{"id":18021,"date":"2024-12-20T16:24:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T16:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?p=18021"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:49:35","slug":"gravesend-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/?p=18021","title":{"rendered":"Gravesend, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"metaslider-id-18049\" style=\"width: 100%;\" class=\"ml-slider-3-107-0 metaslider metaslider-flex metaslider-18049 ml-slider has-dots-nav ms-theme-default-base\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"gravesend\" data-height=\"425\" data-width=\"1000\">\n    <div id=\"metaslider_container_18049\">\n        <div id=\"metaslider_18049\">\n            <ul class='slides'>\n                <li style=\"display: block; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-18061 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2024-12-20 16:45:19\" data-filename=\"2007_mcqueen_2248-scaled-1000x425.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2007_mcqueen_2248-scaled-1000x425.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"1000\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-18049 slide-18061 msDefaultImage\" title=\"2007_mcqueen_2248\" \/><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-20147 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2025-01-08 15:39:37\" data-filename=\"2007_mcqueen_2251-scaled-1000x425.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2007_mcqueen_2251-scaled-1000x425.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"1000\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-18049 slide-20147 msDefaultImage\" title=\"2007_mcqueen_2251\" \/><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-18059 ms-image \" aria-roledescription=\"slide\" data-date=\"2024-12-20 16:45:19\" data-filename=\"2007_mcqueen_2249-scaled-1000x425.jpg\" data-slide-type=\"image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2007_mcqueen_2249-scaled-1000x425.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"1000\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-18049 slide-18059 msDefaultImage\" title=\"2007_mcqueen_2249\" \/><\/li>\n            <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        \n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-unset-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ftt-ladybird-geoblogs.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-135\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size\"><strong>followthethings.com<\/strong><br><a href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?page_id=305\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"305\">Electronics<\/a><br><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons has-custom-font-size is-horizontal is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-bc275726 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\" style=\"font-size:10px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--2\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=2007\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">2007<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--3\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-black-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=unbranded\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">UNBRANDED<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--4\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-vivid-red-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=mobile-phone\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">MOBILE PHONE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--5\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-vivid-red-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=computer\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">LAPTOP COMPUTER<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--6\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=origin-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">SORCED IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--7\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-black-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=destination-UK\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">PROCESSED IN THE UK<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--8\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-vivid-purple-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=ART-WORK\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">ART WORK<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--9\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-vivid-purple-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=SHORT-FILM\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">SHORT FILM<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--10\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=cROSS-CULTURES\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">CROSS CULTURES<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--11\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=take-it-to-pieces\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">TAKE IT TO PIECES<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--12\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=KNOW-YOUR-HISTORY\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">KNOW YOUR HISTORY<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--13\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=join-THE-DOTS\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">JOIN THE DOTS<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--14\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=JUXTAPOSE-EXTREMES\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">JUXTAPOSE EXTREMES<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--15\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=INCLUDE-HAUNTING-HORROR\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">INCLUDE HAUNTING &amp; HORROR<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--16\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=MAKE-IT-A-MYSTERY\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">MAKE IT A MYSTERY<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--17\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=MAKE-IT-INCOMPLETE\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">MAKE IT INCOMPLETE<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--18\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=PLACE-THINGS-CAREFULLY\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">PLACE THINGS CAREFULLY<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-outline is-style-outline--19\" style=\"font-size:12px\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-vivid-red-color has-white-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/?tag=make-IT-BEAUTIFUL\" style=\"border-radius:5px\">MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#f6f0ec\">&#8220;<strong>Gravesend, 2007<\/strong>&#8220;<br>An art work \/ short film by Steve McQueen premiered at the <em>Venice Biennale<\/em> and exhibited at the <em>Renaissance Society <\/em>in Chicago, USA in 2007 and at the <em>Uneven Geographies<\/em> exhibition at the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery, UK in 2010.