mike nelson "coral reef"

“The Works title alludes to a collection of complex, fragile belief systems that form a layer – a coral reef- beneath the ocean surface of dominant ideologies“
mike nelson-attended Chelsea College in 1992-1993

hidden behind a unassuming doors installation invites visitors into a parallel world...

rooms of different beliefs
complete fiction but representing different spaces in different times
a bit of political view on moments
turns literal into spatial, historical, another times, strange relics, all a bit in the past but happening here; in present....

 

 

Since making it, Nelson has become deservedly well-known for his engaging, yet disturbing architectural installations. He has been shortlisted for the Turner prize twice, and next year is to represent Britain in the Venice Biennale. The Coral Reef is the work that made his name but it is so much more than that: I dare you not to be gripped and troubled, perplexed and delighted by this detour through the apocalyptic imagination.

As soon as you enter the door marked The Coral Reef, you are in a seedy world of – what? Ratty hotels, call-centres, terrorist cells, taxi offices – you are not sure what exactly what the interstitial, transient rooms and antechambers you pass through or glimpse through dirty windows are, or where. But a machine gun and a mask left on a worktop is almost superfluous to the atmosphere of menace. An overwhelming sense both of abandonment and anticipation sucks you into what feels like a narrative about terror and conspiracy. The surprising thing about The Coral Reef is its date. It was made the before the world changed – and yet no other British work I can think of is so eerily resonant with the realities and fantasies unleashed by the events of September 11 2001.
The Coral Reef is the installation as scary novel. Horror and the Gothic haunt Nelson, but in this extraordinary creation it is not vague creepiness he creates. It is the creepiness of our time, the strangeness of our cities, the paranoia of this absurd age. It is an urgent work of art, an exceptional achievement. What a treasure of the Tate collection this is: what a claim it makes for Nelson as an artist. It is a modern classic, comparable with Ed Kienholz's great work The Beanery: grotesque, horrible, funny, bizarrely moving. You want to know my idea of a modern masterpiece? Go to Tate Britain and subject your psyche to The Coral Reef.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2001/sep/04/artsfeatures.turnerprize2001

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/nelson/