Cover Versions at Exeter Phoenix

A quick shout out to a new exhibition that recently launched at Exeter Phoenix. Running until September 4, Cover Versions is curated by Graham and Anthony Dolphin and promises an exploration of ‘notions of the original and its copies, echoes and mutations in art, film and music’.

The possibilities are wide indeed – and for this observer at least, ideas of ownership and authenticity spring to mind when considering the phenomenon. In a previous life, I recorded a podcast discussing musical cover versions and what constitutes a good one, while Aphex Twin’s 26 Remixes for Cash album is recalled as well as that artist’s tendency to sometimes provide an entirely different track at all when commissioned to repurpose a song.

Anyhow, I digress. The show has previously run at the Abject Gallery in Sunderland while it features a range of artists including Steve Keene, known for his work with Pavement and Silver Jews and Everest Pipkin, whose ‘Lacework’ project deploys artificial neural networks.

Anthony Dolphin is known for his work with Santa Sprees, an Anglo-Japanese outfit that has been recording music since 1994 – their latest long player, Common Cause for a Remote and Atomised People was recorded in the Church of St. John in the Northumberland town of Healey, a spectral affair that draws on widespread influences but also sets out a musical programme of its own.

Get yourself along to the exhibition. We’ll review it in the coming weeks.

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