2009–2010
Lying Freely is a multi-platform project by New Zealand artist Ruth Buchanan that looks at the practices of three female literary figures: Janet Frame, Agatha Christie and Virginia Woolf. Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht; If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, Amsterdam; and The Showroom each produced a stage of the project.
The Showroom commissioned the third and final part. This departed from Virginia Woolf's essay A Room of One’s Own and took the form of an exhibition – centred on a new 16mm film commission titled Several Attentions – and an event. Through her work, Buchanan questioned how one speaks as an artist today and what space this voice creates.
Lying Freely was co-produced by The Showroom, Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want to Be Part of Your Revolution, and the Jan van Eyck Academie. It was made possible with support from the Jan van Eyck Academie and Creative New Zealand. Several Attentions had further support from the British Library and Kodak.
Ruth Buchanan's Lying Freely was part of Circular Facts, a collaborative endeavour between three European contemporary art organisations: Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht, Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp, The Showroom, London in partnership with Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen and Electric Palm Tree. It was financially supported by the Cooperation Measures Grant as part of the European Unions Culture 2007 programme.
Several Attentions – Lying Freely Part III was generously supported by The Elephant Trust, Outset and Montana Wines.
Born in 1980, Buchanan is currently undertaking a research residency at Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht.
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