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Liam Gillick
Out of print

Erasmus is Late (Original Edition, 1995)

Liam Gillick (1995)

Out of print

The central character of Erasmus is Late is Erasmus Darwin, opium-eater and brother of the more famous Charles who is indeed late. Late for a dinner party that he himself is giving and whose illustrious guests, already assembled around his table, include: Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Kennedy; Masura Ibuka, co-founder of Sony; and Murry Wilson, father of Brian Wilson.

Whilst the guests wait, Erasmus dawdles through contemporary London becoming waylaid by different sites, which represent for Gillick, the development of free-thinking; Gillian Gillick, the artist’s mother, illustrates these sites with line drawings. Erasmus Darwin epitomises for Gillick the activity of free-thinking; a form of political pursuit dependent on wealth and leisure and problematic in its relationship to ‘unfree’ thought and the working classes.

On one level a guide to contemporary London seen through the eyes of a Georgian, Erasmus is Late is also an examination of pre-Marxist positions, an ill-researched investigation of a Utopian optimism that is struggling to predict the future.

Out of print – Second edition, 2000, out of print.

Erasmus is Late (Original Edition, 1995) | Gillick, Liam; | Commission: New Writing, guest edited by Michael Bracewell | ISBN: 978 1 870699 17 4 | Price: Free | Classifications: Experimental writing; Journey; Open Submission; Site specific; | Format: Offset printing; | Extent: 88 pages | Edition: 1,000 copies | Dimensions: 115 x 180 mm | Contributor: Gillick, Gillian (Illustrations); | Designer: Grita van der Bend (Rose-Innes Associates); | Printer: Offset Colour Print, Southampton