Artworks1998Droste Effect

Photograph of all the works in the South London Gallery exhibition 'The Stuff Show' covered up in the style of Christo for the opening night. Guests at the opening of Turk’s solo exhibition at the South London Gallery in 1998 found that the artist had covered all of the works with linen dustsheets for the evening. Turk had effectively made a one-night exhibition inviting the audience to take a look at their own expectations, and responses ranged from wry enjoyment to outright indignation. ‘Droste Effect’ is a panoramic image of the covered exhibition, and was itself included among the covered works – an apparent impossibility; how could the photograph be on the white wall while it has been taken? The work’s title comes from a Dutch cocoa powder, Droste, which features on its tin a picture of a nun carrying a tray with a tin of Droste, which in turn has the same picture of the nun….and on into infinity.