Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan: Direct serious action is therefore necessary

Breaking through the concrete floors of the CCA, large, vibrant worm-like sculptures draw attention to the architecture of the building, its function and history as a public exhibition space. Black and white photographs, depicting Glasgow locations, are presented in handsome handmade frames and show off their materiality as much as their subject matter.

‘Listen,’ speaks a loquacious voice from the accompanying text, ‘we as a nation used to be the envy of the world … but what’s left of our fast dwindling heritage is being palmed off by the plethora of besuited, greedy wee nyaffs to a shower of profiteering non-entities who could not give a shite for anything other than lining their pockets.’ Eulogising Glasgow in its vernacular use of language, the voice is both collective and individual. Glasgow-based duo Tatham and O’Sullivan use choreography to direct the audience, and as a strategy for their work to function independently of their egos. Their attempt to re-frame the well-trodden path through the CCA in an absurd, in-your-face kind of way, echoes traces of the personality of the city, rather than the personalities of the artists.

In a time where ‘public’ is a washed out, throw-away term, the exhibition carries the voice of someone taking direct action, a soapboxing voice dissipating in the crowd like an ouroboros – the worm that eats itself.

CCA, Glasgow, until Sat 13 Nov