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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB3H, Shelf DR8

headache/phone card/soda/donuts/stereo

Poster
2003 (printed and published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is the so-called 'circuit poster', used across the London Underground railway network, to advertise a site-specific project by Liam Gillick in association with 'Platform for Art' (an enterprising scheme to install art works at various sites on the tube network). Headache/Phone Card/Soda/Donuts/Stereo was a commission by Platform for Art and Frieze Foundation. A series of 5 posters - produced in a range of sizes and colourways - was installed at Great Portland Street tube station to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair in 2003. This was held in Regents Park, and Great Portland Street was the nearest station for visitors to the fair. Gillick’s work to date has focused on the grey area where architecture, design and art intersect. His posters for this project featured simple typography, strong pattern and single colours. The work made use of transcripts from non-specific fictional television advertising – transposing the structure of one communication medium into the format of another. The format – and structure – of the message overwhelms the product; the result is ambiguous, and ineffectual; the narrative and presentation thwart each other – and the conventional visual and graphic impact of the poster medium is sabotaged. The essence of the poster – that its message must be legible to an audience on the move – was undercut by these posters which are dense with text and veiled imagery.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titleheadache/phone card/soda/donuts/stereo (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour offset lithograph
Brief description
Poster for Platform for Art, 'headache/phone card/soda/donuts/stereo' by Liam Gillick, published by London Underground Ltd, England (probably London), 2003
Dimensions
  • Height: 102cm
  • Width: 63.5cm
Credit line
Given by Platform for Art. Copyright Liam Gillick/ London Underground Limited
Summary
This is the so-called 'circuit poster', used across the London Underground railway network, to advertise a site-specific project by Liam Gillick in association with 'Platform for Art' (an enterprising scheme to install art works at various sites on the tube network). Headache/Phone Card/Soda/Donuts/Stereo was a commission by Platform for Art and Frieze Foundation. A series of 5 posters - produced in a range of sizes and colourways - was installed at Great Portland Street tube station to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair in 2003. This was held in Regents Park, and Great Portland Street was the nearest station for visitors to the fair. Gillick’s work to date has focused on the grey area where architecture, design and art intersect. His posters for this project featured simple typography, strong pattern and single colours. The work made use of transcripts from non-specific fictional television advertising – transposing the structure of one communication medium into the format of another. The format – and structure – of the message overwhelms the product; the result is ambiguous, and ineffectual; the narrative and presentation thwart each other – and the conventional visual and graphic impact of the poster medium is sabotaged. The essence of the poster – that its message must be legible to an audience on the move – was undercut by these posters which are dense with text and veiled imagery.
Collection
Accession number
E.3018-2004

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Record createdMay 26, 2004
Record URL
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