Bombs Away:Matt Collishaw @ the Bomb Factory.

On Friday I went on an art tour of a few central London galleries (it wasn't the highlight of my day, I later met with Mark and Natalie for delicious dosas in Diwana and then the three of us met up with Stedge - who I'd not seen for years - for a few scoops) and I have to say the first three were rather disappointing.

The Gilbert & George exhibition at the White Cube in Mason's Yard was so bad I actually felt a little angry about it, the Lee Bul show at Thaddaeus Ropac wasn't much better, and Richard Wright's efforts (Gagosian, Davies Street) left me more bewildered than anything else. It was up to former YBA, in the Bomb Factory near Marylebone, to save the day.

Insilico (2023)

Would he be able to? Just. The Bomb Factory is either an inauspicious looking venue, or an auspicious looking one. Depending on what sort of galleries you like. It's got a deeply post-industrial vibe, like somewhere Artangel might use, and that's clearly been cultivated quite heavily.

The floors are scattered with debris, the walls are dirty, and the desk is manned by two too cool for school hipsters. Which is still preferable to the kind of places where a man in a suit opens and closes the door for you. Which I always find awkward.

The first thing you see when you walk in is Insilico. A robot stag slipping and falling, apparently (and you'd not get this by watching it) in response to abusive posts on Twitter. I long ago gave up on Twitter as it seemed to be, primarily, a place for abusive posts. A place where you can guarantee the biggest arseholes will have the biggest followings. With Elon Musk taking over, that's just got worse.

But does Insilico say anything new about the toxicity of social media? Not really - but it looks quite cool. Elsewhere there's a series of spectral animal paintings on raw linen called Palantir. Wolves and stags (again). They look quite cool but not quite sure what point Collishaw is making with these? Some of the animals are predators, some of the animals are prey. Much like the way we've constructed human society with capitalism as our only model.

Palantir (2022)

Palantir (2022)

Palantir (2022)

At least that's what I think. He might just think wolves and stags are ace and if so, that's fair enough. There's birds too, animatronic ones on a much smaller scale than Insilico. 2019's The Machine Zone is inspired by the behavioural experiments of psychologist B.F.Skinner. Experiments in which pigeons were placed in cages and food was given to them automatically. The pigeons developed rituals which they would perform seemingly in the belief that it helped provide them with food.

Skinner felt this told us a lot about human behaviour and when you look at cargo cults you can see humans, too, perform similar rituals. In Western society, we don't have cargo cults as such (or at all) but we still perform rituals in hope of getting results. People chose their lottery numbers based on birthdays, anniversaries etc; while it's obvious to all that that clearly isn't a factor in what numbers come up.

There are, of course, more elegant examples. But what does The Machine Zone add to Skinner's work? Nothing really. But at least it made me think about something interesting which is more than Gilbert & George did.

The Machine Zone (2019)

The Machine Zone (2019)

Insilico (2023)

But Collishaw saved the best for last and saved the day with All Things Fall. Walking back past a now resting Insilico I entered a darkened room with a note outside warning me not to touch the exhibit as it could be dangerous. I was the only person (bar the desk guys) in the gallery. What excitement?

All Things Fall, and my photo can't possibly capture it, was really rather wonderful - in a macabre kind of way. A spinning temple with lights going on and off and small figures massacring even smaller figures. The Massacre of the Innocents as told in the gospels and as painted by artists like Giotto, Poussin, Rubens, Breughel the Elder, Reni, and Tintoretto.

Proper art! Of course, Collishaw's whirligig roundabout thing had the air of a Victorian circus attraction about it but it was, after a day of looking at very uninspiring and emotionally vapid art, just what I needed. It saved the day. I went for a nice long walk in Regent's Park and then met up with my friends. Friendship had, as ever, beaten art that day but Matt Collishaw's All Fall Down was easily the best thing I saw on my little art tour.

All Things Fall (2023)