<br>Gallery photo above. <em>Renaissance Society<\/em> exhibition photos <a href=\"https:\/\/renaissancesociety.org\/exhibitions\/455\/steve-mcqueen-gravesend\/\">here<\/a>. Acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moma.org\/collection\/works\/179789\">here<\/a>. Not available to watch online. <br><br>After a decade of rare earth metal mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for use in the growing consumer electronics sector, and recognising the history of African colonial plunder artist Steve McQueen sets out to make a short film that brings this story into one piece of art work. He travels between the coltan mines of the DRC and a coltan processing facilities in the UK. The miners, sometimes children, dig coltan from muddy trenches. This is brutal and poorly paid work wrecks the environment and funds a civil war in which 4 million people have lost their lives. The specialist metals which emerge from this ravaged place are perfect ingredients for modern consumer electronics, because they can conduct electricity without getting too hot. McQueen visits a pristine, computerised factory facility in the UK where this coltan ore is processed. The film he makes out of these loaded and shockingly different elements is described by critics and viewers as abstract, poetic, animated (sometimes), deafeningly loud (sometimes), beautiful, intense, opaque, meditative, melancholy, that works though &#8216;phenomenological estrangement&#8217;, has no titles or narration and scenes and moods that leap between places and dissolve into one another. The coltan miners appear in it as &#8216;ghostly absences of light&#8217;. For McQueen, this isn&#8217;t a documentary film. It doesn&#8217;t give supply chain workers a voice. It&#8217;s a film about looking. It takes its name from a town in the British county of Kent, which sits on the banks of the River Thames where Joseph Conrad&#8217;s <em>Heart of Darkness<\/em> book begins. You can only watch it in an art gallery when it&#8217;s being exhibited. Some commenter are impressed with its intellectual purpose and depth, while others say they need to read the museum brochure to understand what it&#8217;s about (e.g. coltan). It seems from what people say that this isn&#8217;t an activist film or art work. It&#8217;s not setting out to motivate its viewers to understand and to act. But it is, for some, intensely haunting. Maybe you have to be there, watching it in that gallery space, with other people, other art work, the signage, the space, the lighting. This is a space where its viewers to &#8216;make the necessary connections.&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Page reference: Tom Bollands, Alistair Brouard, Amelia Cozon, James Hornsby, Phoebe Park &amp; Louise Richardson (2024) <em>Gravesend, 2007<\/em>. followthethings.com\/gravesend.shtml (last accessed &lt;insert date here&gt;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Estimated reading time: 25 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>34 comments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Descriptions<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-dark-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Steve McQueen&#8217;s tactile 18-minute film <em>Gravesend<\/em>, which contrasts the hard manual extraction of the mineral coltan in the Congo and its processing in Derby for use in our mobiles and laptops (Anon 2010a, p.16).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-red\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>The focus of <em>Gravesend, 2007<\/em> is coltan (columbite-tantalite), an invaluable yet little known mineral, which in the last decade has sparked a massive mining rush in Central Africa. The mineral\u2019s chemical composition makes it an outstanding capacitor for electronic devices and it is used in almost all digital consumer goods today \u2013 from mobile phones to laptops. Its mining has come at great human and environmental cost. Miners, many of whom are children, toil long hours in conditions of great danger and hardship for a couple of dollars a day. The mining process pollutes lakes and rivers and is rapidly consuming forests, even National Parks. Part of Gravesend was filmed in mines in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, where 80% of coltan reserves lie. There, profits from coltan mining fuel ongoing civil wars \u2013 which have claimed 4 million lives in the past decade. But it is the hi-tech multinationals that profit the most (Source: Anon 2010b, p.43).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Steve McQueen\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;is a \u2026 17-minute-long semi-abstract film about savage capitalism, neo-imperialism and the ways that multinationals mine riches from war-ridden, corrupted and otherwise ravaged countries around the globe &#8230; Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, McQueen\u2019s new short film shows men in deep trenches, who pick, shovel, dig and with bare hands vehemently seek out in the dirt tiny bits of a valuable raw ore &#8211; stuff that looks like chocolate chips in hardened cookie dough. During the film we also get a close-up of the edge of a blade cutting slowly through stone (the screeching sound of this operation permeates the entire film like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard), clean machines operating automatically without human aid in a high-tech lab, a vivid animation and an orange sunset over smokestacks sequenced in what could easily be an iPhoto effect (Source: Velez 2007, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artnet.com\/magazineus\/reviews\/velez\/velez12-14-07.asp\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-yellow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Without explicit commentary, the film\u2019s fleeting portrayal of toiling bodies and meditative landscapes not only reveals the disparity between the primitive conditions of manual labour in Africa and the computerised automation of European industry; it also connects the commanding wealth of one part of the world to its dependence on the impoverished environment, mineral resources, and weak state controls in another (Source: Demos 2010, p.11).