TIM ETCHELLS
things that make the heart beat faster, 2021
Neon
Installation
entry Largo G.B. Marzi 10
Tim Etchells’ new neon is a fragment from Sei Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book (1002) which gathers the writer’s observations made during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi in Heian Japan. The quotation forms the title of one of Sei Shōnagon’s numerous lists, in this case her catalogue of exciting or exhilarating things, the first item on which is, “Sparrows feeding their young”.
Reproducing the title but not the contents of Sei Shōnagon’s personal inventory of ‘things that make the heart beat faster,’ Etchells’ neon makes a direct call to each viewer, asking them to imagine or summon from experience or imagination things that cause their own pulse to quicken. Echoing Sei Shōnagon, Etchells also draws attention to the general category of human experience of exhilaration or excitement – asking us to think about the desires, pleasures, passions, possibilities, loves and obsessions that might drive, inspire and stir us.
Turning a fragment of an ancient intimate diary into a bold public statement, Etchells also reflects on the relation between the past and the present, the public and the private, the personal and the social or shared. things that make the heart beat faster shifts time and context, asking us to think about the dynamics of our relation with each other, with the natural world and with other beings, objects and events we encounter along the way.
Tim Etchells is an artist and writer based in the UK and founder of the company Forced Entertainment. His work shifts between performance, visual art and fiction; he has produced major commissions for public space internationally and has been presented in museums, galleries, biennales and fairs, including: Tate Modern, London; Kunsthalle Wein, Vienna; Gotenburg International Biennale; Manifesta 7, Rovereto; Perf4m ARTISSIMA, Turin; FIAC, Palais De Decouverte, Paris. Etchells’ neon and LED pieces explore contradictory aspects of language striving to create miniature narratives, moments of confusion, awkwardness, reflection and intimacy in public settings.
The piece, conceived and realized for re-creatures, marks the entrance in a world where everything is different from how it appears and relations between human, natural and animal, are questioned.