The Sitcom Show: Emily Pope
10 May 2019 -- 19 Jun 2019
I’m pleased to report, things have actually been getting ‘better’ (in quotation marks). I’ve been looking after myself. Not going out so much. Going running, sometimes even twice a week. Eating one piece of toast in the morning instead of four, not staying in bed all day crying or eating microwaved Aunt Bessies yorkshire puddings.
When people ask me what I’ve been up to (now that I am no longer waking up in a pool of sweat made entirely of Pinot Grigio) I say in a tired voice, ‘loads of funding applications. They take so long I think I should be paid to fill out the fucking application’. I’ve completed six art applications since January and one job application. So far I have received three rejection letters. One was from the ‘keeper’ at the Royal Academy. I wanted to write back ‘don’t think you are a keeper, actually, Rebecca.’, but I didn’t. I’ve decided to make art out of the rejection letters. I am excited to receive more rejection letters, because this means I can make more art. This is called developing a positive mental attitude.
Even so, there are some things that cannot be improved with a scented candle. For example: bed bugs, Brexit, Theresa May’s choice of shoes and the total lack of social or in fact affordable housing. Nevertheless, I have ordered a pack of three scented candles from Amazon Prime on next day delivery and found a great nail bar down the road.
Since I’ve been looking after myself, I’ve been living vicariously through Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club, a reality show about her day club in Mykonos. In one episode Lindsay picks up a lobster, which is waiting on ice for her guests to eat, and attempts to ‘release it back into the wild’ e.g - drops it off a pier into the sea. It dies immediately. Not exactly a Greenpeace moment. Anyway, inspired by a screenshot of Lindsay, and driven by our lack of faith in the government, my housemates and I decided to throw caution to the wind and have a party called ‘Post Apocalyptic Piss Up’.
P.S The Sitcom Show really needs to come to an end, so please do come along and watch the whole series in a bedroom environment at Peak. The penultimate episode (5) ‘The Party’, will be installed in the space, and the final episode will be performed live to mark the closing of the show. Newspapers will also be available to read.
Emily Pope is an artist based in London. She is interested in representations of economic precarity. Her work explores the female comic as a position to subvert and repurpose. Recent exhibitions & projects include: Time for Success at Tate Britain, Episode 4 - The Keyboard Lesson, Becky’s London; the White Pube online residency; ASP, ICA London; Episode 1 - The Court Summons, Ladette Space, London; Tarantellegra, Hester, New York; and together with Ruth Angel Edwards: Got 2 B, an ongoing radio collaboration
The Sitcom show will be at Peak from 10th May- 19th June 2019.
Opening Thursday 9th May, 7pm - 11pm
Hours:
Tuesday - Friday: 10am - 6pm
Saturday: 11am - 7pm
Sunday - Monday: Closed
www.emilypope.co.uk
Instagram: @emily_pope90
Twitter: @emilyjuliapope