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>+9 comments<\/summary>\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>When you walk into the gallery, it is completely dark.&nbsp;This is the kind of pitch black that makes you think you\u2019re about to run into a brick wall or a monster. The sounds that come blasting across the room do nothing to center you. And what are you looking at? Where are you? The film being cast on the large screen in the gallery is \u201cGravesend,\u201d but you won\u2019t necessarily know what it is you\u2019re seeing. \u2026 McQueen\u2019s film opens with shots of a coltan processing plant &#8211; but unless you\u2019re incredibly tech savvy, you won\u2019t recognize the machinery, or any of the process. The imagery in the plant is futuristic, precise, and somewhat mysterious. Though the process is intricate, it is also alien and disjointed. After the processing shots, we are transported to the actual coltan mine, where faceless men work to chip away at a deep, growing hole in the ground. The film is broken by an extended animated shot that sees a black trickle growling with static and growing in the screen, as the camera flips and follows it upwards. Though the imagery is different, the sinister mood remains. After the black river washes out the frame, the audience is presented with an extended close-up of an actual river, full of stones. The most striking shot of the film is this prolonged stare, in which the river and the minerals that are being washed in it take on a bizarre anthropomorphic quality. It is unclear what we are seeing &#8211; a human face, buried by rocks, or just water rushing over a streambed? Though this kind of division may seem absurd, it\u2019s the core of the film. There is something happening that is unclear and strange, but sinister, and caught up mysteriously with men and what they do. Though the film moves from machine to man, there is no question that neither can be understood. And of course, when the films fades into black and begins its loop again, there is the shock of familiarity. But by this time, your eyes have adjusted to the darkness in the gallery, and you can see your limbs and the eyes of the people who are watching as well. This kind of adjustment happens naturally in the darkness, but the film still obscures. Sometimes, you can be afraid of something without really knowing what it is (Source: Schapiro 2007, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/chicagoweekly.net\/2007\/09\/27\/the-new-blood-diamonds-turner-prize-winner-steve-mcqueens-new-film-shows-at-the-renaissance-society\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-red\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>A deafening soundtrack composed of the ambient noise of workers hacking away at rocks to extract the mineral accompanies close-up footage of taut, sweaty bodies, swollen hands, and the deep red, glistening earth. The camera\u2019s zoom captures the intensity of the process while denying us the pan out that would identify any of the workers. This intense manual labour is crosscut with footage from the high-tech, mechanised process where the coltan is refined. An animation suddenly interrupts the documentary style of the film, and a thin black line meanders across the screen, which corresponds to the River Congo.&nbsp;(Source: O\u2019Donnell 2009, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artvehicle.com\/postcard\/32\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-green\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Instead of depicting the country\u2019s violence directly,&nbsp;<em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;alludes to it metaphorically, and thus tentatively, as in its recurring shots of a vice\u2019s steel blade slowly cutting through a large hunk of rock with cringing aural effect, which translates the pressure of the Congo\u2019s socio-political situation into visceral distress \u2026 Even while the film traces commercial technology back to its roots in current-day primitive accumulation, which appears to be reengaged today by the forces of global capital, no explanatory comment or contextual information supplements McQueen\u2019s images. The film\u2019s allusions thus remain ever precarious, its conclusions always uncertain (Source: Demos 2009, p.9 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>[At Nottingham Contemporary] Gravesend is shown in combination with Unexploded (Handheld), 2007, a film of less than one minute of an unexploded bomb dropped on a building in Basra. McQueen made it in 2003, while working in Iraq as the UK\u2019s official war artist. The combination underscores the relationship between war and business interests \u2013 a connection Naomi Klein explores in depth in her recent book The Shock Doctrine, 2007 (Source: Anon 2010b, p.43).