JAMES CAUTY: A RIOT IN A JAM JAR
Exhibition Notes from 2011
A RIOT IN A JAM JAR presents small world re-enactments that depict past and future riots ...reality blurred... all within a jam jar. The jam jars suggest containment... violent disturbances served up in manageable doses like news bulletins... complex situations reduced to mantelpiece ornaments and souvenirs.
In real life riot situations the media searches for action in spotter helicopters and ‘at the scene’ reportage… someone throws a dustbin at a shop window and it’s instantly relayed to the world. The focus is always on the sensational... violence on the TV screen.... tag lines and one liners… This is the currency.
A Riot in a Jam Jar appropriates the mediated and sensational language of our news and communication networks... focusing in
on and amping up situations for instant consumption:
a riot in a jam jar is a snapshot of a spectacular and mediated super-reality
a riot in a jam jar depicts acts of contained and sensationalised violence for the instant gratification of its audience
a riot in a jam jar presents 1:87 scale micro revolutions served up in bite size chunks
a riot in a jam jar is a mantelpiece ornament for the twitter generation
These tiny acts of violence serve as snap shots of a greater and vastly more complex reality.
James Cauty, 2011
