Sean Edwards, Undo Things Done

Undo Things Done was a multimedia solo exhibition commissioned by Arts Council of Wales for Wales in Venice and exhibited as part of the 58th Venice Biennale 2019. The work continues Sean Edwards’ exploration into how sculpture and installation can be treated as a series of poetic fragments to evoke restructured narratives dealing with personal and cultural memories. The installation was composed of 7 new bodies of works, ranging from sculpture, print, textiles, moving image and live audio performance all produced over a 12-month period. In this portfolio, the research narrative is expressed in the following six items:

ED101: the summary of the research narrative, including its 300-word statement;

ED102: the Bluecoat Gallery-produced book Undo Things Done that accompanied the exhibition;

ED103: the Bluecoat Gallery-produced booklet Un Un Un Un Un Un that reviewed the exhibition;

ED104: an exhibition guide and plan;

ED105: a film that leads the viewer through the Undo Things Done website;

ED106: the radio play Refrain, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 17 December 2019.

The exhibition also included a live component- a radio play, written and directed by Sean Edwards, that was performed and transmitted daily by his mother from her flat in Cardiff. The play was a co-production between the Arts Council of Wales and National Theatre Wales. It was later adapted and broadcast for BBC Radio 4 (link below). Alongside the exhibition a book was published to act as a reader to the work and expanded ideas of the exhibition, further details of which are given in section 6 below.

In 2020 the exhibition, and artist, was recognised by the Turner Prize jury for its significant new contributions to British art and was awarded a Tate Turner Prize Bursary in lieu of the Turner Prize Exhibition due to the Covid-19 crisis.