Ian Giles
After BUTT
Kabinettet
13.08.–13.09.2020

After BUTT is a film exploring the social and cultural legacy of the iconic magazine BUTT, a publication made by and for gay men in the early 2000s.

BUTT was known for its iconic pink pages and candid interviews with musicians, filmmakers and designers such as Michael Stipe, Gus Van Sant and Marc Jacobs. In Ian Giles’ film we hear the group sharing sexually charged narratives alongside practical discussions about publishing. 

The film utilises transcribed interviews conducted by Giles with original BUTT contributors which are then re-voiced by a group of young gay men. Through this act of storytelling between generations the film interrogates BUTT’s imbalances, raising questions around the magazines handling of race and gender. There is a playful relationship with language in the film: words becoming transferable between originators and speakers. 

Within his filmmaking process Giles employed first-hand research, participatory workshops and verbatim theatre as structures to produce his script, a social network and the resulting film. Giles and his collaborators engaged with BUTT as a prism to consider gay histories, the presentation of gay men within mainstream media and links between medical advances and sexual freedom.

After BUTT was commissioned by Chelsea Space, London and funded by Arts Council England and supported by Hospitalfields, Scotland. The film is shown at Kunstnerforbundet in collaboration with Entrée, Bergen, where the film was included in their 2018 program  dedicated to video and film.

Throughout the exhibition period we are showing an online conversation between Ian Giles and Entrée’s deputy director, artist Lars Korff Lofthus. In addition to the exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet we have the pleasure of screening After BUTT online until September 13th.

Ian Giles born UK 1985, completed his MFA in 2012 at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Recent exhibitions and screenings include: Outhouse, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge; Studio Four, OUTPOST, Norwich; Trojan Horse / Rainbow Flag, presented by Gasworks at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, London (all 2019). After BUTT, NY Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1, New York; Video Club: Sex Talks, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; After BUTT, Entrée, Bergen, Norway and After BUTT, Chelsea Space, London (all 2018). Ian was an inaugural winner of the Shannon Michael Cane Award in 2018. He was a New Geographies commissioned artist 2018-20 and is currently a recipient of the Jerwood New Work Fund.