Acquired by National Museums NI, with support from Art Fund, Parker’s film anticipates the confusion and political disarray of a post-Brexit UK.
Parker was the official artist for the 2017 general election, the first woman and the first conceptual artist to receive this prestigious commission from the House of Commons.
Made in response to the 2017 General Election, Left Right and Centre was filmed in the chamber of the House of Commons using a drone and a wind machine. Newspapers are scattered throughout the chamber, suggesting powerful hidden forces and the manipulation of the media.
To celebrate the acquisition, Parker’s film is shown alongside an exhibition of twentieth century and contemporary art from the Ulster Museum collection. Many of the artists included, such as Francis Bacon and Gilbert and George, have, like Parker, set out to break the framework of traditional artistic representation.
Anne Stewart, Senior Curator of Art for National Museums NI, comments: “We are delighted to have been able to acquire Cornelia Parker’s major new film for the collection and are grateful to the Art Fund for their support. Left Right and Centre is Parker’s response to one of the most important political events in recent history, and in it she confronts her fears for democracy in a direct and almost elemental way. The works from the Ulster Museum’s collection selected for this exhibition follow Parker’s lead, in that they also challenge the boundaries of traditional artistic representation.”
On receiving the commission to be the official artist for the 2017 General Election and choosing to film in the chamber of the House of Commons, Cornelia Parker comments:
“I wanted to have a very different view, of a very familiar place. I have tried to create a body of works that reflect this very particular moment in electoral history, to offer another perspective.”
Left, Right and Centre exhibition is on display at the Ulster Museum now. Admission is free.
