Void Gallery is pleased to present the premier of Andrei Molodkin’s Catholic Blood. Molodkin’s controversial work reflects an enduring examination into the corruption imbued in social, political and religious constructs. Using human blood, crude oil and ballpoint pen, the artist forces the viewer to re-engage with uncomfortable concepts of power and perversion inherent in society and its government. For his exhibition at Void, curated by Conor McFeely, Andrei Molodkin will present a new installation Catholic Blood in the Rose Window of the Houses of Parliament, (2013). Created specifically for the context of Derry and Northern Ireland, addressing the Catholic Relief Act of 1829 and the clause of the British constitution that forbids an MP from advising the sovereign on ecclesiastical matters if they are of Catholic faith. This has lead to the implicit belief that no British Prime Minister could ever be Catholic whilst serving as Prime Minister.

The kinetic installation comprises separate symbiotic elements. The central acrylic sculpture forms an exact, hollowed, replica of the Rose Window adorning the façade of the Houses of Parliament. Adjacent, a pharmaceutical fridge retains samples of freshly donated human blood. Regulated by an industrial compressor, a medical pump pushes the refrigerated blood through plastic tubes and into the Parliamentary window. Intermittently, an additional pump draws the blood from the window and back into the fridge. This cyclical process is projected onto the wall behind as a continual real-time stream, creating an inescapable re-presentation of the original installation. The clinically designed, factory produced, autonomous sculpture becomes a simulation of the mechanised life support machine and a configuration of the parasitical human body.

A selection of the preparatory technical drawings will also be on display, providing an insight into the project’s conception. A second installation, ‘Direct from the Pipe’, 2009 will present religious iconography, pumped independently with both crude oil and human blood.

Andrei Molodkin’s Biography

Andrei Molodkin was born 1966 in Boui, North Russia. He graduated from the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at Stroganov Institute, Moscow in 1992.

Whilst studying he also served in the Soviet Army, convoying missiles through Siberia. In 2009 he represented his country in the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. His large-scale installation ‘Liquid Modernity’, 2009 entered the Tate Collection, UK in 2012. Recent exhibitions include: CRUDE – Katzen Art Center, American University Museum, Washington D.C. (2013); Liquid Black – Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2012); CRUDE – Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston Texas (2011/12); Absolute Return – Museum of Modern Art, Saint Etienne (2011/12).

For more information about Andrei’s work visit this website

Download the Press Release below:

Andrei Molodkin Press Release

Acknowledgments

Void is kindly funded by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland with additional assistance from Derry City Council.

Catholic Blood has been kindly supported by Ilex and a/political