Fast-uk > Projects > Intersculpt 2003

John Hyatt - True 2003
In 1991, Hyatt produced a large one-man show for Cornerhouse in which the work was made by aliens from the undiscovered Planet X (“Spot the Driver”). He has also had a one-man show of paintings, ostensibly, made by two-dimensional aliens come from underground to accuse humanity of “drunken mismanagement of the planet”, “Hello, Surfaceworld” (Cleveland Art Gallery, 1999), and he has published a science fiction novel, “Navigating the Terror” (Ellipsis, 2000).

The aliens were fictitious devices in those shows. They were invented strangers, like Gulliver, enabling us to see ourselves as others see us. However with “True”, when he is now attempting to show an actual encounter with a UFO, the prevoius works, unfortunately, make him a bit like ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. Put this together with the

falsification possibilities of digital technology and it is hard to know what is true and what is not these days. This new work hovers uncomfortably in the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of art, truth and technology.

It could be said that an artist traditionally searches for “Truth” and is not usually thought of as a liar. Given Hyatt’s standing in the community of the North West, and his honesty which is generally recognised by all who know him, we must take him seriously when he proclaims, in his new work for this exhibition, that the information he is presenting is “True”. However, how can he convince you? Is the “Real” more real than the “Virtual”? Is the “Virtual” less real? Hyatt thinks, “It is meaningless to say if something is ‘real’ or ‘virtual’. In both, increasingly commingled, spheres acts occur that influence other acts. I prefer to call it all the ‘Actual’ – the sites of actions. That problem dispensed with, we come to the problem of Truth.”

Bio
John Hyatt is a Manchester-based artist with an international profile. In the late 1980s, he represented British Art as the featured selected artist of Arts Council of England’s ‘The British Art Show’ and has continued to exhibit widely. He is a respected figure as an artist, author and academic. John was Head of Department of Fine Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University from 1991 - 2002. At the time of receiving his personal Chair in 1993, Hyatt became one of the youngest Professors in the UK. He recently became Head of a new research and postgraduate centre, MIRIAD (the Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design), officially founded at MMU in September 2003. It is a role that encompasses leading the research and development of art & design, drama, dance and performing arts, histories and theories of visual culture, textiles, technology and the relationship of arts to business and regeneration at advanced level. This suits his creative career. He has a long history of international exhibitions and performances as a painter, designer, musician, printmaker, author and sculptor. In 1998, he directed the Manchester end of the Liverpool/Manchester International Symposium on Electronic Arts – a pioneering collaboration for the region. His best-known Mancunian artwork is the much-photographed ‘Manchester’s Tilted Windmills’ in Exchange Square.