Stuart Middleton: Beat

Stuart Middleton’s exhibition will feature a new video and a site-specific installation developed in response to the architecture of the Lower Gallery. This will involve the removal of existing walls and suspended ceiling in addition to the construction of a wooden platform made from reclaimed domestic floorboards. The structure references the buildings used in modern industrial agriculture to house livestock, upcycled interior design projects and historical site-specific artworks. The scale of the installation foregrounds a critical position on the concept of ‘landscape’ as a product of human design composed from conflicting ideological positions.

Situated in the Upper Gallery is a new stop-frame animation commissioned by the ICA. The video shows an undernourished dog moving around in a brightly lit cell that recalls the white-washed austerity of vivisection laboratories, euthanasia clinics and art galleries.