'I really should…'

Press Release

Taking the exhibition title from Canadian artist Kelly Mark's work, 'I really should…' this years Lisson Summer Show presents a generation of international artists whose work is influenced by the conceptual discursiveness of the 60s and 70s and the contextual analysis of European and North American art of the early 90s - embracing as well, the open and poetic qualities of the visual.

They distinguish themselves from previous generations of artists by acknowledging that there is no 'outside' and no alternative e.g., when locked out of one system, one will inevitability be locked into another. Seizing opportunity out of the current global 'omni-crisis' (Negri/Hardt) they offer instead a 'soft-core' critique that could be termed 'post September 11th conceptualism', and present a consciously oblique, critical perspective on the current economic climate defined by exploitative and dubiously integrative capitalism, resulting in the collapse of modern politics.

Arguably, it is the most interesting artists who respond to and reflect in their work, the socio-cultural climate of our time. Confronted by an opaque world, with no inside or outside, and no real centre of power (as it exists both everywhere and nowhere) the artists react not with mimicry or intervention, but with the construction of a new mode of work, new references and relations, and a new sense of responsibility.

'I really should…' curated by Stefan Kalmár, includes works by: Matthew Buckingham, Gerard Byrne, Chris Evans, Liam Gillick, Emma Kay, Janice Kerbel, Tim Lee, Hilary Lloyd, Kelly Mark, Nils Norman, Henrik Oleson, Mathias Poledna, Stephan Prina, Simon Popper, Jeremy Shaw, Sean Snyder, Cerith Wyn Evans and Christopher Williams.

Kalmár continues Lisson Gallery's focused curatorial practice, exemplified by exploratory investigations of the gallery throughout its history in the 'Summer Shows'. Beginning in 1971 with the Wall Show, which included, among others, Blinky Palermo, Sol LeWitt and Lawrence Weiner, it has continued the tradition in subsequent exhibitions such as Real Allegories, 1980; Out of Sight out of Mind 1993; Wonderful Life 1994; Ideal Standard Summertime, 1996 and The distance between me and you, 2003.

Stefan Kalmár (1970, Germany) lives and works in London and Munich. He is director of Kunstverein München and works with the Lisson Gallery curatorial team as an external advisor.
Download Press Release as PDF (78 K)

Exhibition Images

Cerith Wyn Evans Once a noun, now a verb, 2005 Neon sign 13 x 156 cm


Tim Lee Funny Face, George and Ira Gershwin, 1933, 2002 2 channel dvd installation Dimensions variable


Liam Gillick Schmerz in einem Gebäude, 2005 80 images, 4 sound tracks, dvd on lcd screen Dimensions variable


Hillary Lloyd Sun, 2002 Dvd on monitor Dimensions variable


Gerard Byrne Why it's time for Imperial, again, 1998 - 2002 Dvd projection and 5 framed photographs Photographs: 63.2 x 53 cm


Jeremy Shaw DMT, 2004 8 channel dvd installation Dimensions variable


Sean Snyder The Site, 2004 Digital prints and text panels Dimensions variable