RESOLVE Collective: them’s the breaks – Barbican, London

RESOLVE Collective take over the Barbican Curve with them’s the breaks, a participatory installation and public programme which looks under the surface of systems and institutions.

them’s the breaks

There’s something very different on in the Barbican’s Curve space at the moment. Although, to be fair, the exhibitions here are always varied and challenging. But what I mean is that them’s the breaks, by RESOLVE Collective, is unlike other exhibitions. The Barbican’s website describes this as “a large-scale installation and public programme for visitors to inhabit and participate in.” Although I’m a big time culture lover I would describe myself as a ‘cautious participator’. So what’s it all about?

RESOLVE Collective have transformed the Barbican Curve using a range of salvaged materials. There are three concepts within the long sweep of the gallery: a reading area with library and seating, a work bench, and a stage. The materials to build them have been foraged from cultural institutions in London and further afield. Stickers on the walls tell you exactly where: ash blocks from the Design Museum, for instance. Visitors are encouraged to interact by sitting and reading, or even writing on the walls. It’s thus a living artwork which will continue to change until it closes in July.

Visually, it’s very appealing. I don’t know to what extent this was deliberate or dictated by materials, but a lot of the ‘seating’ forms small curves perpendicular to the towering curves of the gallery space. Overall it feels like a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse of an installation process: little insights left behind in scribbles on the walls. Some recycled elements I even fancied I recognised – are the television sets below the ones I saw in Carolee Schneeman: Body Politics?

Intention Vs. Outcome

The title them’s the breaks works on two levels. There’s a reference in there to the building itself. What’s happening in the cracks of the Barbican and how does that mirror the structural decline of institutions and systems? There’s also a permeating feeling which is more centred on the people who work in the margins and the cracks. A making visible of the creative process of artists who work in the periphery either literally or figuratively.

Intellectually these concepts come across very well. But the element of participation is more of a challenge. Museums are institutions which can play a role in breaking down barriers in society, and promoting access and inclusion. Yet for those who for various reasons don’t see themselves as a museum’s audience, they also come with barriers of their own. Potentially of cost. But also the psychological barrier of a place with an unfamiliar set of ‘rules’ on how one should behave and respond.

I bring this up because, at least when I visited, the majority of visitors were following standard museum rules despite the participatory nature of the installation. As a ‘cautious participator’ myself, I poked at a few of the materials and walked on the stage, but without someone else’s example to follow or explicit calls to action, I didn’t sit down with a book, or start adding to the conversation on the walls. It goes to show how difficult it is to break down those barriers even in a project such as this: free, with a programme of activities aimed at bringing different audiences into the gallery.

So maybe in summary my advice is to take a bold or extrovert friend? I enjoyed taking in the exhibition, but am considering a do-over where I don’t let my reserved nature get the best of me.

Salterton Art’s Review’s rating: 3.5/5

them’s the breaks on until 16 July 2023