Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie with San Keller

Arnolfini, Bristol, 2 May – 5 July

After this project was inaugurated in London in 2006, and then shown in Istanbul, Stockholm and Cairo, Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie’s last stop was the Arnolfini in Bristol in 2009.

The project investigated the latent issue of class underlying the field of contemporary visual art. It was an open question, an invitation to a discussion long overdue, and did not offer foregone conclusions or rigid hypotheses, other than the relevance of the conversations itself. Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie raised the question of whether a given socioeconomic background still helps define an artistic career – and to which point the said career might reflect or consolidate the hierarchies in question.

Swiss Artist San Keller’s photography project for the exhibition documented the manner in which the parents of Zurich, London, Istanbul, Stockholm and Cairo-based artists display their offspring’s works in their homes. He continued to develop this project throughout its international tour, engaging with artists’ parents from a multiplicity of class backgrounds. Far from a sociological study, the subtexts of Keller’s work, cultural capital and family background within the living room scenographies, are hinted at with humorous, calculated skill.

The open provocative title, which deals with the subject of “class” often politely accepted and in one way or another swept under the carpet by the art-world, has stirred up many different reactions which one would think was very much intended.

The SCFB was very pleased to be able to support this project as part of its key aim to be present at venues outside of the capital. This project is an example of how important and above all interesting it is to create and present art in a broader context – not only for the eye but also the mind, questioning political and social codes, initiating dialogues on multiple levels through art.

Artists are capable of making thoughtful and self-critical work, as Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie shows. They may not propagandise about the world, but they certainly can and do comment on the systems of powers at work in it. – guardian.co.uk