Doing Time

Juan Betancurth, Tristan Higginbotham, Georgina Hill, Garrett Lockhart, Stephen Polatch, Melanie Smith and Lucía Vidales

1 June - 8 July 2023

Doing Time takes its title from an essay by the anthropologist Tim Ingold on the Taiwanese artist Tehching Hsieh (b. 1950), who is best known for his “One Year” durational performances. On 26 September 1981, he began his third in New York when he would not enter any buildings or shelter of any sort (cars, trains, tents etc). 

Using Hsieh’s practice as a departure point, this exhibition draws together collage, painting, photography, sculpture and video of seven artists who explore or present time — measurements, duration and perception — through process, material and subject.

Juan Betancurth (b. 1972, Manizales, Colombia) lives and works in Bogotá. Selected recent solo exhibitions include Sketch Gallery, Bogotá (Colombia, 2020), Geometría (collaboration with Alejandro Penagos), Sketch Gallery, Bogotá (Colombia, 2019), Nydia (collaboration with Benjamin Fredrickson), Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York (USA, 2016) and Juan & Nydia, Museo Belber Jiménez, Oaxaca (Mexico, 2015). Recent group shows include Intersticios, Espacio El Dorado, Bogotá (Colombia, 2023), Sketches, Sketch Gallery, Material Art Fair (Mexico, 2023), Epicuro´s Garden, Espacio El Dorado, Bogotá, (Colombia, 2022), Cuepos Expuestos, Museo de Memoria de Colombia, Bogotá (Colombia, 2020), Luca2020, Karpuchina Gallery, Prague (Czech Republic, 2020). Betancurth has an upcoming performance entitled “Scores of Intimacy” in the frame of Movement Research ACROSS POLY(e)MOTION, (with Romany Dear & Daniel Neumann), Berlin (Germany, June, 2023) and an upcoming solo exhibition entitled How to Throw a Body Away at Espacio El Dorado, Bogota (Colombia, July 2023).

Tristan Higginbotham (b. 1996, Nashville TN, USA) is an artist and licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Queens, New York. Solo/two-person exhibitions include god made dirt, Electric Shed (Nashville TN, USA, 2022), and Revival, Room 482 (Brooklyn NY, USA, 2021). Recent group exhibitions include Make dirt cleaner, UMOCA (Salt Lake City UT, USA, 2023), Serendipity Trail, Badwater, (Knoxville TN, USA, 2022) and Dissolving Artfacts, Studio 200 (Brooklyn NY, USA, 2020). Residencies include Byrdcliffe Artist Colony (Woodstock NY, USA, 2022), Stoveworks (Chattanooga TN, USA, 2020) and NYC Audubon Nolan House (Governors Island NY, USA 2019).

Georgina Hill (b. 1986, Worcester, UK) lives and works in London. Recent solo/two person exhibitions include Mystery Box (with Maximilian Schmoetzer), New Toni, Berlin (Germany, 2022) and In a cowslip’s bell I lie, fluent, Santander (Spain, 2022). Recent group exhibitions include esta luz, tóxica (Il movimiento), Belmonte, Madrid (Spain, 2022), Flower in the wind, Belmacz, London (UK, 2023), For the hell of it, Atelier d'artistes de la Ville de Marseille (France, 2023), Group Show, Des Bains, London (UK, 2023), Angels of the Wonderful World of Dissocia, Galerie Charraudeau, Paris (France, 2022) and Unmoored, Adrift, Ashore, Or Gallery, Vancouver (Canada, 2022). Hill has a forthcoming publication, Hill Glass Studio (Editions Lutanie) later this year.

Garrett Lockhart (b. 1994 , Nanaimo, Canada) lives and works in Toronto. Recent solo exhibitions include Relay, Pumice Raft, Toronto (Canada, 2022) and Wrought Bundle, Afternoon Projects, Vancouver (Canada, 2021). Recent selected group exhibitions include dawn draws, dusk drops, Joys, Toronto (Canada, 2023), A word for underfoot; the sun, Hunt Gallery, Toronto (Canada, 2022) and Poem Objects, April April, New York City (USA, 2022).

Stephen Polatch (b. 1990 ,London, UK) lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Swan-Road, Margot Samel, New York (USA, 2022) and Clyde, Soft Opening, London (UK, 2022). Recent selected group exhibitions include In Three Acts, Huxley-Parlour, London (UK, 2023), Viscereal, Althuis Holland, Amsterdam (The Netherlands, 2022) and To be a giant and keep quiet about it, Margot Samel, New York (USA, 2022).

Melanie Smith (b. 1965, UK) lives and works between London and Mexico City and in 2011 represented Mexico at the 54th Venice Biennale. Selected recent solo exhibitions include Tickled Pink, Green with Envy, Parafin, London (UK, 2023) and Remain Detached, Sicardi, Houston (USA, 2022). Institutionally, she has exhibited at PS1 and MOMA, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate Modern, London; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Museo Tamayo, and MUCA Campus UNAM, Mexico City; Museo Amparo, Puebla; The Modern, Fort Worth; SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Santa Fe. A panoramic exhibition of her work was shown at Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes (UK, 2014) travelling to the CAC, Vilnius and the Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam. In 2018 she was included in the Liverpool Biennial. Melanie Smith: Farce and Artifice a panoramic survey, was presented at MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Spain, 2018), MUAC Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, UNAM, Mexico City, Museo Amparo, Puebla (both Mexico 2019) and MARCO Monterrey (Mexico, 2020).

Lucía Vidales (b. 1986, Mexico City) lives and works in Monterrey. Selected recent solo exhibitions include Un lugar para sí misma, Galería Karen Huber, Mexico City (Mexico, 2022), Sudor frio, Proxyco Gallery, New York (USA, 2021), Manoteta, Peana, Monterrey (Mexico, 2021), To cool the blue, Taka Ishii, Tokyo (Japan, 2020). Selected recent group exhibitions include Sucesos en el Horizonte, El Palmar, Mexico City (Mexico, 2023), Amor empieza por desasosiego, Centro Cultural Plaza Fátima, Nuevo Leon (Mexico, 2023), Creación en movimiento, Museo de San Idelfonso, Mexico City (Mexico 2022), Tamo aquí / We here, Galería Embajada, San Juan (Puerto Rico, 2022), Murales para un cubo blanco, commission for la Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City (Mexico, 2020) and Princesses des villes, Palais de Tokyo, París (France, 2019).