The Same River Twice Part 1

Greek philosopher Heraclitus is famed for his observation that `No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it`s not the same river and he`s not the same man.` With its stellar international line-up, The Same River Twice deals with a hot theme in recent art—historical reenactment. The artists all remake history, with a twist. In the first instalment, Gerard Byrne (Ireland) restages a 1973 Playboy roundtable on `new sexual lifestyles` like a theatre piece, and films it; with Mike Figgis, Jeremy Deller (Britain) makes a documentary about historical reenacters performing `the Battle of Orgreave`, a 1984 confrontation between striking miners and police during the miners` strike; Thomas Demand (Germany) remakes politically significant scenes from affectless photos as paper sculptures and photographs them; The Third Memory, a video installation by Pierre Huyghe (France), explores the interplay of fact and fiction—interviewing bank robber John Wotjtowicz, immortalised by Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, we discover Pacino inspired Wotjtowicz`s criminal style in the first place; and Slave Pianos (Australia) take experimental music made by artists and have it transcribed into sheet music so it can be performed by a robot piano player. Curated by Angela Goddard and Robert Leonard. (Part 2: Omer Fast, Emma Kay, and Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy; 7 March – 25 April 2009.) [image: Slave Pianos]