In the trend for art as sci-fi set pieces, Townley's seem distinct in presenting the historical institution as the stage - rather than whatever Hollywood SFX presented as art - but the museum rendered back at itself. The space of relic, display, and preservation for a subtle estrangement or mockery. Like a dark and more powerful Indiana Jones. All the questions of which past is worth fumigating, which is worth suffocating? The two get confused. Isn't history itself science fiction at this point? Bad news is an understatement, comedy.
See too: Josh Kline at Modern Art, Adrián Villar Rojas at MOCA Geffen, Cooper Jacoby at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Max Hooper Schneider at Jenny’s, Max Hooper Schneider at High Art, Timur Si-qin at von ammon co, Timur Si-Qin at Carl Kostyál, Korakrit Arunanondchai at Clearing
