David Blandy's 'Shack' installed at Wysing
Date uploaded: January 21, 2013
David Blandy performed the soundtrack to his film Crossroads live at Wysing's music festival Be Glad For The Song Has No End in September 2010.
The film began as an investigation into the mythology surrounding the legendary Robert Johnson, a bluesman with three gravestones, 29 recorded songs and only two known photographs, who reputedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Filmed in the heat of the Mississippi Delta, Crossroads was in part a portrait of a landscape still deeply, though not officially, segregated.
This replica plantation shack was originally constructed as a means to project the film, with the sound reverberating from within. It was not possible to see inside the shack, the curtains were closed with a light shining behind them. Viewers could sit on the back porch, on a rocking chair, to watch the film.
The original shack from Blandy’s touring exhibition, also called Crossroads, has been installed permanently at Wysing and will be used for future artists’ residencies and events.
Crossroads was an Arts Council England National Touring Commission initiated by Spike Island and supported by 176, Zabludowicz Collection. The exhibition toured to Spike Island, Bristol, January 31st-March 15th 2009; Turner Contemporary Project Space, Margate, April 4th-June 14th 2009 & 176, Zabludowicz Collection, London, July 9th-August 16th 2009.
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