@Conductors Hallway, London OCT 2 - NOV 1, 1998

'Telling Stories'is a projected video work by Charles Kriel showing the artist sitting in the London public transport. Surrounded by other commuters, Kriel appears to be talking to himself, relating particularly intimate stories to no one. A tension exists between Kriel and those surrounding him. The others, his momentary audience, are caught in the tense space between ignoring him and his stories, and in fact listening to what he is saying. Listening closer, the gallery viewer begins to understand that these stories are particularly frank and unromanticised stories from a childhood spent on the circus. On further investigation, we see that Kriel is in fact speaking into a mobile phone, albeit using the "hands-free" option, leaving him with the initial appearance of speaking into space and to no one in particular. This tense position for the viewer (who finds themselves witnessing something which vibrates across the border between madness and considered exhibitionism) creates an oddly charged environment. Everyone has experienced being caught in a "public" space with someone speaking on a mobile. When it happens, the change in the atmosphere is overwhelming. Suddenly, we are unexpectedly privy to a "private" space. You can feel people trying to ignore the guy with the phone, but listening nonetheless. And, you feel the performance in the conversation, knowing the guy with the phone is aware he has an audience. It's a strangely tense moment that is particular to urban environments, and an incredibly aggressive phenomenon. It puts the listener in such a tense space, particularly with the "hands-free" phones. "One of the concerns for me with 'Telling Stories' is the public confessional. Having spent my childhood in America, I'm hyper-aware of my tendency to tell people my life's story within the first five minutes of having met them. I see American tourists on the Tube broadcasting in these booming American voices the most intimate details of their lives. It's a kind of aggressive confessional that marks Americans - their country, their media, the way they interact with one another. And it's slowly becoming the case in Europe, as we're influenced by their media and their talk shows.With my hopeless "American immigrant" accent, I think something of that will be added to Telling Stories." (C. Kriel) Telling Stories represents a continuation of Kriel's investigation into the nature of self-examination and confessional, exemplified by projects such as his June '98 solo exhibition at Tomato gallery: Presenting the Amazing Kriel's; the ICA installation C.C. Kriel's All-Squirrel Band; and the CD-ROM/web site The Bicentennial of the Circus.