Playtime

Before our move to HOME in 2015, we present Playtime, the final exhibition at Cornerhouse that bids farewell to the building and pays homage to the place we have called home since 1985. For this momentous occasion, nine artists present playful, participatory work inspired by Cornerhouse’s iconic brick structure and director Jaques Tati’s 1967 comedy masterpiece Playtime. Tati’s film follows the adventures of Monsieur Hulot as he wanders, bemused, through a hysterically hyperbolic, modernist Paris. The film - which cemented Tati’s critical reputation but plagued him with financial difficulties - is famous for its subtle visual comedy and inventive sound design that upends many conventions of narrative cinema.

Like Tati’s film, the artists in Playtime use comedy, space and sound to encourage exploration and play in the galleries. The exhibition features new commissions from Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Naomi Kashiwagi, Gabriel Lester and Jan St. Werner. Rosa Barba, Niklas Goldbach, Andy Graydon and Shannon Plumb present existing work that spans installation, video and sound art.