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>The mining of natural resources in brutal conditions by people earning little more than a dollar a day (seen in Steve McQueen\u2019s Gravesend) is as much a symptom of the globalised economy as the virtual worlds of financial speculation and off-shore tax havens that Goldin+Senneby subversively enact in Headless; indeed they are interlinked through networks of suppliers and financiers so elaborate and clandestine that they frustrate comprehension (Source: Farquharson 2010, p.3)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-yellow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p><em>Gravesend<\/em> takes its name from a town in Kent, England. Located on the south bank of the Thames, it was from Gravesend that Marlow, the protagonist of Joseph Conrad\u2019s Heart of Darkness, set sail for the Congo (Source: Walker 2007, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.renaissancesociety.org\/site\/Exhibitions\/Essay.Steve-McQueen-Gravesend.591.html\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>McQueen inserts an image of the port city Gravesend at sunset, and the wall label informs us that this industrial landscape, on the banks of the Thames, was the place written about by Joseph Conrad in the opening lines of Heart of Darkness, who saw the great river as a \u201cmighty waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth\u201d (\u201cuttermost\u201d from whose perspective, one wonders?) (Source: Milroy 2007, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/arts\/the-venice-biennale\/article794160\/page2\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>By referring to and including images of the south eastern English industrial port of Gravesend, the film traces the lopsided relations between current-day Europe and Africa back to nineteenth-century colonialism, specifically via its representation in Conrad\u2019s<em> Heart of Darkness<\/em>: Conrad\u2019s protagonist Marlow sits in a sailboat on the Thames estuary in Gravesend while he tells his notorious tale of journeying up the Congo River.&nbsp; McQueen\u2019s film commemorates that literary moment through an extended passage of sun setting over the port\u2019s factories and smoke stacks (mirroring the crepuscular time of Marlow\u2019s narration), a sequence that ever so slowly dissolves and gives way to images of Congolese laborers. The resulting palimpsest of geographies joins the normally separated regions, a segregation that otherwise conveniently dissociates advanced technological procedures from the faraway exploitation of natural resources amid conditions of brutal lawlessness. Meditative and melancholy, the sunset\u2019s elegiac tones suggest not only the twilight of both industrialisation and Britain\u2019s imperial reign but also a funereal resignation in the face of the continuation of their deathly effects under a different name&nbsp;(Source: Demos 2009, p.9 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-green\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Gravesend&nbsp;above all else is a poem, and an epic one at that. Strikingly beautiful, and supremely ambitious, it is a highly formal meditation that speaks by looking. Paired with [his] Unexploded [film],&nbsp;whose footage of damage wrought by an unexploded bomb was taken by the artist in Basra, Iraq, it becomes clear that McQueen is composing with elements from the here and now. Decisively unsentimental in their depiction of contemporary life, these works make all the clearer that as the ring tone tolls for one, it tolls for all&nbsp;(Source: Walker 2007, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.renaissancesociety.org\/site\/Exhibitions\/Essay.Steve-McQueen-Gravesend.591.html\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:41px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Inspiration \/ Technique \/ Process \/ Methodology<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>McQueen\u2019s avoidance of the art-world hustle has left him relatively immune to the vicissitudes of the marketplace: His work, owned almost exclusively by museums and dedicated collectors, never turns up at auction. Asked about the shaky state of today\u2019s art market, McQueen says coolly, \u201cI don\u2019t give a s\u2014. I don\u2019t care. If I was thinking about money when I was making something, I possibly wouldn\u2019t make it (Source: Bagley 2009, p.244).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p><em>David Coggins: <\/em>A critic wrote that the film&nbsp;Gravesend&nbsp; &#8211; which includes extraordinary footage of miners deep underground [in the Congo], sometimes in complete silence &#8211; is \u201cfirst and foremost about looking.\u201d Do you think that\u2019s true about your work in general? You use such powerful images\u2014do you consider yourself a formal artist? <em>Steve McQueen:<\/em> I don\u2019t think so, no. Formal? No, it\u2019s not an exercise. This particular work has more formal aspects than others\u2026 It depends on the context and content of the piece. As far as&nbsp;Gravesend, it\u2019s about a mineral called coltan. Coltan is virtually everywhere, in every cell phone, every digital electronic device. It\u2019s a conductor, this miracle mineral that doesn\u2019t overheat. And the fact that the majority of it comes from this place in the Congo\u2014this whole idea of going back to the source fascinated me. Going there was completely different from what I expected. DC: Do you think your work gives a voice to people who aren\u2019t in a powerful position? <em>SM: <\/em>Not at all. I may bring attention to them, but really these are situations that I find interesting. These people can speak for themselves\u2014there are documentaries, books written about the subjects. It\u2019s not about me giving them a voice; it\u2019s about me looking at their situations in a way that\u2019s different from how other people look at them.<em> DC:<\/em> Are your influences cinematic, or do they come from the art world? SM: My influences come from real life. I\u2019m not interested in cinema for cinema\u2019s sake. I\u2019m interested in life\u2014what one does and how one interacts&nbsp;(Source: Coggins 2008, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.interviewmagazine.com\/art\/steve-mcqueen\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-dark-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>McQueen\u2019s approach is unapologetically abstract, compressing within the space of 17 minutes a poetic narrative of empire as told through a series of formally striking shots (Source: Anon 2007, np <a href=\"https:\/\/renaissancesociety.org\/exhibitions\/455\/steve-mcqueen-gravesend\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-yellow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p><em>Gravesend<\/em>\u2019s filmic construction blurs the referential and the allegorical, the documentary and the fictional, in order to convey savagery through phenomenological estrangement (Source: Demos 2009 p.10 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>+5 