I am a Revolutionary

In the 2001 video, I Am A Revolutionary we see the artist undergoing a presentation skills training session with her own personal trainer. Within the stage-like environment of an empty office space, its glass wall offering a cinematic view onto an atrium of architecturally epic proportions, we can see other office workers immersed in their business. The artist works hard at perfecting one line – “I am a revolutionary” from what appears to be a larger speech intended for an unknown audience "I am a revolutionary". The words could come equally from heroic 'business leadership' rhetoric as a political context. The art work refers to the iconography of Joseph Beuys, specifically his lecture-based works.

I Am A Revolutionary appeared in solo shows at the Trafo Gallery, Budapest (2005) and John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, Angel Row, Nottingham and Firstsite, Colchester (curated by Film & Video Umbrella) (2001). The work has appeared in a considerable number of group shows internationally of which the following constitutes a selection: Global Feminisms at the Brooklyn Art Gallery (curated by Linda Nochlin, 2007); Happy Believers, Werkleitz Biennale (2006); Body: New British Art, Vancouver Art Gallery (2005, with the Chapmans, Sarah Lucas, Sam Taylor-Wood and others); Sharjah Bienniale; Making Things Public, ZKM, Karlsruhe (curated by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel alongside work by Daumier, Goya, Heartfield, Rivera and others) (2004).

I Am A Revolutionary has been included in the following publications, amongst others, Townsend New Art from London (Thames and Hudson, 2006), Gressel, Critical Societies Reader (Badischer Kunstverein, 2006), Kivland Transmission (Site Gallery, 2006), Farquharson, British Art Show 6 (Hayward Gallery Publishing, 2005) and Latour, Making Things Public (MIT, 2005). The work is incorporated in the John Hansard / Film And Video Umberella catalogue Carey Young Incorporated.