Access Denied (2014-19)
By
Kin
Dead Pigeons and Chandeliers: a painting on cardboard with integrated LED lights and conductive ink. Image credit: Kin.
This project explores the co-existence of long-term disused properties, community buildings that have fallen into states of disrepair and homelessness.
This project began in 2014 as a way to raise awareness around the housing crisis, homelessness and rough sleeping, and the number of disused properties that have either fallen into disrepair due to austerity and cuts to public funding, or are neglected properties owned by multi-millionaires that have no use for them. The paintings on sheets of cardboard are fitted with a circuit incorporating conductive paint, meaning that when a viewer places their fingers on the indicated areas, they can switch the lights on inside the buildings and create the illusion that they are occupied. The project was first exhibited in February 2014 at the Open Wall exhibition at Façade, a pop-up gallery housed in a disused bank in the heart of London’s financial district. The show was curated by Blair Zaye in association with Moderna Art and West Creative. Open Wall attracted hundreds of visitors on its opening night alone. It was expanded in 2015 with funding from DNweekend in Doncaster to include disused buildings from the region. This time it was presented under the name Ruin Nation and took place in an empty shop unit in Doncaster town centre. Later in 2015, a new piece was added to the series called Dead Pigeons and Chandeliers and was displayed as part of the Poor Door exhibition at A-Side B-Side gallery in Hackney. Poor Door was curated by activist-artist Tinsel Edwards. The work depicts one of the mansions on ‘Billionaire’s Row’ that was left derelict for twenty years. In this particular property, the water had never even been turned on despite the house being complete with decadent fittings and furnishings. Ten artists joined forces for this show which campaigned for affordable housing through painting, photography, sculpture and performance. The exhibition was shortlisted 1 in 6 for Artquest’s Work Week award as part of Art Licks weekend in London. This exhibition took place in the year that rough sleeping in London grew by 37% and yet 22,000 empty homes in the city sat empty. Boris Johnson was the Mayor of London at the time and had pledged to end rough sleeping by 2012. Rental prices for a one-bed flat had risen 30% in Greenwich and Ealing, and overall house prices had risen 18.4% in one year. In 2016, Dead Pigeons and Chandeliers was chosen to be presented at Ann Street Gallery, New York, in an exhibition titled ‘Politics & Power’. In 2019, some of the works from the project were displayed at The Foundry in Vauxhall in an exhibition curated by Aidan Moesby, a centre for social justice and human rights organisations. The exhibition was supported by Disability Arts Online.
“Absolutely loved it. Wonderful. Have you thought about doing something even bigger and using them to campaign?”
More information: https://cell-less.com/2015/11/30/art-and-homelessness/
