With a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and group exhibitions at the Tate and ICA behind her, London-based Spartacus Chetwynd inaugurates the new next-door project space at the New Museum with her installation, “Home Made Tasers,” and a performance, “The Lion Tamer,” which debuted last night as part of Performa 11.
The New Museum press release touts the young Chetwynd’s invocation of “Brechtian drama,” and the on-site wall text says she raises questions “about the relationship between humans and the natural world as well as the understanding of historical truth.” It’s an ambitious agenda that the work fails to live up to in a meaningful way.
Art in America’s Paul David Young discusses the performance http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/the-market/2011-11-03/spartacus-chetwynd-performa-new-museum/”>here.