Douglas Gordon: Empire, 1998
We have selected Douglas Gordon's 'Empire' as an example of an artwork becoming an iconic part of the urban environment. Its original site was in the heart of the Merchant's City on Brunswick Lane, an area comprised of old warehouse spaces, pound shops and old fashioned pubs. The piece has since been moved to Tontine Lane as a result of the area being targeted as a hot spot for urban regeneration. The fact that the original site still lies derelict and undeveloped has brought into even sharper focus Gordon's original intentions for the piece - his comments on trade, industry, the idea of 'Empires' and their often catastrophic affects on local populations.
Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon was born in 1966 in Glasgow, Scotland. He lives and works between New York, Glasgow and Germany. Gordon received a BA (Hons) Fine Art from the Glasgow School of Art (1984-1988) and then studied at the Slade School of Art, London (1998-1990). Working with video and installation, Gordon's preoccupation with Hollywood films and cinema sees him playing with the time elements of footage, employing multiple monitors and video loops. His work often addresses dualities such as good and evil. In 2006 the major exhibition 'Douglas Gordon Superhumanatural' opened at the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh. He has exhibited internationally, including Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands and the DIA Center for the Arts in New York, in addition to a touring retrospective organized by Geffen Contemporary in Los Angeles in 2001. Gordon was the 1996 recipient of the Turner Prize, in 1997 was awarded Premio 2000 at the Venice Biennial, and in 1998 he was presented with the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum in SoHo. He was also included in the SkulpturProjekte in Münster in 1997.