- Venue
- Hayward Gallery
- Location
- London
The preview of Deceitful Moon was neatly chosen for the date when the moon itself was in fact not visible in the London sky, perhaps betraying the doubt this exhibition purposefully aimed to cast over the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Presenting itself as a subversive opponent to the flurry of celebratory events based around mankind’s giant leap, I had high hopes for this alternative collection. I expected ambitious mythical journeys, moonstruck conspiracy theories and challenging concepts that rallied against the politically correct. What I actually encountered at the Hayward Gallery did go part way to meeting this standard, despite a slight feeling of anticlimax. An immediate criticism had to be the arrangement of the exhibition within the modestly-sized project space, which felt cramped and inhibited the breathing space for individual exhibits. The work of Keith Wilson unfortunately further inhibited movement around the space, with an abundance of cardboard boxes, mats and rolls propped up against walls and scattered about the floor. This said, Wilson’s ‘Moon Boot Yoga Mats’ added intrigue throughout the exhibition, and displayed a clever use of materials working hand-in-hand with an interesting concept. The mats were created from the same fabric as the once-fashionable moon boot, while his cardboard boxes served as coffins-to-be for the remaining moon-walking astronauts, in a somewhat morbid turn.
I considered this a really inspiring theme for an exhibition (the fabled mystical planet, our quiet neighbour, our fleeting and wary relationship with it), yet in places Deceitful Moon felt more like a cold political analysis, despite courageous and humorous efforts otherwise – especially from Aleksandra Mir with her kitsch video that made gender within lunar exploration a comfortably-presented focal issue. The subject matter of exhibits included some fairly complex ideas such as the Trinitite ‘Footprint’ of Matthew Day Jackson & David Tompkins, which delved into both the scientific and the hypothetical in its proposal of the part the footprint played in faking the landing. In contrast to this, there were some less extravagant ideas – and unfortunately less successful, such as the found bicycle in Johannes Vogl’s work, which with its headlamp created an unremarkable circle of light on the wall.
The premise for this exhibition was a good one, with enough scope for a variety of translations whilst giving space for consideration of the real issues. Unfortunately the exhibition space itself helped curtail this, in addition to a selection of work that ranged from exciting to uninspiring and frankly dull. I also couldn’t help feeling that Deceitful Moon was somewhat overshadowed by the main exhibition at the Hayward, ‘Walking in my Mind’, with its bombardment of publicity and advertising for weeks on end. The project space in comparison felt a little like an afterthought.
