- Artist
- Ima-Abasi Okon born 1981
- Medium
- 2 hand-blown lamps, led lights, palm oil and courvoisier vs cognac
- Dimensions
- Object, each: 150 × 205 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased with funds provided by Lonti Ebers 2020
- Reference
- T15748
Summary
When the —[After-the-world presocial vivid therenessssssssss and ongoinglyyyyy] — is in the system 2019 is a set of two polished steel and glass LED ceiling lights which form part of Ima-Abasi Okon’s larger installation M – C – M (see Tate T15749, T15750, T15751, T15752). The installation, which consists of four separate but related works, centres around a modular ceiling that has been partially lowered from the existing gallery ceiling. This is done through a standardised system of ceiling tiles, often found within public buildings, libraries, waiting rooms and other administrative environments. The mass-produced ceiling tiles have been smeared with an invisible mixture of morphine, insulin, ultrasound gel and gold, imbuing the otherwise everyday objects with a personal, totemic charge. The hand-crafted glass light shades of When the —[After-the-world presocial vivid therenessssssssss and ongoinglyyyyy] — is in the system are adorned with an opulent design and filled with palm oil and Courvoisier VS Cognac. With the introduction of these liquids, the lights emit a golden glow, further highlighting an atmospheric friction surrounding the artist’s appropriation of everyday materials and her production processes, pointing to the possibilities of sculpture as a magical act.
The four elements that make up M – C – M were conceived following an in-depth research period leading up to the artist’s solo exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery, London in 2019, entitled Infinite Slippage: nonRepugnant Insolvencies T!-a!-r!-r!-y!-i!-n!-g! as Hand Claps of M’s Hard’Loved’Flesh [I’M irreducibly-undone because] — Quantum Leanage-Complex-Dub. They will be part of a growing collection of works based round modular ceiling tiles that the artist is constantly adding to. The title of the series follows the number of tiles and thus changes over time. Okon is interested in the site-specificity of the installation, directly relating it to the institutional architecture and its histories wherever it is displayed. She accepts this mutability as inherent to her work, asking: ‘Whom and what do I want to be in dialogue with in order to give the things that need our attention the time they deserve without depletion, co-option and certainly without the need to convince?’ (Quoted in Mutambu 2019, accessed 28 July 2020.)
As well as the ceiling tiles and lights, the installation comprises (Unbounded [sic]-Vibrational [sic] Always [sic]-on-the-Move [sic]) Praising Flesh (An _Extra aSubjective p,n,e,u,m,a-mode of Being T,o,g,e,t,h,e,r) 2019, a series of eleven air conditioners modified to host a multi-channel sound piece titled alongside-ness with-out identification1 + excess over the original value1 < (A-------d--------o---------r--------n). The music for this piece is taken from the track Adorn by R&B artist Miguel, that is digitally manipulated by the artist and slowed down, becoming a soundscape for the other works on display. Acting as both a cooling system for the gallery and as a vehicle for the sound work, the air conditioning fans perform at various speeds and durations. Okon talks about this process of intervening in objects as ‘inserting her identity into them, without this becoming didactic or literal’ (conversation with Tate curator Mels Evers, 18 June 2020).
Together these works exemplify how Okon’s broad-ranging practice encompasses sculpture, sound and video to produce installations that explore exhibition-making as an exercise in syntax. In her installations and titles, she adopts linguistic and grammatical structures as a means to question administrative systems. These works reflect the artist’s individual approach to the decolonisation of knowledge and critical institutional practices.
Further reading
Tendai John Mutambu, ‘I’m Not Interested in Cohesiveness At All: Ima-Abasi Okon in In Conversation with Tendai John Mutambu’, Ocula Magazine, 26 July 2019, https://ocula.com/magazine/conversations/ima-abasi-okon-im-not-interested-in-cohesiven/, accessed 28 July 2020.
Cédric Fauq, ‘Transactional Objects Full of Context in Voided Sites’, Mousse Magazine, vol.71, Spring 2020, http://moussemagazine.it/transactional-objects-full-of-contexts-in-voided-sites-cedric-fauq-2020/, accessed 28 July 2020.
Mels Evers
July 2020
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