Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen, Stanley Picker Fellows in Fine Art 2017, presents an introduction to their fellowship research.

The London based artists work across objects, installation and film, exploring processes of production as cultural, social and political practices. Recent exhibitions include Para Site Hong Kong, The 7th Moscow Biennale, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Fotomuseum Winterthur, HKW in Berlin and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Recent screenings and talks include the ICA in London, TENT Rotterdam and Congo International Film Festival in Goma. Their work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and M+ Museum in Hong Kong.

Over the course of their Fellowship, Cohen & Van Balen will develop a new body of work looking at gambling as a symptom of the contemporary condition. Working with writers, psychologists and economists, they will explore gambling as a state of mind, a prominent gesture, practice and ideology in both contemporary politics and art; manifestation of delusion, grandeur and the belief of fantasy materialising. Through experiments with language, systems, situations, objects and bodies, their project will question why times of uncertainty call for irrational behaviour.