PRESS RELEASE

Phil Collins (*1970 in Runcorn, lives in Glasgow)
2 June – 26 August 2007
Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster
(Speicher II) Hafenweg 28, 48155 Münster, Germany
Preview: 1 June 2007 19.30
Opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 14.00 – 20.00
Saturday + Sunday 12.00 – 20.00

Art, public space and private views
During summer 2007, Phil Collins, the British video maker and photographer, will present his multi–channel video and photographic installation „gerçeðin geri dönüþü / the return of the real” (2005) in the Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster. In this on–going work, the artist, who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2006, examines the promises and betrayals of talk shows, makeover shows and reality TV. Originally produced for the 9th International Istanbul Biennial in 2005, the installation was also shown in the sala rekalde in Bilbao in 2006. Collins is currently developing a related UK edition. 
In this work, Collins dramatizes and simultaneously subverts the phenomenon of reality TV by employing its own strategies for critical self–reflection: former participants – people who feel their life has been ruined by their appearance on a television show – are invited back to talk about their experience, how they were represented and the mechanics of production. Oftentimes brought to the fore in these extended portraits is what the shows themselves most noticeably avoid, the economic disparity between the subjects and the production company, the social relations which underpin the biographies they recount, and the uncovering of trauma which lies at the heart of our relationship with the camera.

 “gerçeðin geri dönüþü / the return of the real” (2005)
Taking on the role of director and producer, Collins has developed a multifaceted project involving numerous aspects of the media industry. Through a nationwide campaign in the Turkish media, he found seventeen people who felt their lives had been profoundly affected by their appearance on television shows. A press conference was organized in the Marmara Hotel in Istanbul where they were able to address the national media in an uncensored situation, discussing in intimate detail their personal TV ordeal. A local photo studio was hired to produce an official group portrait of the participants and a series of celebrity–like headshots. Collins subsequently employed the director of a Turkish extreme makeover show to conduct a series of individual hour–long interviews in a TV studio with the participants. Collins’ three–part production creates a highly ambiguous situation in which the essential distinction between the real thing and its highly realistic counterpart is made virtually indistinguishable.

The Traps and Temptations of Public Attention and Private Desires
The exhibition “gerçeðin geri dönüþü / the return of the real” explores the mechanics and implications of representational forms which have evolved in a culture defined by mass media. Within this cultural context, Phil Collins’ work offers an analysis of the post–documentary forms of popular factual programming. Collins focuses on the moment in which the presence of a camera begins to fundamentally alter the behaviour it seeks to record, and the performative strategies which pass for “acting natural”. His artistic strategy is at once compassionate and detached. In many ways, he is as merciless as his TV counterparts. While offering an opportunity for self–expression, his reconstruction of the initially demeaning TV experience turns out to be a self–effacing trap, luring the participant once again into the predicament he or she had previously encountered. The need or compulsion of a private individual to express and expose themselves publicly can ironically be seen as an attempt at escaping the anonymity of the masses, a way of standing out from the rest. The allure of the exclusive star status which the media perpetuates turns private desires into a public affair.
The viewers of Collins’ work find themselves in a voyeuristic limbo, at once believing the reality the participants rehearse, squirming with embarrassment at their victimization, suppressing the wish to be a part of the glamour, and reveling in the modus operandi of the media so blatantly exposed. Collins’ complex installation debunks the power and authority of the media that condemns the victim to be an accomplice and the viewer a believer. 

Reality, the Media and Contemporary Existence
Collins uses camera to question the dynamics of the mediated gaze. Is reality potentially “more real” in the context of a TV show? Where can a genuine private point of view and a truly attentive, sympathetic audience be found in a culture defined by such media events? In fact, is it possible at all to distinguish between a public sphere and private life in a globalized world largely experienced through the media? Is the concept of personal identity viable, or are we the product of public expectations, without even realizing it? Perhaps it makes no difference anymore whether we are telling our story on air or silently contemplating it. We all want to be stars. Phil Collins skillfully creates awareness for these questions whose answers form the very fabric of contemporary existence.

One-Person Exhibitions: “phil collins: they shoot horses”, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (2005); “yeah…..you, baby you”, Milton Keynes Gallery (2005); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent (2006); “they shoot horses”, Tate Britain, London (2006); “New Work: Phil Collins”, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2006); “Forum 59: Phil Collins”, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (2007).

Group Exhibitions: “Borderline Syndrome”, Manifesta 3, Ljubljana (2000); “Witness: Contemporary Artists Document Our Time”, Barbican Centre, London (2003); “Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, and Hayward Gallery, London (2005); “Istanbul”, 9th International Istanbul Biennial (2005); “British Art Show 6”, National Touring Exhibition (2005/06); “Turner Prize 2006”, Tate Britain, London (2006); “Turbulence”, 3rd Auckland Triennial, Auckland Art Gallery (2007); “War And Discontent”, Museum of Fine Art, Boston, (2007).

The exhibition has been generously supported by the British Council, the Henry Moore Foundation, the PSD-Bank Münster, the Friends of Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster and through the cooperation with the Kerlin Gallery and the Victoria Miro Gallery. Die AZKM is an institution of the Stadt Münster, Kulturamt.

Translation: Mathias Gößling
Press Contact Details: Verena Voigt M.A.
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