SIXTEEN works of art created by a distinguished documentary photographer are to be destroyed as part of a new exhibition.
Next Thursday, at the Grève de Lecq Barracks, Tom Pope will ruin the work of Martin Parr.
Anywhere else it would surely be called vandalism but the art world has its own rules and Mr Pope – himself a distinguished photographer – is actually making art out of the destruction of his colleague’s efforts under the provocative title Terminating Martin Parr.
Fortunately Mr Parr approves and, of course, it is only a small part of his work that is up for termination in a piece of performance art in which the process of recording the demise of the photographs will be live-streamed.
Mr Pope also hopes to interact with the audience – both virtual and present at Grève de Lecq.
In 2013, the Archisle Contemporary Photography Programme, hosted by the Société Jersiaise, commissioned Mr Parr to create a new series of work about Jersey, but while ten of the 26 images were acquired for the historic collection, it was agreed that the remaining 16 would be destroyed. The cost of shipping and storing work that has become obsolete makes this normal in these circumstances.
Perhaps a shredding machine or a bonfire would have sufficed for the less imaginative but for Mr Pope – another participant in the Archisle programme – something more meaningful suggested itself.
He will invite his audience, whether online of physical, to select from a range of objects set out on a table and then use the object to destroy one of the 16 photographs. The objects he will use to destroy the photographs represent life, death and play, he said.
A photograph will then be taken of the remains of each print, which will be sent to Mr Parr, serving as proof of its destruction.
The performance is said to be a logistical service to both Martin Parr and Société Jersiaise Archisle, and aims to recontextualise the original prints by transforming destruction into a creative act. The photographs are the creative record of the performance.
It was during Mr Pope’s residency as part of the Archisle programme that he met Mr Parr and, hearing of the need to destroy some of his images, offered his services as part of a performance. To his delight, the photographer agreed.
‘It’s taken some logistical management to align all the moving parts of this performance, particularly after leaving Jersey when my residency ended,’ Mr Pope explained.
‘I’m thankful to everyone involved in bringing the performance to fruition. It’s very exciting to be returning to Jersey to perform this work.
‘With both [Mr] Parr’s and my creative ties to Jersey, it feels right for the performance to be staged on the Island.
‘For me, this performance is an exciting addition to the conversations around contemporary photographic practice. [Mr] Parr’s work will be recontextualised through my performance of destroying his prints.
‘The performance playfully engages with how photography is employed to record performance and simultaneously how we can transform the act of destruction into a creative event,’ he said.
Terminating Martin Parr will begin around 10am on next Thursday at Grève de Lecq Barracks and will be streamed live online via ArtHouse Jersey’s website arthousejersey.je.
It will also be streamed on both Tom Pope’s and ArtHouse Jersey’s Instagram channels.
A question-and-answer session will take place at the end of the performance at approximately 6.30pm. Those interested in attending should email carrie@arts.je in the first instance.