comments<\/summary>\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-dark-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Decidedly non-narrative,&nbsp;<em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;is structured around a series of radical leaps in location, modes of thought, and mood. Like a musical composition, it consists of movements varying in tempo. The mainstays of its footage are bouts of realism alternately broken by a fast-paced, but lyrical, abstract animation aerially tracking the Congo River, and a slow time-lapsed dissolve that is a somber reflection on empire. Gravesend&nbsp;makes its most radical leap in the opening sequences, boldly juxtaposing images of coltan\u2019s other worldly refinement with its all too earthly origins. These states of matter are worlds apart, and save for that which is strictly visual, Gravesend is resolutely purged of information illustrating any causal economic links in between. From a high-tech refinery more believable as something from a James Bond film, to a wild and fecund jungle interior, it is not only a question of where these scenes are occurring, but when. Between polar extremes, the net effect is a present moment understood as thoroughly heterogeneous, an uneven mixture of a pre-modern past of pick-axe and shovels, and a future ideal in which imperial power has effervesced into the \u201cinvisible hand\u201d of supply and demand (Source: Walker 2007, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.renaissancesociety.org\/site\/Exhibitions\/Essay.Steve-McQueen-Gravesend.591.html\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>By depicting labouring bodies in the Congo,&nbsp;<em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;mounts a political contestation by rendering visible those typically excluded from globalization\u2019s imaginary. But the film\u2019s \u201cdocumentation\u201d is far from traditional; rather, McQueen\u2019s figures are unidentified, mere shadows and fragmented shapes, which dismantles the epistemological presumptions of traditional documentary modes of exposure and journalistic reportage, just as the artist\u2019s preference for a black box installation further distinguishes&nbsp;<em>Gravesend<\/em>\u2019s phenomenological sensitivity and its open-planned, embodied space of reception from the conditions of the theatre environment. As if depicting weightless beings made of shadows and movement,&nbsp;<em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;portrays its miners as the ghostly absences of light, as voids in the visual field\u2026 McQueen\u2026deploys darkness strategically to define a field of possibility resistant to the very forms of representation that would keep those figures in their traditional place of oppression (Source: Demos 2009, p.9-11 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-green\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p><em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;builds on what has become a significant convergence in the art of the moving image over the last decade, one that is remarkable for advancing political investment by means of subtle aesthetic construction, doing so by joining documentary and fictional modes into uncertain relationship&nbsp; (Source: Demos 2009, p.10 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-midnight\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>McQueen\u2019s poetic use of filmic ambiguity and metaphor, allusion and opacity, rescues figures in the Congo from their consignment to what anthropologist James Ferguson calls Africa\u2019s \u201cold colonial role as provider of raw materials (especially mineral wealth),\u201d the current situation of which McQueen also makes reference (Source: Demos 2010, p.11).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-dark-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p><em>Gravesend<\/em> &#8230; exhibits the kind of ontological inconsistency that Ranci\u00e8re considers a hallmark of artistic modernity, since it weaves together diverse artistic techniques, documentary procedures, metaphorical forms and social \u201cfacts\u201d (Source: Ross 2011, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transformationsjournal.org\/journal\/issue_19\/article_06.shtml\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:41px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><strong>Discussion \/ Responses<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>[McQueen] has gone to great trouble to make a work about a deeply troubling subject, a world inextricably shadowing our daily life (Source: Publicamateur 2008, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/publicamateur.wordpress.com\/2008\/03\/17\/no-regret-to-not-inform\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-green\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>McQueen\u2019s manipulation of images appears to have an intellectual purpose that appeals on a level different from feeling, as well as to how most cutting-edge contemporary art hints at but fails to embody the ideas it is supposed to be about. The mineral being mined cannot be discerned from visual evidence. Text from the Renaissance Society [exhibition] tells us it is coltan, an increasingly valuable substance most of which comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Were we not told this, the film would be impenetrable&nbsp;(Source: Artner 2007, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/chicago.metromix.com\/home\/review\/gravesend-fails-to-stand\/210456\/content\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-midnight\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>I appreciate an artistic practice that declines the duty of informing. After all, information is everywhere and the urgent need seems to be how to get it to matter to people. If the information is there already, why should an artist spoil his art with it? Better to make something that motivates people to find out more, absorb such knowledge, come to their own conclusions regarding what to do about it&nbsp;(Source: Publicamateur 2008, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/publicamateur.wordpress.com\/2008\/03\/17\/no-regret-to-not-inform\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-dark-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Capitalist economies