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Darren Almond
Journey Time
One of the most significant British artists of the past decade, Darren Almond has established a richly complex,
emotive, and flexible practice which centers on time and history, often focusing on the dark traces of industrialization
from the last century but firmly rooted in present-day concerns. Raised in the coalmining heartland and transport hub
of northwest England, Almond became a keen train-spotter as a youth and has since made numerous works involving
railways, from station-style clocks enlarged into kinetic sculptures to a profusion of text works that take as their format
the embossed metal signs affixed to rolling stock.
The focus of Journey Time is one of his most ambitious projects in this field and one of the milestones of his career so
far: a trilogy of films devoted to remarkable trains. Schwebebahn (1995) was shot in Germany, upside-down on the
first monorail. Running in slow-motion, disorienting and defamiliarising, it conveys a sense of modernity’s aspirations
being inverted in an era where much twentieth-century idealism now seems bankrupt. Geisterbahn (1997) was filmed
in Vienna on an old-fashioned ghost train. Shot in an expressionistic, shadowy style and punctuated by skulls, the
journey becomes a gothic metaphor for mortal life. The third and final part of the trilogy was shot in 2006 on a hugely
ambitious railway line built by the Chinese government, leaving from Beijing and stretching 1,200km into Lhasa,
striking deep into Tibet. At certain points this will be the highest railway in the world, necessitating oxygen masks for
the passengers. Currently it is oxygenated by publicity, having attracted a storm of protests from Tibetans who fear it
is intended to bring in large numbers of Chinese migrants to colonise the country. As such, this work extends
Almond’s exploration of how transport’s symbolic function as a flashpoint for human struggle. Published to
accompany Darren Almond’s exhibition of all three films in Essen, Germany, this handsome catalogue features a
substantial selection of images from all three productions.
Darren Almond was born in Wigan, England in 1971. His work has been exhibited internationally in major exhibitions
including in London at the Royal Academy shows “Apocalypse” (2000) and “Sensation” (1997–1999) in which he
was the youngest artist to participate. Recent solo shows include “K21”, Kunsthalle Zurich, Tate Britain, Matthew
Marks Gallery, Chisenhale Gallery, Galerie Max Hetzler, The Renaissance Society, White Cube and the ICA.
Almond’s work has been acquired for major public and private collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art
and The Kramlich Collection. His work was shortlisted for the 2005 Turner Prize.
Co-published with Museum Folkwang, Essen.
Darren Almond
Journey Time
Book design by Steidl Design
160 pages, four color throughout
11 x 13.7 in. / 28 x 35 cm
Hardcover with dust jacket
$ 65.00 / £ 35.00 / € 50.00
ISBN: 978-3-86521-383-9
PostScript Bild
(9783865213839)
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