Press Information
Deadness is an exhibition of three parts: multiple 35mm slide projections with sound, the film The Last Walk (2011) and February 09 2013, a series of new photographic works.

Deadness is derived from Baseman’s creative non-fiction and interview-based practice, exploring the historical, cultural and sociological relationship between photographic portraiture and embalming, a theme investigated by Dr John Troyer, sociologist and Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath.

Dr Troyer grew up around funeral homes prior to his academic engagement with the subject of embalming, witnessing first-hand from a young age through his father’s work as a Funeral Director. Deadness presents his professional and personal connection to embalming combined with orphaned images collected through online auctions: casual snap shots and more formal portraits of individuals in their coffins from the early Victorian era to the present day.

The embalmer’s attention focuses on preparation for the moment relatives and loved ones view the deceased; this moment defines the core function of contemporary embalming: to leave the bereaved with a peaceful image and memory of the deceased. No matter how debilitating the trauma or the circumstances of a person’s death, this viewing is when the embalmer’s art is most clearly expressed.

Deadness acts as an experimental portrait of contemporary embalming, processes of reconstruction, preparation for burial (on land and sea) and cremation; providing insight into these private practices and the debates surrounding them. The exhibition partially focuses on the embalmer’s attempts to make the deceased appear to be at peace - as if asleep - thus prolonging the image of being alive and promoting positive final memories. The hope is that these memories will replace images of seen (as well as unseen or perceived) trauma, lingering death and/or prolonged disease. The processes of physical restoration and cosmeticising the deceased are perhaps the most crucial elements of embalming, making the main focus of this series of processes the return of the cadaver to its ‘natural’ appearance for viewing. Deadness explores the philosophical thrust of these processes as ideas and their meanings within our culture today.

February 09 2013 is a series of images captured at the base of wildfires in Tasmania, Australia on the 9th of February 2013. Although there were no deaths recorded on this date, the constant threat was ever-present.

The Last Walk features British artist Stuart Brisley. What starts as an ordinary walk in the park for Brisley and his dog soon ends in a dark discovery. The film, recorded on the final day of a Christmas fair in central London depicts fragments of reflected fairy lights suspended in winter trees.

In The Last Walk, the colour negative was hand-processed using the most rudimentary techniques possible: chemicals were housed in buckets in a simple, totally blacked out space to encourage visual breakdown, fragmentation and distortion- pushing the unpredictable nature of the materiality of film itself at its most fundamental level. The combination of filmed information and hand - processing create a mixture of abstraction and representation.

Deadness is supported by Matt’s Gallery, Wellcome Trust, Arts Council England, and The CCW Graduate School, University of the Arts London

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests. www.wellcome.ac.uk

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Jordan Baseman in conversation with
Dr John Troyer
Thursday 4 July, 7pm at Matt’s Gallery

Admission free but spaces are very limited, to book email info@mattsgallery.org

On the occasion of his current exhibition, Deadness, Jordan Baseman invites Dr. John Troyer for a discussion event at Matt's Gallery.

Investigating themes present in Baseman's new work, Dr.Troyer will provide fascinating insights into issues including new and near-future dead body disposal technology and necrophilia laws.

Dr. John Troyer is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, he is also a theatre director and installation artist with extensive experience in site-specific performance across the United States and Europe. Troyer is the co-founder of the Death Reference Desk website, the Future Cemetery Project, and a frequent commentator for the BBC. His forthcoming book Technologies of the Human Corpse will be published by the University of North Carolina Press in late 2013.

