Installation
2019

For the first attic, Root Canal invited the artist duo Manuela Gernedel & Fiona Mackay, because they were interested in seeing how Manuela and Fiona would make this structure their own. They saw their show Coma at VIS in Hamburg in 2018 and were impressed by their energetic and immersive way of taking over spaces. Manuela and Fiona always have a unique approach to what they paint and to how they alter a space referring to the surroundings of the space they’re exhibiting in.

Performance, Installation
2019

With this exhibition Root Canal wanted to show that the attic can be read as a metaphor of the mind. In one loft they wanted to shed light on the action of arranging: the more logical part of the mind. It refers to the attic as a place where things are being kept and found. Upon further research it was exciting for Root Canal to learn how Susan sources the fabrics, handling them through various methods: commissioning them from seed to cloth, receiving them as gifts, or coming across them as recycled finds. They were intrigued by the way that the dresses seem to display means of collaging. Simultaneously they seem to function within the painterly discourse and also in the realm of arranging and collecting of specific materials. Susan's work is often inspired by her own memories. Each piece is separate and distinct, but the overarching structure of how the work is arranged becomes almost as important as the works themselves. The costumes are intended to be used. At the opening performers wore them while being in a meditation session with the artist in the center of the Vleeshal.

Audio, Installation
2019

Jacob Dwyer was the first artist Root Canal agreed upon to invite for this show. Earlier this year in an exhibition in Amsterdam they discovered that Jacob is not only a great video artist, but also makes stunning audio pieces. His audio piece Goin’ Mad, that he made specifically for this show at Vleeshal, progresses through the anxious and never ending mantra:

The words come from a song of the same name. Goin’ Mad was the fifth track of Wiley’s debut album, Treddin’ On Thin Ice (2004), in which he flows over a timeless grime beat, produced by himself. In combining the recordings made on the site in which they will be heard, Dwyer creates a sonic space in which the voices (and lyrics) come to life, merging with the fabric of the building. The old wooden doors flanking the hall, that were once used to keep the meat inside cool, become a surface for a crazed character to thump and provide metronome for these vague internal anxieties, from the world outside the attic (brain). Goin’ Mad was recorded using binaural microphones. These mirror the acoustic shadowing that our head provides, thus when listened to from the same position in which they were recorded, we can align with that perspective. It becomes extremely personal. Root Canal thought it would be nice to have this intense work that activates the attic space differently. The audience could really feel the space. It was getting closer to a claustrophobic feeling.