PHIL

Gasworks Gallery wrote – “PHIL investigates the philanthropic attitude”. As well as my practice articulating a sociability and “love of people”, the whole notion of an orchestra struck fear in my heart — it represented total control and perfect order. It seemed a highly organised machine, it signified high class culture and the social chasms of the hierarchy. It reminded me of my own traditional bourgeois family of origin, which had been imploding under its own gorgeous image for some years. I took this opportunity to disintegrate the orchestra and ‘explode’ the collective performance by literally separating out the musicians – they played their parts as solo parts in PHIL’s homes. I chose Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nacht Musik because it has been so widely heard, and would be recognisable when played out of synch.

Phil responds also to the issue of urban regeneration and publicly funded art’s relationship to what is often a gentrification process. This has been an issue for quite a few of my projects, for example The Wedding Project and Visionhire. This time I wanted to say something about the way communities are defined from on high — usually created by drawing a catchment area on a map. How much a part does geography play?

“By searching for Philips, Philomenenas and Philippas, Anna Best turns on its side any notion of a geographically defined community. PHIL was offered to the residents of Vauxhall and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the spirit of celebratory collaboration and critical provocation.” Gasworks Gallery

By looking for people on the electoral register whose name had ‘PHIL’ in it , the ‘participants’ were sought out in a random manner. We (myself and Amy Plant, who was employed as producer) put flyers through the ‘PHIL’ doors and rang the bells to ask them directly if they wanted to take part. A lot of people thought at first that it was a joke. Each player would perform their part separately, two cameras filmed each solo performance as wide and close up shots. These video tapes would be reunited as a kind of orchestra of televisions with video players. When we were setting up in their homes we always had to rearrange their TV, as the conductor was on a videotape adn the musician needed to watch him for the timing. There was this funny moment going into the corner of someone’s living room and unsettling the TV dust! The musicians all reacted very differently to this solo situation, where normally they are ensconced within the orchestra. Some were petrified, others relished the situation of being surrounded by domestic furniture and families.

Date

2002

Commissioning partners

The Beaufoy Arts Project
Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art
Gasworks Gallery
Lambeth Arts
Vauxhall St Peter’s Heritage Centre

Production

Amy Plant

Danielle Arnaud Gallery
Gasworks Gallery

Media

Performances
30 videos

Funders

Lambeth Riverside

Links

Hosts

Phillip Scott
Phil Colley
Louise Philpot
Philippa Underwood
Phil Hogg
Philip Moore
Phil Seager
Philip Nipah
Philippa Bessant
Phillip Johnson
Philip Norman
Phil Rigby
Philippa Crerar
Simon Phillips
Philippe Ciompi

London Philharmonic Orchestra musicians

Frances Bucknall, Dan Cornford, Martin Fenn, Emily Isaac, Rachel Ives, Geoffrey Lynn, Dominic Moore, Mila Mustakova, George Peniston, Robert Poole, Will Routledge, Rebecca Shorrock, Amanda Smith, Jo St. Leon, Sioni Williams

Fiona Boundy, Richard Mallett, Amy Plant, Danielle Arnaud, Jack Baker, Rupert Bond, Rupert Carey, Andrea Crociani, Serge Dorny, Gasworks Gallery, Ella Gibbs & Muxa, Katherine Green, Mimi Hansmann, Julie Lomax, Myes Stawman, spc.org, Anna Symes, Stefan Szczelkun, Paul Whitty, Bettina Wilhelm

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