Biography
Studied 1986–1988 MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, University of London; 1979–1983 BA (hons) Fine Art, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Solo Exhibitions 2017 1977, House of St. Barnabas, London 2016 2 22 92, Dolph Projects, London; Veil, Temporary Arts Projects, Southend 2015 Tape 1 Tape 2, PS1, University of Lincoln; July the Twelfth 1984, Matt’s Gallery at Hospital Club, London 2014 Nobody Likes Us But We Don’t Care, Kunstverein Freiburg 2013 Deadness, Matt’s Gallery, London; A Cold Hand on a Cold Day, Fabrica, Brighton 2012 Green Lady, Modern Art Oxford at Story Museum, Oxford 2011 1973, Matt's Gallery at Genesis Cinema, London; Nasty Piece of Stuff, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen 2010 The Most Powerful Weapon in this World, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; Nature's Great Experiment, Modern Art Oxford and Catalyst Arts, Belfast 2009 Blue Movie, Matt's Gallery, London; Dark is the Night, Artsway, Hampshire & The Photographers' Gallery, London; a hypnotic effect, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 2008 Inside Man, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, University of Wales; The Documentary Imperative, Manchester Museum, Manchester 2007 Joy on Toast, Manchester Museum, Manchester; (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle; Nature's Great Experiment, Wellcome Collection, London; Tape 1 Tape 2, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2006 luv is gonna get you someday, Maus Habitos, Porto, Portugal; Sunday Morning, Site Gallery, Sheffield 2005 don't stop 'til you get enough, Matt's Gallery, London 2004 July The Twelfth 1984, Kaliman Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2003 City of Angels, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland; EF103 603, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland 2002 1 + 1 = 1 / Under the Blood, Art Gallery + Museum, Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa; Under the Blood / 1 + 1 = 1, Wysing Arts, Cambridge 2001 Raceway Queen, The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; Lonesome Town, The Laing Gallery, Newcastle; The Comedians, The Newman Rooms, Oxford 2000 here, Grizedale Forest, Cumbria 1999 the history of existentialism, Wigmore Fine Art, London 1998 SHUP a screenplay/Performance, The Agency, London; more lies, Mario Flecha Gallery, Girona, Spain 1997 The Party and other things, Richard Salmon Gallery, London; blunt objects, Galerie Eugen Lendl, Graz, Austria; Births, marriages, and deaths, The Serpentine Gallery @ Marylebone Town Hall, London 1996 vox humana, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, Austria 1994 F is for love, Mario Flecha Gallery, London and HeberPercy Gallery, Warwickshire 1993 Galerie Guy Ledune, Brussels Group Exhibitions & Screenings 2017 Out of Body, Irish Film Institute, Dublin; Fargo Film Festival, Fargo; School of the Damned Screening, SuperNormal, Oxford; London Short Film Festival, Picture House Central, London; Montclaire Film Festival, New Jersey 2016 Experimental Animation, Close-Up Cinema, London; Cork International Film Festival, Cork; Aesthetica Film Festival, York; Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Melbourne; New Orleans International Film Festival, Portland; Edge of Frame, DSFL, London; Stories in the Dark, Whitstable Biennale; Flat Death, Open Eye, Liverpool 2015 Essex Road 2, Tintype, London; FUSO International Video Art Festival, Lisbon; Aesthetica Film Festival, York; FILMadrid, Madrid International Film Festival, Madrid; Sequences 7, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik; London Short Film Festival, Hackney Picture House, London; Freedom Lies, The Collection, Lincoln; Strangelove Film Festival, University of the Arts London, London; Big Muddy Film Festival, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; MAC International, MAC, Belfast; Seville International Film Festival, Seville; Aesthetica Film Festival, York; See it This, Forde Space, Geneva; Hey, Im Mr. Poetic…, Wysing Arts, Cambridge; Sites of Collective Memory, Animate Project London 2014 Between Subject and Object, University of Cape Town, Cape Town; Art (After) Death, Royal Academy Schools, Lauderdale House, London; 2013 Oxford Film Festival, Oxford (Mississippi); 3AM: Wonder, Paranoia and the Restless Night, Bluecoat, Liverpool; Atlanta Underground Film Festival, Atlanta; Imagina Animation Festival, Lima; 971 horses + 4 zebras, MADA Gallery, Melbourne; Athens International Film Festival, Athens (Ohio); Kansas City International Film Festival, Kansas City; Independent Filmmakers Showcase, Hollywood; Berlin Independent Film Festival, Berlin; Fargo Film Festival, Fargo; 971 horses + 4 zebras, Contemporary Art Spaces Tasmania, Hobart 2012 971 horses + 4 zebras, Tate Modern and Wimbledon Space, London; Light Assembly, Miami Art Basel, Miami; Made in Three Mills Film Festival, London; I Would Breathe Water, Sarah Scout Gallery, Melbourne; COMPASS, Beacon Art Project, Lincolnshire; Audio: Jordan Baseman y Susan Hiller, Fundacio Tapies, Barcelona; Animasivo Festival, Mexico City; Oaxaca International Film Festival, Oaxaca; San Francisco Short Film Festival, San Francisco; Tokyo Story, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo; Independent Filmmakers Showcase, Hollywood; London Short Film Festival, Institute of Contemporary Art, London 2011 Lone Star