may have moved into an \u201cinformation age,\u201d but this\u2026 film proves that their machinations still make demands on the earth and on the laborers who work it. <em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;lyrically (if abstractly) shows that, whereas nineteenth-century colonial powers sought diamonds and other traditional resources, our current appetite is for coltan, a dull black mineral used in capacitors, which are vital components in mobile phones, laptops, and other electronics. What is to be inferred from the gorgeously composed, monumentally scaled high-definition projection is that greed for this material has contributed to the political instability and the military occupation of the Congo, an area that has seen uninterrupted conflict since well before its 1960 liberation from Belgian rule (Source: Sholis 2007, np<a href=\"http:\/\/www.briansholis.com\/exhibition-review-steve-mcqueen\/\"> link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>+3 comments<\/summary>\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Art critic T.J. Demos has allied McQueen\u2019s video work of recent years with many contemporary art practices that mobilise documentary forms to focus on \u201czones of economic and political inequality that are normally and tragically unrepresented within the dominant mainstream and western media\u201d (Demos 62-63). Demos has produced some very astute interpretations of McQueen\u2019s art, however, I want to suggest that&nbsp;Gravesend&nbsp;may not be principally concerned with opening the western media\u2019s eyes to current events in Eastern Congo. McQueen\u2019s film might be better viewed as a rejoinder to&nbsp;how&nbsp;economic inequalities and political conflict in the region have been represented on our television screens in recent times. As Paul Nash has observed, a significant number of documentary films and television programs of the last decade have explained to western audiences that engagement in illegal mining by militias from Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda has resulted in civil conflict and innumerable deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Nash 123). Many of these documentary investigations also mention the Congo\u2019s version of the \u201cblood diamond,\u201d a black metallic ore named coltan or columbite-tantalite. An extract from coltan called tantalum is used in the manufacture of consumer electronics goods such as cell phones, computers, and video game systems&#8230; [B]oth western mining companies and militias from neighbouring African countries seek to exploit the Congo\u2019s resources, including the local labour (Source: Ross 2011, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transformationsjournal.org\/journal\/issue_19\/article_06.shtml\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-green\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p><em>Gravesend<\/em>&nbsp;maintains a tension between art actively engaging with current social \u201crealities,\u201d and of differentiating aesthetic experience from normal media representations of neo-colonial exploitation and injustice. In this respect, McQueen\u2019s layering of heterogeneous representational forms and resources does not amount to a postmodern negation of aesthetic autonomy, but rather brilliantly negotiates and prolongs the double politics of modern aesthetics&nbsp;(Source: Ross 2011, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transformationsjournal.org\/journal\/issue_19\/article_06.shtml\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-midnight\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>A huge production, the film backfires conceptually and sadly makes oppression seem fashionably exotic. McQueen does manage to create a moment of impact. Sandwiched between the miners and the high-tech machinery is an animation in black and white of what seems like a birds-eye view of an expanding crack, river or topographical map. This section is the most lyrical because it flows with ease and speed, and for a moment we forget the shaky camerawork, weak editing and the feeling we are watching a PBS documentary with faulty audio. McQueen has a poet\u2019s sensibility, as well as an implicit trust in the power of images and sounds\u2026 McQueen\u2019s film achieves the rare feat of being truly political without being didactic.&nbsp;Gravesend&nbsp;is one of the most haunting works at [the] Venice [Biennale] (Source: Murphy 2007, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/?p=49\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:41px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Outcomes \/ Impacts<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-red\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>The work forces us to consider whether things have really changed with the official end to colonization (Source: Robinson 2008, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/digarchive.library.vcu.edu\/bitstream\/10156\/2332\/1\/Final%20thesis%2012.pdf\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>There are many good reasons to eschew the haggard forms recognized as photographic \u201cdocumentary.\u201d Especially when we meet these images in the field of consumption instead of in the context of specific cases made by human rights organizations to stimulate action. That is a world in which visible evidence still can put people on the spot, and in many cases is required in the long slog for influence. But beyond the specialized propaganda wars of NGOs, corporations and governments, conventional documentary makes many of us feel powerless: either guilty and hopeless, or, if we are equipped with a sophisticated critique of the form, effectively off the hook (Source: Publicamateur 2008, np&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/publicamateur.wordpress.com\/2008\/03\/17\/no-regret-to-not-inform\/\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-purple-yellow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>At the same time, the \u201cwithholding aesthetic\u201d that Mark Nash has criticised in McQueen\u2019s perverse manipulation of documentary footage in&nbsp;Gravesend&nbsp;leaves more open space for the viewer to make the necessary connections, or conduct further research to extract a legible political meaning from the film (Nash 124). In other words, McQueen