Saturday 23 September – Friday 1 December 2023
The former Topshop unit, Grosvenor Shopping Centre, Eastgate St. Chester, CH1 1 LE
Set in a once busy fashion store, DISARM is infused with a contradictory sense of desire, conflict and lost aspiration wittily referencing the 'runway' as a site for aircraft as well as a theatrical fashion space. Drawing on the military history written into Chester's fabric, it suggests conflict is neither distant nor past.
Upended helicopter blades stand in as mannequins which exhibition Banner's collection of military aircraft-inspired costumes, while old Topshop dummies are taken apart and repurposed as props. A short film shows an arm emblazoned with DISARM hurled into the blue sky. Across the shop floor, the grandiose, seductive soundtrack of Pranayama Organ (2021) plays out.
The now defunct Topshop brand is redolent of an age of consumer innocence; the once brightly mirrored space is transformed into a darkened theatre for a very different type of yearning.
