Drawn in

What the hell’s that scratchy sound? We’re walking past the City Gallery and it’s 11.30 pm. Turns out to be the sound track of videos playing in the outside foyer of the City Gallery, on view for anyone who walks past, 24/7. The twin videos broadcast from each side of the entrance is perfectly in tune with the work. Made in 2006 by Australian twins Silvana and Gabriella Mangano, it’s called If…so…then. Two black-clad figures make drawings on the walls behind each other in a synchronized personal choreography that seems both mysterious and touching. Literally touching in this case as they pursue each other through a set of complicated maneuvers that career from didactic to confrontational. In the advertising world they have a process that seeks to find that single word that encapsulates a complex event. They call it the single-minded proposition, an attempt to sum up the essence of what is being produced. For If…so…then we’d go for captivating. You can read David Cross's EYEcontact review of this and the other Mangano videos that are on show here.
Images: Silvana and Gabriella Mangano hard at work in the middle of the night