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Thomas Kilpper - The Politics of Heritage vs. the Heritage of Politics

Edinburgh Printmakers until July 13
Four stars

The smell of rubber lingers throughout the inaugural exhibition in Edinburgh Printmakers’ new home in Castle Mills, the former rubber factory which later became a brewery. As the show’s title suggests, German artist activist Thomas Kilpper embraces the social-political and artistic history of the venue, marking out its contradictions as he goes. He does this via a monumental site-specific rogues’ gallery that fills floor and ceiling with a partisan topography of past, present and possible futures. Mirror images of a carved-up cast list of pop/art stars that would put Peter Blake's gathering for Sergeant Pepper in the psychedelic shade as they inhabit

Resembling a woodcut of a trade union banner writ large, over thirty-six images, Kipper juxtaposes images of factory workers with art figures such as Joseph Beuys, Richard Demarco and Andy Warhol. John Lyndon and Jeremy Corbin are there, as are artists Jim Lamble, Ross Sinclair and Alasdair Gary. Rats sit aloft the shoulders of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage. A wobbly Theresa May trotters next to a Glastonbury-up Kate Moss, while Fountain bridge boy Sean Connery, capture in his artists’ model days, shows exactly why he’s called 'Big' Tam. As a statement – of intent as much as reflection, Kilpper celebrates how worlds can be turned upside down, with rubber soul aplenty.

The List, May 2019


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