Post-Art Clarity

At the time of writing this, the curtain has just fallen on HARDCORE / LOVE, a two-person exhibition of video works by Mark Leckey and Arthur Jafa. For the uninitiated, Leckey and Jafa are two giants of the medium, and although video-based exhibitions rarely get the press coverage they deserve (I’m thinking of recent shows such as Isabel Barfod at LUX in Highgate, and Alexis Kyle Mitchell at PEER in Hoxton, both of which were excellent and yet I saw no reportage on socials nor on the art press that was on my radar), this run was bound to attract crowds. Curating video art can be tricky; perhaps more than other mediums, the curator needs to have a good black book of art-world types, who they can be sure will turn up and essentially provide some free PR. Whereas you can write about a painting or sculpture, taking photos for the ‘gram so that the audience gets the gist in the digital realm, there is usually more to video, more sensory commitment required. Video and film demand an active...