sense of guilt associated with being part of a tourism industry that is destroying the very place you are visiting. A series of associated themes and ideas emerged, leading us to explore the complex lifecycles of parasites, the nature of our relationships to the saints and celebrities through whom we channel our desires, and what it is to make a sincere apology.

Installation details
Image credit: Darren Nixon

For our mix-media installation Host we formed a fake band, creating cover verions of six songs which lyrically address some of the questions raised. For each song we made a Venice-inspired music video, which were displayed on iPads framed with discarded golden paper trays commonly used to sell street food to tourists. This work was housed within a structure inspired in part by the city’s sacred spaces: at once a shrine, confessional and performance space.