Amie Siegel: Provenance

A Glasgow International exhibition

A film work of cinematic scale, Provenance traces in reverse the global trade in furniture from the Indian city of Chandigarh. Conceived in the 1950s by architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, Chandigarh’s controversial Modernist architecture includes original pieces of furniture created specifically for the building’s interiors.

Starting with the Chandigarh furniture in the present, the film begins in New York apartments, London townhouses, Belgian villas and Paris salons of avid collectors.

From there, it moves backwards to the furniture’s sale at auction, preview exhibitions, and photography for auction catalogues, to restoration and cargo shipping containers — ending finally in Chandigarh.

The film enacts a subtly discursive cinematic space, peeling back time to make visible the furniture’s movement around the globe.

In 2013, Provenance was auctioned at Christie’s in London, turning the film into another object at auction, inseparable from the market it depicts. Lot 248, a second film, captures the auction of Provenance, becoming a mirror of the first, repeating and completing the circuit of design and art that define speculative markets.

This exhibition is part of a group show at Tramway, curated by the festival Director Sarah McCrory and co-designed by artist Martin Boyce as part of the Director's Programme.