27 Jan – 13th Feb 2021
In space R
Daniel John Corbett Sanders
Urban Nothing
In Urban Nothing the ‘gay bathhouse’ is presented as a paradoxical figure of revolutionary utopia and commodity spectacle, as a fossilised archetype of social transformation and ruin of haunting cultural potential. Through queer narrative documentary, Sanders explores the sexually charged and commodity-entranced space of the gay bathhouse as a microcosm of late capitalism, and as an exemplary site for excavating how a queer perspective on inner-city reality might expose contradictions otherwise obscured by mythic narratives of progress.
DANIEL JOHN CORBETT SANDERS (b.1994) is a Taranaki Pākehā multidisciplinary artist and independent curator. They studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology. Their work investigates the dreams and catastrophes of recent urban history viewed through new queer narratives of inner-city life. Recent exhibitions include Social Practice, Tāmaki Makaurau, 2020; Intimate Atmospheres, Artspace Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau, 2019; After Jack, Window Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau, 2018; Under Your Skin You Look Divine, Basement Specialist Adult Store and Sex Club, Tāmaki Makaurau, 2018. In 2020 Sanders founded Parasite, an artist-run gallery prioritising the exhibition of LGBTQ+ artists.
