VITRINE Fitzrovia hosts a Book Launch with an in-conversation that coincides with Tim Etchells' solo show at the gallery and Frieze Week 2023. It marks the arrival of ‘Let’s Pretend None of This Ever Happened’, a 240 page monograph investigating the artist's longstanding sculptural practice with neon, LED and other media.
The book creates a compelling and comprehensive investigation of his projects in public space and galleries, leading with powerful colour images of key works installed in sites all over the world. Alongside its wide-ranging image survey, 'Let’s Pretend None of this Ever Happened' also features an extended conversation with the artist, conducted by the books’ editor July Hillgärtner, director of Kunstverein Braunschweig, as well as an introductory text by curator Ben Borthwick, Head of Programme at KARST, Plymouth, UK.
Surveying the full range and approaches of Etchells’ sculptural work with text, the book (Published by Spector, October 2023) creates dialogue across the artist’s works spanning 16 years, as well as exploring the complex relation between individual works and the different contexts in which they have been installed over the last several decades.
In the exhibition space visitors can view a new body of smaller scale neon works (all 2023). An in-conversation with exhibition curators and TBC guest will follow the book launch where you'll be able to hear the artist talk about the exhibition, his new book and broader practice.
Tim Etchells (b. 1962, Stevenage, UK) lives and works between London and Sheffield. His work has been presented internationally with solo exhibitions at galleries and museums including: TATE Modern, London, UK; Kunstverein Braunschweig, DE; Bloomberg SPACE, London, UK; Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, UK; Jakopič Gallery, Ljubljana, SI; Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, PL; Gasworks, London, UK; and Künstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen, DE. Solo fair presentations include: Frieze Sculpture (2018 and 2022), London, UK; Performance Exchange, London, UK (2021); Dallas Art Fair, Dallas, US (2016); and Perf4m ARTISSIMA, Turin, Italy (2016). His collaboration with violinist Aisha Orazbayeva ‘Seeping Through (Decouverte)’ was performed at FIAC, Palais De Decouverte, Paris (2016).
Etchells’ work was included in: Folkestone Triennial 2014, Folkestone, UK; Gotenburg International Biennale 2011, SE; Manifesta 7, Rovereto, IT. Further group exhibitions and performance programmes at galleries and museums internationally, include: Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR; Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, DE; Kunsthalle Wein, Vienna, AT; Somerset House, London, UK; Ebensperger Rhomberg, Berlin, DE; Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, DE; Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, DE; The Showroom, London, UK; The Grundy, Blackpool, UK; Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK; Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK; Cubitt Gallery, London, UK; Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Arnolfini, Bristol, UK; Württembergischer, Kunstverein Stuttgart, DE; Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Norwich, UK; MATTATOIO, Rome, IT; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, DE; The Auxiliary, Middlesborough, UK.
Etchells has concurrently led the performance group Forced Entertainment, based in Sheffield since its inception in 1984. Forced Entertainment are widely considered to be one of the greatest British theatrical exports of the past 30 years, credited with producing some of the most innovative and challenging theatre of the era to great acclaim throughout the world. In 2016, Etchells was awarded the Spalding Gray Award well as the International Ibsen Award for his work with Forced Entertainment.
Current/forthcoming exhibitions include ‘The Weight of Words’ at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK.
