Jack Cheetham: Trapped in a coffin with nothing to do…

trapped in a coffin with nothing to do... is a new installation by artist Jack Cheetham. With the help of community and puppetry, the exhibition will speculate on visions of future hometowns, families, loves, demons, and pals.

The interactive installation is an imagining of a forgotten puppet show that takes place in and around ruined castle grounds, set in the year 2066, in the fictional town of Helldham, Angelshireland. The puppet show has been abandoned due to a mass puppeteer revolt. The show is full of knackered puppets (to be reanimated by the exhibition’s audience, becoming the puppeteer), in which several characters together ­­attempt to break up with the main character, the Castle.

An example of some of Cheetham’s characters that are included in the show are: Castle; Castle Babe; The Chimneys; The Hands of G’rem; Townsfolk; and a cult made up of Freshly Baked Revolutionary Village Bread.

Puppets have a 'life of their own', and Cheetham is interested in how puppet play is used in theatrical, political, and therapeutic contexts, and how it can be used as an alternative mode of communication through roleplay as a treatment for trauma.

The exhibition will examine the potential and ongoing failures of its creators through the imagining of a certain consumer-driven fantasied moment in time. It will be rooted in contemplations around consumer cultures, labours, and legacies. It will also incorporate expanded forms of caricature, cartooning and character design. All are realised as a potential mode of personifying, exhausting, and evaporating the effects that objects and materials can have on people and their communities over time.

Opening

Join us for the exhibition's opening 18 August, 6pm - 9pm, then open 11am-6pm Tue-Sat.

Jack Cheetham

Jack Cheetham is an artist and educator, raised in Derbyshire, England, and lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. He studied at Glasgow School of Art graduating from the MFA programme in 2014. Since graduating he has also focused on community arts work, teaching, and workshopping - facilitating collective making through collaborations with numerous arts organisations including Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Artlink, Glasgow Clyde College, and Glasgow Sculpture Studios. Some recent exhibition projects include: cview, Gallery Celine, Glasgow Scotland (2020-2022); FASHION DUST UMAMI, CCA, Glasgow Scotland (2021), GESTS, Curfew Gallery, Glasgow Scotland (2019); John, Gallery Ffffriedrich, Frankfurt Am-Main Germany (2018); BRED, Bloc Projects, Sheffield England; Good £uck, Glasgow International, Scotland (2018 -curated by Beagles & Ramsay).