Possible Background
- Artist: Vlassis Caniaris
- Date: 1974
- Medium: Cardboard, paper, polythene, wood, formica, wooden stepladders, suitcases, coat hangers, clothing, paint, doll's prams, tricycle and other materials
- Dimensions: object: 2250 × 5400 × 1100 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the 'Possible Background' by Vlassis Caniaris. It's a large installation made from cardboard, paper, polythene, wood, formica, wooden stepladders, suitcases, coat hangers, clothing, paint, doll's prams and a tricycle. The artist built a wall of black paper over a corrugated sheet, then surrounded it with everyday objects that were once packed for travel. The scene evokes the life of ‘guest workers’, migrants who moved from southern to western Europe after the Second World War to fill labour shortages. Caniaris himself was displaced from Greece and only returned in 1976, two years after the junta fell. The work first appeared that year at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, where it joined an exhibition about immigrants. The two blue luggage tags on a suitcase point to the ICA address, a subtle reminder of the places these people left behind. Caniaris uses found material to create a quiet, visual drama about displacement, making the viewer feel the weight of a journey.
See it in person
Possible Background is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
