Lapdogs

I intalled the Lapdogs film in the exhibition that produced it, Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie at the Arnolfini in Bristol. Curated by Nav Haq and Tirdad Zolghadr, the exhibition/research project has been peripatetically roving for the last two years; to London, Berlin, Stockholm, Istanbul and Cairo. For Bristol, I created an environment; part cheap but chic domestic interior, part Lapdogs Media stand at a media trade fair.

The other artists included Annika Eriksson, Dirk Fleischmann/Michele di Menna, Chris Evans, Liam Gillick, San Keller, Hassan Khan, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Marion von Osten and Anup Mathew Thomas

The project has posed the question To what extent does class play a role in the production and dissemination of contemporary art? Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie investigates the latent issue of class underlying the field of contemporary visual art. The project is an open question, an invitation to a discussion long overdue, there are no conclusions or rigid hypotheses.

Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie is a collaborative project, where many of the participants scrutinise their own positions, bias and gaze within the hierarchy of cultural production. It seeks to identify the impact class has in the art field - through artists, curators, institutions, audiences and decision makers.

View the film

Read about the accompanying book published by Sternberg Press

See the extensive events programme

Download some of the background reading

Peruse an accompanying film programme

You can also study the Lapdogs film script, look-at images of the film shoot and installation at the Townhouse Cairo, or read a description of the exhibition in the Guardian newspaper.