resists treating spectators as subjects to be instructed in their views and judgments by the artist&#8230; The film\u2019s combination of fictional and documentary forms stays with us in different ways to projects that deliver factual information about economic and social inequalities in Eastern Congo (Source: Ross 2011, np <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transformationsjournal.org\/journal\/issue_19\/article_06.shtml\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-grayscale\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Although art may not possess the visibility or capacities of governmental politics, in the face of the perceived failure of such politics people not surprisingly will turn to other forums for alternatives, to imagine new ways to reinvent the world. (Source: Demos 2009 p.25 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>+1 comment<\/summary>\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-small-font-size is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:7.99%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border wp-duotone-blue-orange\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/follow-the-things.onyx-sites.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99\" style=\"border-radius:100px;object-fit:cover;width:43px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04.png 868w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-08-at-17.49.04-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:92.01%\">\n<p>Certainly, much of this overambitious event [the <em>Uneven Geographies<\/em> exhibition of which <em>Gravesend<\/em> was part] feels like a visit to a university geography department open day, its sense of right-on moral worthiness abetted by the use of dense textual panels that tell you, rather than suggest, how to interpret the films, photographs and installations. So the exhibition is a kind of call-to-arms against global wrongdoing? But if not urging us to take to the streets, then what is the exhibition actually for? If the answer is \u201cI\u2019m not sure\u201d, join the queue and at least take home the knowledge that the world is a thoroughly unfair place. Just in case you didn\u2019t know that already&nbsp;(Source: Anon 2010a, p.16).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:41px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-normal-font-size\" style=\"background-color:#f8f2ee\">Page compiled by Tom Bollands, Alistair Brouard, Amelia Cozon, James Hornsby, Phoebe Park &amp; Louise Richardson, edited by Jack Parkin &amp; Ian Cook (last updated December 2024). Page created for followthethings.com as part of the &#8216;Geographies of material culture&#8217; module, Exeter University. Jack&#8217;s editing was supported by a nicely paid followthethings.com internship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Anon (2007) Steve McQueen Gravesend. <em>The Renaissance Society <\/em>(<a href=\"https:\/\/renaissancesociety.org\/exhibitions\/455\/steve-mcqueen-gravesend\/\">https:\/\/renaissancesociety.org\/exhibitions\/455\/steve-mcqueen-gravesend\/<\/a> last accessed 20 December 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Anon (2010a) Art: Uneven Geographies, Nottingham Contemporary.<em> Nottingham Evening Post,<\/em>&nbsp;14&nbsp;May, p.16<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Anon (2010b) Steve McQueen. in Demos, T.J. &amp; Farquharson, A. (eds)<em> Uneven geographies<\/em> (exhibition catalogue). Nottingham: Nottingham Contemporary, p.43 (<a href=\"http:\/\/materialculture2010.wordpress.com\/page\/2\/www.nottinghamcontemporary.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UG_cat_highres.pdf\">www.nottinghamcontemporary.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UG_cat_highres.pdf<\/a> last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Anon (2010c) Uneven Geographies exhibition, Nottingham Contemporary. <em>bbc.co.uk<\/em> 13 May, (<a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/local\/nottingham\/hi\/people_and_places\/arts_and_culture\/newsid_8665000\/8665682.stm\">http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/local\/nottingham\/hi\/people_and_places\/arts_and_culture\/newsid_8665000\/8665682.stm<\/a> last accessed 22 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>+19 sources<\/summary>\n<p>Anon (2011) Coltan: What you should know.<em> congoweek.org, <\/em>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.congoweek.org\/coltan-facts.html\">http:\/\/www.congoweek.org\/coltan-facts.html <\/a>last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Artner, A. G. (2007) Gravesend fails to stand on its own.<em>&nbsp;Tribune art critic<\/em>&nbsp;27 September &nbsp;(<a href=\"http:\/\/chicago.metromix.com\/home\/review\/gravesend-fails-to-stand\/210456\/content\">http:\/\/chicago.metromix.com\/home\/review\/gravesend-fails-to-stand\/210456\/content<\/a> last accessed 22nd June)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bagley, C. (2009) Hail to McQueen, <em>WMagazine<\/em> 38(3) p.244<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coggins, D., (2008) Steve McQueen (Interview).<em> interviewmagazine.com<\/em>&nbsp;(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.interviewmagazine.com\/art\/steve-mcqueen\/\">http:\/\/www.interviewmagazine.com\/art\/steve-mcqueen\/<\/a> accessed 21 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Demos, T. J., (2009) Moving images of globalization,<em>&nbsp;Grey room<\/em> 37 p.6-29 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization\">http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/46584911\/Demos-Moving-Images-of-Globalization<\/a> accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Demos, T.J. (2010) Another world, and another\u2026 notes on Uneven Geographies. in Demos, T.J. &amp; Farquharson, A. (eds.)<em> Uneven geographies<\/em> (exhibition catalogue). Nottingham: Nottingham Contemporary, p.11-19 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nottinghamcontemporary.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UG_cat_highres.pdf\">www.nottinghamcontemporary.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UG_cat_highres.pdf<\/a> last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Farquharson, A. (2010) Foreword. in Demos, T.J. &amp; Farquharson, A. (eds)<em> Uneven geographies<\/em> (exhibition catalogue). Nottingham: Nottingham Contemporary, p.3-4 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nottinghamcontemporary.