In our first major institutional engagement Modern Forms acquired and donated to Tate Collection, Emeka Ogboh’s installation The Way Earthly Things Are Going. Additionally Modern Forms supported the exhibition of the work at Tate Tanks in December 2017 – February 2018.
Premiered at documenta 14, Athens, in the summer of 2017, The Way Earthly Things Are Going, is one of the most compelling installation works of recent times. The work’s title is taken from a lyric in Bob Marley’s So Much Trouble in the World. It comprises live-streamed stock exchange data which presented on LED displays, alongside which is played an old Greek lament, When I forget, I’m glad, recorded specifically for the piece, through site a specific speaker installation, creating a polyphonic audio installation. The song conveys tales of exile, forced migration, and the search for a better life. Though nominally taking the Greek economic crisis as its subject, the work is a beautiful meditation on migration, exile and loss.
