Kieren Reed and Abigail Hunt

Kieren Reed and Abigail Hunt are interested in exploring thoughts, opinions, ephemera and paraphernalia about expressing statement in consideration of current political and social issues and how the press, strong social groups, upbringing and politics shape public opinion and beliefs. We live in an apparently democratic society where everyone has the right to express an opinion and be heard, but this is a position very much lived around a very visible public hysteria and potential political peer pressure which can culminate in events of mass public support and emotion. Despite a noted move towards the desire for us all to be seen as and to live our lives as individuals, mass public opinion is more evocative of Orwell’s big brother society or a governmental nanny state where our opinions are decided for us.

Their collaboration up until this point has explored notions of making the viewer assume political stance through a pastiche and simulation of protesting, the use of ambiguous slogans and the manipulation of the situations in which they place themselves. However, they actually use this as a way of exploring and documenting other agendas through stereotyping. As a collaborative partnership Reed and Hunt are interested in creating artwork which considers recent events of mass public support or outcry and in critiquing our ‘caring’ society and its methods of expressing emotion within social groups. Artworks create situations and document participants/audience in suggested or manufactured events, crossing between the boundaries of performance, time-based media and documentary and event-based concepts as well as actually producing related sculptural objects and exploring the very notion of collaborative practice and the participation or manipulation of audience.

Vitrine IV
Kiosk Collection (detail)
2009

Placards
2007