The New El Dorado: exploring the phenomena of cultural consumption, tourism and the tradition of the historical "Grand Tour"

A single channel HD video piece commissioned from Common Culture (Brown, Campbell, Durden) for Manifesta 8, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, region of Murcia (Spain) in dialogue with northern Africa. Curated by Bassam El Baroni (Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum) and co-curated by Jeremy Beaudry.
Exploring the phenomena of cultural consumption, tourism and the tradition of the historical "Grand Tour", Common Culture's, The New El Dorado, narrates an encounter between the specific characteristics of a place and the culture of others. The work specifically responded to current conventions in Biennale practices related to the local and the global, using satire to discuss inherent problems with current models of “socially engaged practices”. The work built on questions raised in a previous video work Openings Are Always Awkward, identifying the complex relationships between artists, curators and institutions.
This piece has been exhibited widely, and has been discussed in articles in Art Monthly (Colin Perry and Teresa Gleadowe), MAP – Journeys in Contemporary Art (Sarah Lowndes), Frieze (Sam Thorne) and Artfourm (Sabeth Buchmann).
The Manifesta catalogue included a related piece of work A MacGuffin for Art. ISBN: 9788836616978 PUBLISHER: Silvana Editoriale
Exhibited in Manifesta 8 in Murcia, Spain between October 9th 2010 to January 9th 2011.
Exhibited at Manifesta Flashback, ACAF, Alexandria, Egypt 21 January - 3 February 2011
Exhibited in Endlos Umstritten, Ewig Schön, D21Kunstraum, Leipzig, Germany 01.09.11 – 25.09.2011
Exhibited at Miami Art Fair, USA 2010
Exhibited in If You Look Like Your Passport Photo You’re Too Ill To Travel. SIA Gallery, Sheffield. 21 April 2012–20 May 2012
Screened at Banff, as part of the symposia Are Curators Unprofessional? - November 12-14, 2010
Screened at Trashing Performance Symposia, 25 - 30 October 2011Toynbee Studios, London

Published in Prefix Photo Magazine (Canada) (excerpts of the script and stills from film)