Modern Panic | Review by Zeitgeist Magazine
Surreal, controversial and provocative are the aims of Guerrilla Zoo's staged exhibitions and happenings. Founded in 2004 by curator and art director James Elphick, the zoo consists of a collective of underground artists, musicians and performers. Previous happenings have included planting actors in the audience and staging a violent fight, unbeknown to the frightened onlookers even as the ambulances and police began to arrive.
Elphick is heavily influenced by cult filmmaker, playwright and composer Alejandro Jodorowsky, one of the co founders of the Panic movement in Paris. The movement was founded in 1962 by Jodorowsky, Fernando Arrabel and Roland Topar in response to the Surrealist movement at the time, which they felt had become too petite bourgeoisie .The group performed highly charged theatrical events designed to shock the audience and shake them awake. Such as their famous four hour performance at the Paris festival of free expression in 1965, the Sacramental Melodrama; some of which involved Jodorowsky slitting the throats of two goats, being given birth to by a giant vagina, and throwing turtles in to the audience.
Guerrilla Zoo’s new exhibition Modern Panic is a follow up their 2009 Panic exhibition, in the same location, the Old Abattoir in Clerkenwell. Providing an aptly macabre atmosphere the exhibition features mixed media work of over 50 international artists including infamous prisoner Charles Bronson, Tank Girl comic artist Rufus Dayglo, performance artist Kira O’Reilly and taxidermist Iris Schieferstein.
Friday night's preview included a so called three hour panic with artists performing amidst the crowd, though none quite as extreme as Sacramental Melodrama, something to perhaps be thankful for. Not to give too much away and spoil the desired shock factor, the exhibition is open for viewing until the 12th of June from 11 to 7pm daily.
Modern Panic
Dates: Until June 12th 2011
Address: The Old Abattoir, 187-211 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 4LS
Website: www.guerrillazoo.com/modern-panic
Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6655450769
Twitter: www.twitter.com/guerrillazoo
Elphick is heavily influenced by cult filmmaker, playwright and composer Alejandro Jodorowsky, one of the co founders of the Panic movement in Paris. The movement was founded in 1962 by Jodorowsky, Fernando Arrabel and Roland Topar in response to the Surrealist movement at the time, which they felt had become too petite bourgeoisie .The group performed highly charged theatrical events designed to shock the audience and shake them awake. Such as their famous four hour performance at the Paris festival of free expression in 1965, the Sacramental Melodrama; some of which involved Jodorowsky slitting the throats of two goats, being given birth to by a giant vagina, and throwing turtles in to the audience.
Guerrilla Zoo’s new exhibition Modern Panic is a follow up their 2009 Panic exhibition, in the same location, the Old Abattoir in Clerkenwell. Providing an aptly macabre atmosphere the exhibition features mixed media work of over 50 international artists including infamous prisoner Charles Bronson, Tank Girl comic artist Rufus Dayglo, performance artist Kira O’Reilly and taxidermist Iris Schieferstein.
Friday night's preview included a so called three hour panic with artists performing amidst the crowd, though none quite as extreme as Sacramental Melodrama, something to perhaps be thankful for. Not to give too much away and spoil the desired shock factor, the exhibition is open for viewing until the 12th of June from 11 to 7pm daily.
Modern Panic
Dates: Until June 12th 2011
Address: The Old Abattoir, 187-211 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 4LS
Website: www.guerrillazoo.com/modern-panic
Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6655450769
Twitter: www.twitter.com/guerrillazoo
