Bedwyr Williams is interested in the absolute worst-case scenarios and the people that get caught up in them – average-sized people in over-sized situations. In Echt, a major commission for Tramway, Williams presents a full-size diorama of such an encounter in a dark clearing. The immersive installation includes a film depicting a dystopian future in which a fast-track feudal system has left the country divided among new chieftains. In this new world, where status is based on conspicuous consumption, hoarders are kings. These accumulators of objects and junk have set up their new courts in former dancehalls and nightclubs, and are accompanied by a host of Williams’ acutely observed characters. His curious and fantastical film imagines a future in which an apocalyptic event has forced humanity to reform society, having disregarded previous rules.
Edition of 30.
Medium Screenprint
Dimensions 91.5cm x 61.5cm (image runs to edge of paper)
Artist Bedwyr Williams (b. 1974) won the Paul Hamlyn Award for the Visual Arts in 2005, was shortlisted for the Beck’s Futures prize in 2006 was previously recipient of the Welsh residency at the Venice Biennale. He has exhibited nationally and internationally in solo shows including, ‘Nimrod’, Ceri Hand Gallery, Liverpool, UK (2010), ‘Der Dinghy Koening’, Center, Berlin, Germany (2008). Major group shows include ‘ERNSTE TIERE: PETRIT HALILAJ, (Judith Hopf and Bedwyr Williams)’, Kunstverein Bonn, Germany (2011); ‘Art13‘ London international art fair in March (2013); ‘SHOW’, Jerwood Space, London, UK (2011); ‘Battle in Vain’, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2011); ‘Among the Living‘, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, UK (2007). He lives and works in Caemarfon, Wales.
