Peter Spanjer, SWIM, 2024, Film, shown as Two-channel video installation, projection, black and white, 08m 02sec
Residency 03
SWIM is the title of Peter Spanjer’s site-specific exhibition representing the culmination of extensive research and development as the third recipient of the Cob Award. The exhibition features an installation of the narrative based moving image work produced by Peter Spanjer in collaboration with Foreign Body Productions. The screening of the film will take over the studio space in an immersive exhibition.
Drawing on his ongoing interest in hydrophilia in queer cinema and literature, this particular body of work explores the role that public space plays in black queer love stories whilst forming a visual language built up of references of archive queer imagery. As well as his continued exploration into video techniques Spanjer's film SWIM focuses on the development of his approach to writing and building scripts; this being his first narrative based work. Illuminated by the works of Langston Hughes to Hilton Als to Rinaldo Walcott, Spanjer seeks to carve out his own way of storytelling through an investigation into the semantics of intimacy. The final presentation sees the artist take curatorial autonomy over the installation of the work in order to further the narrative focus.
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Peter Spanjer (b.1994 Bremen, Germany) lives and works in London, UK. He graduated from his Master in Contemporary Art Practice: Moving Image at the Royal College of Arts in 2020. Recent solo exhibitions include; Flood of Memory, Shoreditch Arts Club, London, UK (2023); What Do You Desire, inter.pblc gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2021); In Order for it to Change, Screw Gallery, Leeds, UK (2021); The Tingle That You Feel On Your Tongue, Peter Spanjer, Kristin Hjellegjerde, London, UK (2020). Group exhibtions include; Diaspora Now - Reference Point Lates, 180 Strand, London, UK (2023); A-Z - The Voice of a Tempest Act III, Somerset House Studios, London, UK (2023); Testament, Goldsmiths CCA, London, UK (2022); London Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2022); Regroundings, Goldsmiths CCA (Online), London, UK (2021); 20:20, CIRCA, Piccadilly Lights, London, UK (2020); Tomorrow: London, White Cube (Online), London, UK (2020); among others.