Tina

This exhibition brings together an international group of artists who make work across a range of media including drawing, film, performance, sculpture and installation. The works in the show use a historical perspective to address issues ranging from the social effects of the collapse of communism and the troubled relationship between capitalism and ideas of liberty, to the strategies of withdrawal and secrecy used by off-shore companies, fictitious capital, and the ubiquitous use of Post-Modern architecture to manipulate a sense of scale and history in post-Thatcher Britain.

In the 1980s Margaret Thatcher made the notorious neo-liberal statement 'there is no alternative' (TINA for short), meaning that global free market capitalism is the only tenable economic theory. Subsequent decades have seen the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and increasing globalization, giving her followers cause for celebration. Meanwhile in the UK the re-structuring of the economy under both the former Conservative and New Labour governments, including the deregulation of the financial markets, has significantly led to the financial services becoming one of the main British industries.  This exhibition uses drawing, installation, video, performance and debate to examine the ramifications of these developments.

The exhibition toured to Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle, 21 January – 21 March 2009 and to the Storey Gallery, Lancaster, 2010.

Petra Bauer was born in 1970 and lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Recent participation in exhibitions and screenings include: Signal in Malmö, Lund Konsthall and NIFCA’s Criss-Cross screenings in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Germany (2004), International Film Festival, Moscow (2004), Random-ized video festival in Beijing, Malmö, Taipei (2003) and in London (2002), Tempo documentary film festival in Stockholm (2001), and Gothenburgh Film Festival (2000). Bauer is also a member of the discussion platform Production Unit and was an artist in residence at IASPIS, Stockholm in 2006.

Pablo Bronstein was born in Buenos Aires in 1977 and lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions Herald Street, London (2008); Franco Noero, Turin, Italy; Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany (2007); Recent group exhibitions: You Have Not Been Honest, Naples, Italy (British Council/ Curated by Polly Staple, Touring till 2009); Becks Futures, ICA, London, Arnolfini, Bristol, CCA, Glasgow; Tate Triennial; contemporary art center, Cincinatti (2006).

Anja Kirschner was born in 1977 in Munich, Germany and lives and works in London. Recent exhibitions and screening include Trail of the Spider, Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern and ICA, London (2008); Polly II, Broadcast Gallery, Dublin (2008),  Starr Auditorium, Tate Modern (2007) and Transmission Gallery, Glasgow (2007). Recent group shows include New Lands, NFT / BFI Southbank, London (2007); Species of Spaces and other Places, Hollybush Gardens, London (2007); Oberhausen Film Festival, LUX program, Oberhausen (2007); British Islands, Deutsche Kinemathek, Arsenal Kino, Berlin (2007).

Melanie Gilligan was born in Toronto, Canada in 1979 and lives and works in London.  Recent commissions/performances/exhibitions include Crisis in the Credit System – a commission by Artangel Interaction, to view on internet www.crisisinthecreditsystem.org.uk, Art Now Live, Tate Britain; Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; Imagine Action, Lisson Gallery, London (2007); Columbia University, New York (2006).

Goldin+Senneby is an artist collaboration founded in 2004, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Group exhibitions and events during 2008 include Data Recovery, GAMeC, Bergamo; The Reality Effect, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo; Terms of Use, Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Disclosures, Gasworks, London; Looks Conceptual, Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo. Goldin+Senneby were artists in residence at IASPIS, Stockholm in 2007. They will participate in the upcoming 28th Bienal de Sao Paulo.

Ciprian Muresan was born in 1977 and lives and works in Cluj, Romania.  He is co-editor of ‘Version’ art magazine and editor of ‘IDEA art+society’ periodical.  Recent solo and group exhibitions include Kontainer Gallery, Los Angeles (2008); Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv; Galeria Plan B, Cluj, RO, (2006); Studio Protokoll, Cluj, RO; Trafó Gallery, Budapest, HU (2004).

Olivia Plender was born in the UK in 1977 and is based in London. Recent solo exhibitions include: Art in General, New York (2008); Marabou Parken, Stockholm, (2007); Art Now Live, Tate Britain (performance)(2007); The Folly of Man Exposed or the World Turned Upside Down, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt  (2006); The Medium and Daybreak Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2005). Recent group Shows include: Not Quite How I Remember It, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada (2008); Tate Triennial, Tate Britain (2006); Busan Biennial, Busan, South Korea (2006). A Stellar Key to the Summerland was published by Bookworks in 2007 & Plender received a Paul Hamlyn Award in 2006.