Critical Mass

04.09.2012 | Blog | BY:

If you’ve already managed to check the trailer for the new film by Lauren Greenfield The Queen of Versailles, there is a good chance that the opulence, decadence and luxury was enough to disgust. MASS, a creative initiative fronted by Jessica Bernard and Esther Theaker, are curating an exhibition at Beach London on Thursday 6 September that responds to themes surrounding wealth.

Twin spoke to Jessica and Esther about the exhibition…

What is the idea behind MASS and what encouraged you guys to start it together?
We met at University and got on like a house on fire. MASS is a platform for us to explore engaging stories together in the form of photography, video and art curation.

You’ve had exhibitions in the past that have centred on films, such as Into The Abyss and are now basing your current exhibition on the new film The Queen of Versailles. Why have you chosen this film as the basis for the event?
I think rather than film generally we aim to look at interesting story telling.  For this exhibition we chose The Queen of Versailles, as we are both big fans of the director Lauren Greenfield.  Her work was most prominent in the nineties where she documented female youth culture in America.  Greenfield often references white upper class societies and ideas of over consumerism, which has been a strong influence on this current documentary.  The film touches on the extremities of wealth and the struggle to maintain that kind of lifestyle that inevitably is a soul-destroying endeavour.

Do you think the link between film and live events should be established or explored more often?
In general we don’t feel the film and live event go hand in hand, for the sake of it.  There are a lot of corporate, empty feeling live events for film that we feel are just distributors blindly throwing money into film promotion.  With MASS the emphasis is that we are looking at people telling engaging, intellectual stories so it is always our aim that our events are able to embody this.  The idea is that rather than promoting a film we encourage a forum for discussion on the broader subjects of the film. This manifests in a variety of multi-disciplinary artworks.

What is planned for the future?
We have a few projects happening at the moment.  We are currently working on a documentary based on a young female boxer whose stories resonated with us.  She is an incredibly strong character.

We are also launching our second run of apparel to coincide with the exhibition opening – including new colour tees and sweatshirts. That launches online from 7th September.

What can we expect from the exhibition?
This show will be will be quite different from the last ones with more emphasis on sculptural work.  We have Robert Montgomery creating a text-based piece and Polly Philp, Isamaya Ffrench and Joshua Wilks creating an immersive experience.

Mass is at  Beach London from 7– 12 September 2012.

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Words by Monique Todd

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