Film Festival, Fort Worth, Texas; Edinburgh Documentary Film Festival, Edinburgh; Dark Matters, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Among the Nightingales, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; When the Dead Help the Living, Light Projects, Melbourne; Volta + Armory, Artprojx Cinema, SVA Theater, New York; London Short Film Festival, London; Moving Portraits, De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea; Coming of Age, Great Northern Museum, Newcastle 2010 Los Angeles Animation Festival, California; San Francisco International Short Film Festival, California; ResoVision, Resonance FM @ Frieze Art Fair; The All Sided Game, Edinburgh Film Guild Cinema, Edinburgh; Among the Nightingales, Tatton Park Biennial, Tatton Park; Adding Complexity to Confusion, Late at Tate, Tate Britain; Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia; Fools in Print, Berkley Art Museum, California; Voice/Under, Sixes and Sevens, White Box Studio, Nottingham; Glimmer, Hull International Film Festival, Hull; Gstaad Film Festival, Gstaad, Switzerland; Film, Video, Performance, Wimbledon College of Art, London 2009 New Forest Pavilion, 53rd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; Leading Lights, Several Pursuits Gallery, Berlin, Germany; Talk Show/Speakeasy, Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Ways of Living, Guest Room, London; Fool Me, drift, New Media Scotland, Edinburgh ; Salon S1, S1, Sheffield 2008 Stop.Watch., British Film Institute, London ; Reading Experimental Film Festival, Rising Sun Art Centre, Reading; Folie A Plusiers, MCO Arte Contemporanea, Porto, Portugal; Drawn Encounters, Wimbledon College of Art, London; Parallel, Salamanca Art Centre, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Multi-Channel, ArtSway, New Forest; Art and Strangers, Turnpike Gallery, Wigan ; Alchemy, Manchester Museum, Manchester; Grain, Isle of Grain, Kent 2007 Grain, Isle of Grain, Kent; Heart, Wellcome Trust, London; The Sun Always Shines on the Righteous, Purescreen, Manchester; Alchemy Artists, Manchester Museum, Manchester 2006 Open Video Library, Zaim, Yokahama, Japan; Hospitality, Accademia Tedesca, Villa Massimo, Rome; No Place Like Home, Beacon Art Project, Boston, Lincolnshire; Arcade, ACAVA Studios, London; Vox Pop, Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle; Contingency Plan, C.A.S.T., Tasmania, Hobart, Australia; Et Tu Tribute, Embassy Rooms, Edinburgh 2005 Variety, De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea; Crossing Borders, Berwick Film Festival, Berwick upon Tweed; Our Surroundings, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee; Size Matters, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire 2004 Six Thousand Chairs, Crystal Palace, London; Bad Behaviour, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire; AGORA, Transition Gallery, London; Feast of Silenus, Embassy Rooms, Edinburgh; Island Art Film/Video Festival, UGC Cinema, Docklands, London; Wonderful/Visions of the Near Future, Arnolfini, Bristol (National Touring Exhibition); Volume, Moving Pictures, St. Georges, Bristol; Brides of March, Embassy Rooms, Edinburgh 2003 La Mostra, British School at Rome, Rome; Radio Radio, The International 3, Manchester; In Good Form, Yorshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire; Animality, Blue Oyster Gallery, Auckland, N.Z.; The Human Zoo, University of Newcastle, Newcastle; Further Up In The Air, Linosa Close, Liverpool; Spike Open, Spike Island, Bristol; Don’t Look Down, The Nunnery, London; Infallible: In Search of the Real George Elliot, ATP, London; CHOCKERFUCKINGBLOCKED, Jeffrey Charles, London Turpentine, Studio Voltaire, London 2002 Medicate, Art Gallery + Museum, Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa; Somewhere, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham; Telling Lies, Forde Gallery, Geneva; Going Continental, University of Applied Arts, Vienna; Hygiene, THRILLER, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; TV Swansong, THE LAST BROADCAST: www.swansong.tv; Regards..., Galerie Alain le Gaillard, Paris; it rocks, but gently... Folly Gallery, Lancaster; Second Skin, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; file sound art, City Space, Birmingham; No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith, Central Space, London 2001 Interstanding 4:End Repeat, Estonia Center for Contemporary Art, Talin; Project: Film and Video, Pittville Room, Cheltenham; The Great Escape, Grizedale Forest, Cumbria; things are not what they seem to be, Galway Arts Center, Galway 2000 a different kind of show, Whitechapel Gallery, London; ...not enough, Velan Contemporary Art, Turin; The Grizedale Show, Grizedale Forest, Cumbria; Conversation, Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes; Now Festival, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham; Brief Encounters Film Festival, Bristol; Visions, City of Westminster Arts Council, London; Art in Motion Film Festival, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; SelfService, 5 Years, Underwood Street, London; John, I’m Only Dancing. Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 1999 The Anagrammatical Body, New Museum, Graz, Austria; East Wing Collection, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London; The Passage, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London; Saatchi at Sheffield, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; Tension, Greene Gallery, Geneva; Passion, Gasworks, London 1998 Fun de Seicle, Walsall Art Gallery, Walsall; Art Futures, Royal Festival Hall, London; Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; fly, work for the eye to do/King Mob, London; Personal Effects, Spacex, Exeter 1997 Pictura Britannica, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Craft, Richard Salmon Gallery, London; Oak Repels Lightning, Science Museum, London; The Look of Love, Rear Window, the approach, London Recent Acquisitions, University of California, Berkeley 1996 A Cloudburst of Material Possessions, Purdey Hicks Gallery, London; Young British Artists VI, Saatchi Gallery, London; Plastic, Richard Salmon Gallery, London + Arnolfini, Bristol; Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; love and death and all that, Galerie H S Steinek, Vienna; The Gas Station, The Ruskin School, Oxford; Love at Firstsite, Firstsite, Colchester; British Art Show 4, South Bank Centre, National Touring Exhibition 1996 [95???] Care and Control, Rear Window, Hackney Hospital, London; Real Time, London; composite, adj., Arnolfini, Bristol; Fetishism, South Bank Centre, National Touring Exhibition 1996 [94/93???] Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; The Curator’s Egg, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London; Vitrines, Galerie Guy Ledune/Acte, Brussels; Miniatures, The Agency, London; 1992 With Attitude, Galerie Guy Ledune/British Council, Brussels; Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Double Vision, Anderson O’Day Gallery, London; EAST/SOUTH, Norwich Gallery, Norfolk Institute of Art and Design 1991 EAST, Norwich Gallery, Norfolk Institute of Art and Design 1990 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Commissions & Awards 2017 Visual Arts Residency, Cove Park, Scotland; Research Development Fund, Royal College of Art, London 2016 Best Experimental Short Film, Oregon Independent Film Festival; Artist in Residence, HIAP, Helsinki; Research and Development Fund, Royal College of Art, London 2015 Best Experimental Film, Big Muddy Film Festival, Illinois; Leverhulme Trust, Artist in Residence, University of Lincoln, School of Law; Wellcome Trust Arts Award, Research and Development for Marked; Teton ArtLab, Artist in Residence, Jackson, Wyoming 2014 Visiting Fellow, University of Cape Town, Cape Town; Sites of Collective Memory, Animate Projects, London; Artist in Residence, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha 2013 Artist in Residence, Yarat Contemporary Art Space, Baku; Best Experimental Documentary, Atlanta Underground Film Festival; Best Experimental Film, Kansas City International Film Festival, Kansas City; Best Experimental Film, Fargo Film Festival; ArtSouth Commission, Aspex Portsmouth 2012 971 horses + 4 zebras, Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England; COMPASS, Beacon Art Project, Lincolnshire; Best Experimental Film, Independent Filmmakers Showcase, Hollywood; Research and Development Award, Animate Projects, London 2011 Best Short Film, Lone Star International Film Festival, Dallas; Deadness, Wellcome Trust Arts Award, London; Artist in Residence, Tokyo WonderSite, Tokyo; 1973, Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England; Artist in Residence, St. John's College, University of Oxford 2010 Rough Machine Commission, Animate Projects, London; Best Film (Dangerous Experiments), Los Angeles Animation Festival; Best International Short Film, Melbourne Underground Film Festival 2009 Identity Project Award, Nature's Great Experiment, Wellcome Trust; Blue Movie, Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England, Henry Moore Foundation and Matt's Gallery London; Commonwealth Suite, a hypnotic effect, Collective, Edinburgh 2008 Dark is the Night, ArtSway and Photographers' Gallery, London Stop.Watch., Animate Projects and RSA Film Commission; 2007 Perfume Disco Coma, Widnes Waterfront Commission, Widnes; (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Hatton Gallery, Univ. of Newcastle; Tape 1 Tape 2, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2006 Alchemy Fellowship, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester I Hate Boston, Boston Hates Me, Beacon Art Project, Lincolnshire; Nature's Great Experiment, Research and Development Award, Wellcome Trust and Arts Humanities Research Council; Visiting Artist Fellowship, University of Tasmania, Australia; Sunday Morning, Site Gallery, Sheffield 2005 don't stop 'til you get enough, Matt's Gallery, London; Grants to Artists, British Council, London; Life All Over It and More Than Religion, DCA, Dundee, Scotland 2004 Visiting Artist Fellowship, Monash Univ., Melbourne, Australia 2003 Henry Moore Sculpture Fellow, British School at Rome, Italy; CACTASIA! Eden Project, Cornwall; City of Angels, National Sculpture Factory, Cork, Ireland 2002 How to Hover, Further Up In The Air, Liverpool; 1 + 1 = 1 and Under the Blood, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge; THRILLER, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 2001 TV Swansong, THE LAST BROADCAST: www.swansong.tv 2000 The Comedians, Arts Council of England Film and Video Awards Commission for DA2, Bristol/The Laboratory, Oxford; Film/Video Bursary, Westminster Arts Council, London; Artist in Residence, Grizedale Forest, Cumbria

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