Fiona Hall: Wrong Way Time

In Wrong Way Time, the first exhibition at Australia’s new Venice Biennale pavilion, Fiona Hall transforms everyday materials and items into fantastic objects that speak about issues of ecology, history, economic power and the effects of globalisation. All the King’s Men are figures knitted from shredded camouflage uniforms, with ghostly vestigial bodies hanging from mask-like heads; the clocks of Wrong Way Time are painted with cryptic messages and figures; and botanical paintings adorn the banknotes of When My Boat Comes In.

There is much to delight an audience in what Fiona Hall describes as “a minefield of madness, badness and sadness in equal measure”. Accompanying the images are two substantial essays and an interview with several Tjanpi Desert Weavers who collaborated with Fiona on a group of works in the exhibition.