Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
As a playmaker of phenomenal vision, Zidane had an unusual appeal for artists. His act of retaliatory violence heightened it, remaining enigmatic as neither he nor Materazzi provided a satisfactory explanation, and propelled Gordon and Parreno’s work out of its intended gallery context and into cinemas. Gordon, a Turner Prize winner in 1996, was fascinated with ways of playing with time on video, most famously in 24-Hour Psycho (1993), which slowed down Hitchcock’s film so that it lasted a day. Parreno was interested in the idea of the exhibition as a medium, with shows having a scripted starting-point from which limitless narratives could emerge, and Zidane was able to combine both of their concerns.
By Juliet Jacques.
Stereolab & the Nineties art of influence
Stereolab were sometimes attacked for creating from a desire to experiment rather than any deep emotional need, but Sadier’s oblique lyrics and detached delivery, perfectly balanced with Hansen’s dreamy backing vocals, contain as much feeling and more political urgency than most other bands of the mid-1990s, with one notable exception being the Manic Street Preachers, who cited McCarthy as their greatest influence and covered ‘We Are All Bourgeois Now’. If they were more for critics and curators than a mass audience, they were one of considerable verve and intelligence, whose understanding of music history and ability to meld their discoveries in adventurous ways made them one of the most interesting and inventive groups of their time.
By Juliet Jacques.