Don’t Trust The Artist

Overview

A standout talk at last years’ Biennale of Sydney was a confessional rant by visiting artist Ryan Gander. For an hour, Gander charged himself with the task of divulging every lie he had uttered in the course of making and promoting his work. This included admitting that a conceptual series of white cubes filled with various objects, exhibited at several notable venues, were in fact empty. And when realising he had lost the sacred stones used in one his works, Gander simply dug up some bricks in his backyard and shipped them off to be exhibited instead. Interestingly, the more confessions that tumbled from this pathological liar, the more I liked him and lapped up every word he uttered like a suckling babe.