These Days by Dan Mitchell for the Brent Biennial in Wembley Park

These Days by Dan Mitchell

Wembley Library, Vinyl on glass, 2020

Commissioned by Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture as part of first Brent Biennial, 'These Days' takes the form of a large-scale text-based work covering the glass facade of Wembley Library.

The work uses the language of advertising slogans and campaigns, together with stock images to present the text: THESE DAYS EVEN REALITY HAS TO LOOK ARTIFICIAL.

Taken from the J.G. Ballard book Kingdom Come, the artwork is a poetic intervention in a public space that is at the heart of civic life and decision making. Understood and read as both a public announcement and statement, the work offers a prescient reminder of our present time.

Brent Biennial

These Days forms part of the first Brent Biennial - over 20 brand new artworks inspired by the cultures, places and people of Brent.

With new installations across the Borough of Brent, the Brent Biennial tells the stories of Brent then, now and tomorrow – and of the people who have been made and shaped by the borough.

From sculptures to sound art, large-scale murals to intimate installations, the Biennial takes art out of galleries and shines light on them in public spaces.

Find out more about the Brent Biennial here.

Artist bio

Dan Mitchell lives and works in London. He is a co-founder of the Artist Self-Publishers’ Fair and the publisher of Hard Mag - the ‘stronger than reason’ specialist magazine. His work is generated on computers and takes the form of an assemblage of culled images (from the web, magazines, posters, film and photography) and is rendered on paper in the forms of posters, magazines, drawings and prints as well as sculpture.