Michael Smith

Videos and Miscellaneous Stuff From Storage (PT. 2)

An archival table is placed on the ground, which has spots of paint and dirt on it. The table showcases a spread of credit or debt cards on the sides, surrounding a collection of ties. The ties are made to surround some archival papers and identity cards. The lengths of the table have rows of business cards. There is a thick block placed above the sheets, it holds two pairs of rolled ties and in the middle there is a rolled up belt which reads "MIKE".

A small television monitor is placed on a table slightly bigger than the monitor. There are a pair of drumsticks sitting next to the monitor and antennas on top of it. The screen of the monitor shows a man, looking sad, in a torn white t-shirt. The wall behind the monitor has rows two rows of framed pictures with a television screen right in the middle of them. There is a chari in front of the screen. On the right side wall there is another small television monitor, its picture is blurry.

In a dark room there is a spotlight on a man wearing a baby attire. He is wearing a diaper, a vest, bib, hat, crocs and sunglasses. He has a pacifier in his mouth and a toy telephone in one hand. His other hand is pointing towards something in the distance above his head.l There is a table behind him. The table has stacks of papers.

In a big dark room, there is a large projector screen on the right side and after a gap there are two chairs placed, facing the centre of the screen. Behind the chairs is seating for the audience, there are rows of permanent seating, of which there is a man sitting in the centre seat of the third row. The screen displays a man dressed in a suit making grand gestures, there is a box and a bag on the ground next to him. On the wall behind him there is a fireplace and bookshelves on either side.

Tramway

For over thirty years Michael Smith has been using various identities in his work. One of his main personas, ‘Mike’ has often been at the centre of his video, performance and installation work. Mike is just a regular guy, constrained by his own limited world-view, just getting on with his business, day to day, never quite keeping up with trends or technology – a symbol of twentieth century alienation. Narrated in Mike’s own introspective voice, this ordinary man is a tragi-comic creation. Although ridiculous and often bland, his actions are sometimes familiar and universal, Mike an everyman, reflecting our own inadequacies.

Michael Smith leaps between televisual presentation formats; puppet show, music video, infomercial, game and talk show, satirising and emphasising how mundane and homogenous the medium is.

In his first solo exhibition in a UK institution, Smith with present a series of important works from the last three decades, across Tramway 1 and 5.

Commissioned by Glasgow International and curated in association with Mark Beasley.