Janice Kerbel
(Can, born in 1969, lives in London)


Bank Job, guard

Bank job, aerial view of 15 Lombard Street

Janice Kerbel's creations are inspired by police enquiries, spy and mystery stories. In most cases, her works look like diagrams, instructions or maps. This aesthetics evokes the conceptual art of the 60's and 70's, but with some humour, Janice Kerbel finds a way to enable viewers to transform her works into action. Home Fittings (1999-2000) presents itself like maps of an interior space, dotted with small markers. Each marker corresponds to a precise spot on the floor where boards won't creak if you tread on them, and where you can stop to listen to what is happening in a contiguous room without casting a shadow or reflection that might be perceived by the spied-upon people.
Bank Job (1999) is the fruit of several years of research, documentation and observation about a bank at Lombard Street 15, London. Janice Kerbel gathered and classified many documents (black and white photographs, blueprints, maps, time-tables, lists of required material - and written texts where she minutely describes the bank's monitoring system, foreseen diversions to facilitate a getaway by car, as well as directions to a hideout in Spain. Nothing is left to chance. This material is offered to the viewers who can become potential users of Bank Job. The orderly presentation of these documents, on three cork panels, suggests both the moment of preparation of a robbery, and its methodical reconstruction.

expositions personnelles
2003 Norwich Gallery, Norwich (cur. Lynda Morris, publication) / 2001 Bank Job, Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver (cur. Lorna Brown) / Exuma Emerald, Flatlands, Toronto (cur. Painting Disorders) / 2000 JK/JK Janice Kerbel/Joachim Koestler, Arnolfini, Bristol (curatrice Catsou Roberts, publication) / Bird Island, Lux Gallery, Londres (cur. Simon Faithful) / 1999 Home Fittings, Piano Nobile, Genève (cur. Pascal Mabut et Marie-Eve Knoerle) / 3 Marked Decks, Gasworks, Londres (cur. Unit) / 1996 antidote, YYZ Artist's Outlet, Toronto

expositions collectives
2003 Truffes de Chine, attitudes - espace d'arts contemporains, Genève / 2002 To whom it may concern, CCAC, San Francisco (cur. Matthew Higgs) / BANG, Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris (cur. Eileen Sommerman) / Landing, Royal Holloway College, Londres (cur. Ingrid Swenson) / Tourist Gazes, Kunstverein Wolfsburg (cur. Doris Berger) / Here There Elsewhere, London Print Studio (cur. David Blamey) / 2001 Art at the Edge of the Law, Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield (cur. Richard Klein) / Money Lust: Model Banking, Kunsthalle Tirol, Autriche, (cur. Hubert Salden) Really, Artists' Space, New York (cur. Barbara Hunt) / 1999 !Crash - Complicity and Corporate Culture, ICA, Londres (cur. !Crash) / Other Arrangements - Juan Cruz, Emma Kay & Janice Kerbel, Duende, Rotterdam / Limitless, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienne (cur. Matthew Higgs) / 297 x 210, Firestation, Dublin ; Arthur R. Rose, Londres (cur. Alun Rowlands, publication) / nine nine ninety nine, Anthony Wilkinson Gallery, Londres / EAST, Norwich Gallery, Londres / 1998 Cluster bomb, Morrison Judd, Londres / Information, Art Fair International, New York (cur. Matthew Higgs) / Surfacing, ICA, Londres (curatrice Emma Dexter) / NWUK: Post Neo Amateur, Chisenhale Gallery, Londres (cur. Unit) / Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Galley, Londres / 1997 Thought, City Racing, Londres (cur. Carolina Grau) / Ghostwriter, Mercer Union, Toronto (cur. Millie Chen, publication) / 1996 MA graduation exhibition, Goldsmith's College, Londres / 1995 Homemade remedies and Magnificent obsessions, CCA, Seattle / Wall to Wall - The Drawing Show, OR Gallery, Vancouver / Bodies of Evidence, The New Gallery, Calgary (cur. Dionne McAffee)

publications et projets
2002 Landing : 8 collaborative projects by artists and geographers, AHRB, Londres, éd. Ingrid Swensen / 2001 Here, There, Elsewhere, Open Editions, Londres, éd. David Blamey / Slipstream, commande pour Internet par Film & Video Umbrella, Londres, http://slipstream.uk.net, curateur Steven Bode / 2000 15 Lombard Street, livre d'artiste, éd. BookWorks, Londres (cur. Stephan Kalmar) / Bird Island, projet pour Internet, http://www.bird-island.com (cur. e-2) / 1999 Social Insecurity, Projet d'artiste pouz le no.7 de Alphabet City, éd Cor Heesters / 297 x 210, projet d'artiste pour la publication Arthur R. Rose, éd. Alun Rowlands / 1996 Ghostwriter, Mercer Union Publication, Toronto / The Notebook Project, Contemporary Art Gallery, Van, éd. David MacWilliam