Provocation Who Knows

Who Knows (2014) is an installation comprising 12 pairs of colored neon phrases, modeled on the declension of the verb "to know" which moves though a simple set of variations and reversals. Like much of Etchells's work Who Knows reveals a fascination with rules and systems in language and in culture, especially in the way these structures are both productive and constraining. The work's repetition and recombination of individual phrases—"I know," "You know," "We know," "They know"—produces a playful paranoia, nodding to the prescient topics of state and corporate surveillance, snooping and data-harvesting. Who Knows was first shown at Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, as part of a collaboration with the PuSh Festival. Tim Etchells is an artist and a writer based in the UK whose work shifts between visual art, performance, and fiction. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts, notably as the leader of the world-renowned Sheffield-based performance group Forced Entertainment. He is currently Professor of Writing and Performance Practice at Lancaster University. www.timetchells.com www.forcedentertainment.com