XX.XX.XX

Started in 2019, XX.XX.XX is a reflection on the biblical Annunciation that is executed through the eclectic materials that emerge during the production and representation of luxury commodities such as clothes, jewelry, and cosmetics. In making advertisements and the products they describe, documents and objects such as mood boards, screen tests, and the very sets used for photography and videography all come to indicate a condition of labor and ingenuity that takes place before and during the making of something, a state during which creativity has yet to zero in on a point in the teleological horizon. The Annunciation carries a similar impression of the prototypical: canonized in the Gospel according to Luke, this narrative describes the pomp and ceremony around the archangel Gabriel descending from the heavens to inform Mary that she will eventually become the Mother of God on Earth. Like the earliest production stages of creating luxury goods and their fetishized images, the Annunciation is an internal communication stating that more communication has yet to come, a message declaring that there will be more messages, a promise that something extraordinary will happen but not quite yet.

Elliott Mickleburgh is an artist and writer based in London. Recent solo exhibitions of his work include XX.XX.XX (Under the Scene) at the Salzburger Kunstverein. Recent group exhibitions include With fists, it kicks, it bites at TJ Boulting in London; Everything the same, Everything a little different at The Art Academy in London; and Rulers at Coco Hunday in Tampa. His writing has been included in print publications and online journals such as THE SEEN, Notes on Metamodernism, and Art in Print. His fiction has been included in the New York-based journal Storyfile as well as most recently in the catalog Fall Into Place, published on the occasion of the aforementioned exhibition at TJ Boulting. In 2022, Mickleburgh will publish a new text titled Strata in a catalog documenting a series of exhibitions in London that showcased the work of the Future Archive, a collective of artists, writers, designers, and curators directed by Rut Blees Luxemburg. He has given lectures on speculative philosophy and contemporary art to both undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Oxford, the Royal College of Art, and the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien. Mickleburgh holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Visual Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Photography from the Royal College of Art in London.

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (eCom Profile View of the Archangel Gabriel’s Footwear) // archival inkjet print // A3 sheet size, 50 x 40 cm framed // 2020

© Elliott Mickleburgh - XX.XX.XX (Choreographic Reference for Jewelry Advert) // archival inkjet print // A2 sheet size, 66 x 49 cm framed // 2021
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XX.XX.XX (Choreographic Reference for Jewelry Advert) // archival inkjet print // A2 sheet size, 66 x 49 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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Installation view of XX.XX.XX (Prop Continuity Logs for a Scene in the Archangel Gabriel’s Office) // Salzburger Kunstverein // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Prop Continuity Log for a Scene in the Archangel Gabriel’s Office) No. 1 // archival inkjet print // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Prop Continuity Log for a Scene in the Archangel Gabriel’s Office) No. 2 // archival inkjet print // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Prop Continuity Log for a Scene in the Archangel Gabriel’s Office) No. 3 // archival inkjet print // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Prop Continuity Log for a Scene in the Archangel Gabriel’s Office) No. 4 // archival inkjet print // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Prop Continuity Log for a Scene in the Archangel Gabriel’s Office) No. 5 // archival inkjet print // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Apple Box Elevations for the Archangel Gabriel’s Descent) // Spray paint and chalk on birch plywood apple boxes // 90 x 50 x 60 cm // 2020

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Blue Screen Cosmetics Test for the Archangel Gabriel) // archival inkjet print // A3 sheet size, 40 x 50 cm framed // 2019

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Call Sheet) No. 1 // highlighter and xerography on Hahnemühle 188gsm photo rag // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Call Sheet) No. 2 // highlighter and xerography on Hahnemühle 188gsm photo rag // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Call Sheet) No. 3 // highlighter and xerography on Hahnemühle 188gsm photo rag // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

© Elliott Mickleburgh - Image from the XX.XX.XX photography project
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XX.XX.XX (Call Sheet) No. 4 // highlighter and xerography on Hahnemühle 188gsm photo rag // A4 sheet size, 28 x 36 cm framed // 2021

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