Harun Morrison
Experiments With Everyday Objects
As museums and galleries begin to reopen, it’s great to see the artists we work with able to show their work again, with several exhibitions opening or reopening.
Opening today for the first time at Eastside Projects in Birmingham is Harun Morrison’s new solo show, Experiments With Everyday Objects.
‘Experiments with Everyday Objects’ takes its title from a 1970s science book that describes over sixty experiments for children to do at home using readily available materials. A copy of the book belongs to the artist’s father, a former science teacher. Harun is using a selection of these experiments as scores for a series of actions to camera that evoke the weirder end of YouTube demonstration videos. The series began during the first COVID-19 lockdown using whatever was to hand.
The experiments with everyday objects extend beyond the book’s instructions to include other things with personal and socio-political resonance of various sizes. These include the reconstruction of a stage prop originally designed by dancer Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson (1878–1949), the evocation of the recently demolished Birmingham pub, Eagle & Tun (compulsorily purchased for the HS2 railway development) and his narrow-boat Zoar.
The exhibition is in a state of Becoming Live across these coming months with elements shared online and in the gallery from 19 May. Book an exhibition visit HERE.
As part of the project, earlier this year Morrison published a zine, Interviews with Critical Workers, which you can download free here. It contains interviews with 11 UK public sector workers about their experiences working through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Book Works is delighted to be publishing Harun Morrison’s first novel, The Escape Artist, in 2022 as part of the Interstices series edited by Bridget Penney.
Experiments With Everyday Objects; ; 2021; | Commission: Interstices Artist: Morrison, Harun; Editor: Penney, Bridget;
