X is not the same as X is an installation that disturbs consumer identity and power relations. In the gallery at Melbourne Central the installation enacts a folding of the outside into the inside, and vice versa. Bishop & Reis entrap the viewer in a 2/3 size room – a slightly distorted replica of a space through which the viewer has recently passed. Inside this shaky interior, behind our own reflection, the viewer devolves into something else, an everyman who in The West Wing is presented as both one and many Santa. To warp a well-known phrase: the white hair follicles of the long beard marks a deterritorialisation of the fur, mouth and snout of the animal.
History
Creation date
2010-01-01
Material type
art original
Publication classification
J2 Minor original creative work
Copyright notice
2010, The Artist
Extent
Bishop and Reis built three scaled down replicas of gallery spaces in which they exhibited in - in 2011 and 2012. This major installation was exhibited at the WestWing - a WestSpace Gallery initiative.