Larry Achiampong (b. 1984, United Kingdom) and David Blandy (b. 1976, United Kingdom) have worked collaboratively since 2013. Recent exhibitions together include: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy (2016), The Gallery, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne; Finding Fanon Part Two (2015), Brighton Digital Festival; Media Minerals – Larry Achiampong & David Blandy (2015), Dolph Projects, London; and Wir Sind Alle Berliner: 1884–2014 (2015), ICI, Berlin. Achiampong lives and works in London. He has participated in exhibitions both nationally and worldwide. Recent exhibitions include: Histories of a Vanishing Present: A Prologue (2016), The Mistake Room, California; Hemmer: Secret Agent (2016), Guest Projects, London; London Film Festival (Experimenta: Second Sight) (2015), British Film Institute, London; GHOSTS (2015), Hangar, Lisbon; The Chimurenga Library: The Pan African Space Station (2015), The Showroom, London; Curators Series #8: All of Us Have a Sense of Rhythm (2015), David Roberts Art Foundation, London; Residual: Traces of the Black Body (2015), New Art Exchange, Nottingham; among others. Blandy lives and works in Brighton and London. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and is represented by Seventeen, London. His films are distributed through LUX. His recent exhibitions include: Citadel: David Blandy (2016), The Exchange, Penzance; the 59th BFI London Film Festival (2015), BFI Southbank, London; Hercules Rough Cut: David Blandy (2015), Bloomberg Space, London; The Vanishing Point of History (2015), Centre d’art et Photographie de Lectoure, France; Extinction Marathon: Visions of the Future (2014), Serpentine Gallery, London; 3rd Bahia Biennale (2014), Modern Art Museum of Bahia, Brazil; among others.
Finding Fanon Part Two (2015, 9’13”)
The Finding Fanon series is inspired by the lost plays of Frantz Fanon, (1925-1961) a politically radical humanist whose practice dealt with the psychopathology of colonisation and the social and cultural consequences of decolonisation. Throughout the series, Achiampong and Blandy negotiate Fanon’s ideas, examining the politics of race, racism and decolonisation, and how these societal issues affect our relationship amidst an age of new technology, popular culture and globalisation.
Finding Fanon Two collides art-house cinema with digital culture’s Machinima, resulting in a work that explores the post-colonial condition from inside a simulated environment – the Grand Theft Auto 5 in-game video editor. This video work combines several stories, including how the artists’ familial histories relate to colonial history, an examination of how their relationship is formed through the virtual space, and thoughts on the implications of the post-human condition.