Phil Collins

Phil Collins did a piece at Tramway earlier this year. The two things that were particularly interesting to me was the video (with headphones) of people in laugh therapy sessions. A group of people all made themselves laugh and the combination of the fakeness in the laughs and the baring of so many teeth made it a very confrontational work. Made me think of Pavel Buchlers 'canned laughter'. The other aspect I liked was the huge structure that was made to house some videos. On the way in you were immersed in total darkness and you would feel lost until a guide with a torch who guided you into what seemed like a new reality where only the video works existed. It seemed like a better approach to creating a context outside of reality than the white cube.