The drumhead

More about the book

Over the past 50 years artist Gerry Bibby has inserted narratives and instructional texts into his artworks as acts of tactical withdrawal. The Drumhead, Bibbys first publication, includes a series of his Language Costumes or fragmentary texts which, like William Burroughss The Wild Boys or Robert Walsers The Walk, attest to an offended intelligence. Moving across performance, sculpture and writing, Gerry Bibbys artworks take form at the uncomfortable fissures between the three. His Language Costumes arrive at these junctions as self-styled instructional texts, photocopy machine manuals, drinks menus and poetic passages. His captivating passages brim with wit, wry observation and occasionally with disgust, offering viewers ways out even if only at the time of reading. Commissioned by If I Cant Dance, I Dont Want to Be Part of Your Revolution, The Drumhead follows a two-year collaboration with KUB Arena of the Kunsthaus Bregenz, The Showroom London, CCA Glasgow, and the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.