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UG_cat_highres.pdf\">www.nottinghamcontemporary.org\/sites\/default\/files\/UG_cat_highres.pdf<\/a> last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jackson, S. (2002) Making a killing: criminality and coping in the Kivu War economy. <em>Review of African Political economy <\/em>29(93\/94) p.517-536<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mantz, J. (2008) Improvisational economies: Coltan production in the eastern Congo. <em>Social Anthropology <\/em>16(1) p.34-50 (<a href=\"http:\/\/mason.gmu.edu\/~jmantz\/Improvisational%20Economies.pdf\">http:\/\/mason.gmu.edu\/~jmantz\/Improvisational%20Economies.pdf<\/a> last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Milroy, S. (2007) The Venice Biennale; How art can be the counterpoint to a superficial CNN world.<em>&nbsp;Breaking News from globeandmail.com<\/em>, 16th&nbsp;June 2007 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/arts\/the-venice-biennale\/article794160\/page2\/\">http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/arts\/the-venice-biennale\/article794160\/page2\/<\/a> accessed 22nd June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Murphy, J.J. (2007) Film and video at the 52nd Venice Biennale.&nbsp;jjmurphyfilm.com 12 July (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/?p=49\">http:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/?p=49<\/a> accessed 22 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Donnell, N.H. (2009) Postcard from Norway &#8211; hypocrisy: the site specificity of morality.&nbsp;<em>artvehicle.com<\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artvehicle.com\/postcard\/32%20accessed%2021st%20June%202011\">http:\/\/www.artvehicle.com\/postcard\/32<\/a> last accessed 21 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Publicamateur (2008) No regret to not&nbsp;inform.&nbsp;<em>publicamateur.wordpress.com<\/em>&nbsp;(<a href=\"http:\/\/publicamateur.wordpress.com\/2008\/03\/17\/no-regret-to-not-inform\/\">http:\/\/publicamateur.wordpress.com\/2008\/03\/17\/no-regret-to-not-inform\/#more-5<\/a> last accessed 22 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robinson, R. (2008) <em>The Beekeepers.&nbsp;<\/em>Masters of Fine Arts Thesis, School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University&nbsp;(<a href=\"http:\/\/digarchive.library.vcu.edu\/bitstream\/10156\/2332\/1\/Final%20thesis%2012.pdf\">http:\/\/digarchive.library.vcu.edu\/bitstream\/10156\/2332\/1\/Final%20thesis%2012.pdf<\/a> last accessed 22 July 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ross, T. (2011) Departures from postmodern doctrine in Jacques Ranci\u00e8re\u2019s account of the politics of artistic modernity.<em> Ranci\u00e8re: Politics, Art &amp; Sense <\/em>19 (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.transformationsjournal.org\/journal\/issue_19\/article_06.shtml\">http:\/\/www.transformationsjournal.org\/journal\/issue_19\/article_06.shtml<\/a> last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schapiro, R. (2007) The new blood diamond: Turner prize-winner Steve McQueen\u2019s new film shows at the Renaissance Society.&nbsp;<em>chicagoweekly.net&nbsp;<\/em>27&nbsp;September&nbsp;(<a href=\"http:\/\/chicagoweekly.net\/2007\/09\/27\/the-new-blood-diamonds-turner-prize-winner-steve-mcqueens-new-film-shows-at-the-renaissance-society\/\">http:\/\/chicagoweekly.net\/2007\/09\/27\/the-new-blood-diamonds-turner-prize-winner-steve-mcqueens-new-film-shows-at-the-renaissance-society\/<\/a> last accessed 21 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sholis, B. (2007) Steve McQueen.&nbsp;Artforum.com, Exhibition Reiew&nbsp;22&nbsp;October, (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.briansholis.com\/exhibition-review-steve-mcqueen\/\">http:\/\/www.briansholis.com\/exhibition-review-steve-mcqueen\/<\/a> last accessed 22 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smith, J. &amp; Mantz, J. (2006) Do cellular phones dream of civil war?: the mystification of production and the consequences of technology fetishism in the Eastern Congo. in Kirsch, M. (ed)<em> Inclusion and exclusion in the global arena.<\/em> New York: Routledge. (<a href=\"http:\/\/mason.gmu.edu\/%7Ejmantz\/Coltan.pdf\">http:\/\/mason.gmu.edu\/%7Ejmantz\/Coltan.pdf<\/a> last accessed 23 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Velez, P. (2007) Hearts of Darkness. <em>artnet.com <\/em>14 December (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artnet.com\/magazineus\/reviews\/velez\/velez12-14-07.asp\">http:\/\/www.artnet.com\/magazineus\/reviews\/velez\/velez12-14-07.asp<\/a> last accessed 21 June 2011)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walker, H. (2007) The grand scheme of things.<em>&nbsp;renaissancesociety.org<\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.renaissancesociety.org\/site\/Exhibitions\/Essay.Steve-McQueen-Gravesend.591.html\">http:\/\/www.renaissancesociety.org\/site\/Exhibitions\/Essay.Steve-McQueen-Gravesend.591.html<\/a> last accessed 21 June 2011)<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-small-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Image credits<\/summary>\n<p><strong>Slideshow: <\/strong> credit Steve Mcqueen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Speaking icon:<\/strong> Speaking (https:\/\/thenounproject.com\/icon\/speaking-5549886\/) by M Faisal from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0) Modified August 2024<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div><p id=\"pvc_stats_18021\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"18021\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/followthethings.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p><div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>followthethings.comElectronics &#8220;Gravesend, 2007&#8220;An art work \/ short film by Steve McQueen premiered at the Venice Biennale and exhibited at the Renaissance Society in Chicago, USA in 2007 and at the Uneven Geographies exhibition at the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery, UK in 2010.Gallery photo above. Renaissance Society exhibition photos here. 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