Things for Houses
Clemence de la Tour, John Newton

In December L'Atelier-Kunst(Spiel)Raum presented 'Things for houses' by the Anglo-French duo Clemence de La Tour du Pin and John Henry Newton, a project lasting four days within the gallery space. Every evening the gallery will open at 8pm with an intervention. Du Pin and Newton often combine practices to create workshop-like environments within the spaces that they inhabit. Rather than dote on the refinement of a complete work, they keep an optimistic focus on the act of production - with their firm motto of 'doing something!'. The gallery becomes a shoe box filled with object and ephemera, transforming the space into a modest museum of the creative process. Having collaborated previously, 'Things for houses' sees the artist's dialogue begin from different locations with Newton now based in London and Du Pin in Berlin. Rather than view this as a logistical problem, the project embraces the distance, encouraging the spontaneity of the present and challenging the possibility of a collaboration. It is this specificity that is the flame for their collective work, with the anecdotes and history of process being put back in to the melting pot so to speak. Other selected collaborative projects include 'We'll probably name it afterwards' Galerija SC, Zagreb, Croatia 2010 and 'Exceedingly good mistakes' Central House, London 2010.

Photos by Laura Gianetti

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