Tom Hackett, project image (photo, Conrad Tracy)
17 September – 29 October 2005
Tom Hackett
risk @ssessment
The "absurdities of risk assessment culture" formed the central plank of this beautiful exhibition from conceptualist Tom Hackett.
Hackett, who openly admits to scepticism and irritation being the starting point for much of his work, used firstsite's entrance space to visualise his unease with, risk assessment culture, what he sees as a scourge of the western world.
His art involved a scattered mass of 600 sparkling resin casts of everyday objects - each containing a flashing red light source. Each perfectly insignificant object marked red for danger.
These objects spread across the walls and floor of the gallery space to create an unearthly environment of trans-mutated everyday banalities, connected by an organic mass of some 6000ft of electric cabling.
Objects removed from their original prosaic identity, morph into an alien flashing environment and assault the viewer's sensibilities.
This spectacular piece was accompanied by 26 alphabetically sequenced texts, which playfully parodied the risk assessment notice. These were located around the gallery building in positions designed to challenge passing members of the public. Each corresponding to a different letter, each acted as a risk assessment of its surroundings.
Hackett stated "risk @ssessment reacts to the limitations and
absurdities of risk assessment culture as evidenced in current day life. It presents a sceptical and playful reaction against the preponderant hegemony of blame and accountability that has flooded unchecked across geographic and political boundaries in The West. It questions the punitive emphasis on third party accountability and blame as provable entity, rather than its truer position as a floating, malleable locus within a fabricated paradigm."
Tom Hackett enjoys a widely acclaimed position as a playful, dynamic and formally succinct artist. His creative spirit of questioning extends beyond the gallery into his creative process. He is active in art and design education and through his lecturing profile reinforces his preference for dialogue and enquiry over pedagogy. As an artist he chooses to work with the everyday and commonplace to unearth and question many of the received truths that surround us.
