Screening of the video of Deux Chevaux was presented in the Chelsea Theatre’s auditorium on the 23rd November. This was an informal viewing, welcoming audiences to move in and out of the space during the screening.

Afterwards there was a discussion between Dr. Jo Melvin and William Mackrell about his Deux Chevaux project
Dr. Jo Melvin - Art is a Historian, Curator and Reader in Art Theory at Chelsea College of Arts.

The talk looked into the origins of the work, how it came to be realised in Hyde Park, Kensington and Chelsea as a large-scale public event and Deux Chevaux’s position within the broader context of contemporary Public Art. The Site-Specific and locality of Deux Chevaux’s journey through ‘Albertopolis’, Spectacle and Carnivalesque aspects of being presented in a built up urban environment will also be explored. Conditions under which the project took place and how much this became a part of the artwork itself will be considered, as well as Deux Chevaux post live event, how the work now exists and is experienced as document and relic.

Deux Chevaux is a performance by William Mackrell consisting of two horses pulling a two-horse power car (Citroen 2CV). This live event took place in Kensington and Chelsea on the 21st June 2014. The project attempted to challenge the interaction of natural and mechanical power, questioning the limits of this language whilst confronted with the unexpected in the everyday.

Jo is currently preparing an exhibition for Raven Row, London, ‘Five issues of Studio International’, opening in February 2015 and an exhibition at Flat Time House, ’pataphysical exchange opening April 2015. Recent exhibitions include JocJonJosch, Musée d’Art du Valais, Switzerland, 2013-14. Publications include Seth Siegelaub Source Book Walter König, 2015 and the Barry Flanagan catalogue raisonné, Modern Art Press, 2017.

Dr Jo Melvin is Reader in Research in Archives and Special Collections, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL.

William Mackrell completed his BA (hons) Painting at Chelsea College of Arts and is currently undertaking an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College. Solo exhibitions include Andipa Gallery London, MOCA London and Arts Gallery London. Selected group exhibitions; Pump House Gallery, London, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, A.P.T Gallery London, Dundee Contemporary Arts Scotland, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts Melbourne, Two Rooms Gallery Auckland and Nellie Castan Gallery Melbourne.

Chelsea Theatre, 7 Worlds End Place, London SW10 0DR

William discusses this project further and where the idea was formed from with ideastap.com. You can look at this interview via the link:

http://www.ideastap.com/IdeasMag/the-knowledge/deux-chevaux-william-mack...

Deux Chevaux is kindly supported by:

Arts Council England
Andipa Gallery
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Chelsea Theatre

With thanks to the 'Exhibition Road Cultural Group' and participating venues:
Hyde Park
Natural History Museum
Royal Albert Hall
Institut Francais
Royal British Society of Sculptors
Duke of York Square