Geoffrey Farmer
Let's Make the Water Turn Black

The artistic practice of Geoffrey Farmer (b. Vancouver, 1967; lives and works in Vancouver) integrates forms of collecting and scholarship employed by cultural historians, and draws on a diverse repertoire. After extensive research, the artist builds collections that unite aspects of visual art, literature, music, politics, history, and sociology, and crystallize in sprawling theatrical installations. Each of Farmer’s works comments on its own temporality–be it by alluding to the passage of time within a work, by referring to its production phase, or by itself constantly changing over time. "Let’s Make the Water Turn Black" combines these three, echoing a 1968 composition by Frank Zappa, from which it also borrows the title. Choreographed sculptures on a stage coalesce into a multifaceted and atmospheric work that unfolds over the course of the day and presents an improvised chronology of the American musician.

The exhibition is a coproduction of the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Nottingham Contemporary, Kunstverein Hamburg, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Each institution will present a different version of the show as it evolves over time.