The City is a Burning, Blazing Bonfire at Cubitt Gallery

The City is a Burning, Blazing Bonfire at Cubitt Gallery

02 November, 2011
by: Kylie.abplanalp

Kylie Abplanalp explores our understanding of energy at Cubitt's new Lefebvre-inspired group show.

Fuelled by Henri Lefebvre's conception of the city as a “constantly burning, blazing bonfire”, the artists in this group show at Cubitt Gallery have set out to express the complex relationship that exists between people and energy. Works by Ashok Sukumaran, Deimantas Narkevicius, Amy Balkin and Invisible 5 act as visual supplements to the 30-page exhibition pamphlet which advocates a deeper examination into what energy means to us today.

The character of energy has generally been expressed, visually at least, through the devices that it powers. In the early days of electricity, forms which recalled those of a pre-technological society were chosen in order to ease public concerns. These forms have subsequently influenced the way energy is understood. 

Exploring the limits of this way of understanding energy is Ashok Sukumaran's fourteen-strong photographic series, Postscript on the Order of Networks. The series proposes that “Metaphors should be multiplied in every direction. They are what allow us to escape from a system’s definitions.” Sukumaran's own metaphors evoke a comparison between the city and the network (leaks and crowds, grids and groups) and encourage us to re-asses the system and turn our attention towards other ways in which energetic transmission can occur. The piece has potential to be interesting, but the artist's thought processes are hard to follow and concepts such as ‘the network’ are not clearly defined.

Super 8, a film by Deimantas Narkevicius, takes a more emotive approach in addressing the co-dependency between man and energy. With a nostalgic tone, this film portrays Elektreni, a town built to support the power station that pioneered the electrification of Lithuania. Received with optimism, the plant inspired a sense of excitement for the production of energy – something Narkevicius juxtaposes against the hardship of working life, to articulate the cyclic exchange of energy between man and electricity. An interlude from a dancing figure implies how our own energetic output is channelled in the production of energy. The film echoes Sukumaran's sentiment in its effective attempt to detach energy from the ideals imposed on it.

Perhaps the most interesting piece on show is Invisible 5, an audio tour of the “invisible polluted landscape” of Interstate 5, running from Los Angeles to San Francisco through the San Joaquin Valley. Provided by Amy Balkin, Kim Stringfellow, and Tim Halbur, the tour is designed to be heard whilst driving down the highway. Landmarks are used to prompt track changes and tracks range from music to personal stories including the tale of a mother whose son developed asthma within 48 hours of moving to the area. The subliminal narrative implicates the driver’s toxic impact on his surroundings, but some potency is lost in the move to a gallery space.

Meanwhile, Amy Balkin's solo piece, Public Smog, addresses the environmental issue of pollution with sardonic humour by suggesting that the world’s atmosphere be nominated a UNESCO World Heritage site. The piece is a telephone dialogue, transcribed on film. The minimalist presentation appeals to a society where people are so over exposed to imagery it is easy to become immune to the message they portray.

As a whole, the show collects together some interesting ideas about our relationship with energy. The inclusion of electrical development leaflets dating from c.1919 to 1922 tempts an insight into where our thinking about energy originates, but the show fails to create clear cohesion between the pieces. The concepts introduced in the exhibition are certainly thought-provoking but it's often difficult to distil meaning from the works alone. To get the most out of this exhibition, prepare to give a little – the enjoyment comes from the amount of energy you are willing to put in.


The City is a Burning, Blazing Bonfire is at Cubitt Gallery until 23rd December 2011.

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