John Wood - Paul Harrison

John Wood

Born in 1969 in Hong Kong, he lives in Bristol (UK).

Paul Harrison
Born in 1966 in Wolverhampton (UK), he lives in Bristol.

With an approach that is almost scientific in its rigour and seriousness, John Wood and his alter ego Paul Harrison submit their bodies to multiple experiments. Short video sequences show them in uncomfortable postures, in tragicomic defiance of the laws of balance or gravity. In a cramped, minimalist space, the two identically dressed men seem to follow a precise protocol: each object, each gesture plays an essential part in a mise-en-scène that appears to have been planned down to the last detail. This mastery almost makes us forget that these demonstrations are futile and verge on the absurd. What is the point of these actions? The overall point of their works and methods is perhaps to indicate that the question is more important than the answer.