Hoxton’s Galleries Goldstein will be hosting a one-off exhibition called Hotel Palenque from 6.30pm, whereby invitee Nicolas Deshayes will exhibit the newest of his typically culture-critical installments – his past works have, in various manifestations, laid bare capitalist society’s messy excesses. The France-born artist and exhibition curator Elise Lammer offer Wonderland a taste of what to expect at tonight’s show, which runs until 9.30pm.
Nicolas and Elise, what mediums will be explored for the show? What will it examine?
Elise: I invited Nicolas to realise Hotel Palenque’s fourth commission. Each commission is presented in a different exhibition space during a one-night event according to a simple set of rules. Firstly, the work must be produced or reproduced to an A0 format, and secondly all digital files and associated materials must be destroyed prior to the work being shown.
Nicolas: In response to Elise’s invitation, I will be showing a single A0 photocopy that will be freshly wallpaper pasted onto the outer-side of the gallery window. From the street it will appear like a ubiquitous lo-fi poster – in keeping with the area’s widely visible fly-poster advertising – but pasted with its front facing inwards the image will only be seen from the inside of the gallery space.
How did Nicolas’ involvement come about with the Hotel Palenque project?
E: Nicolas and I have been talking about working on a project together for a while. When Russell Maurice from Galleries Goldstein saw Nicolas’ work he immediately liked it, so I thought that this could be the right context for it to take place. With Hotel Palenque, I’m trying to explore the notion of authenticity among other things. The imposed rules of production and display limit the existence of the artwork in time and space, creating a scarcity that reinforces the experiential uniqueness.
N: I was attracted to the prospect of working collaboratively with Elise. It seemed that we could be equally responsible for the outcome of the work given her curatorial project’s strict production rules and parameters. I was intrigued by the limitations and the fact that an event could be made out of a single print work, like a press launch for an album or a cruise ship – whilst being denied its potential for mass dispersion.
How will you utilise the gallery space for the piece?
N: The gallery will be completely empty, save for a low-wattage light bulb to create a laid-back ambiance. The space itself will act as a platform for viewing the artwork from the inside out. The artwork will be backlit by the streetlights and arranged in a corner of the gallery’s window-fronted façade like an image on a glossy touch-screen appliance.
What’s next for Hotel Palenque?
E: There are still many ideas I want to explore through this project. Hotel Palenque’s fifth commission will be exhibited at Cell Project Space on the 1st of March. For this project, Hannah Perry will present the A0 print together with a performance displaying collected VHS footage.
Hotel Palenque – Goodhood Workshops, 20 Coronet Street, London N1 6HD
Nicolas Deshayes
Words: Jack Mills