A conversation between Donald Smith and Daniel Sturgis at Chelsea Space on the occasion of ‘Almost Bliss: Notes on Derek Jarman’s Blue’

The article is a conversation between the author Daniel Sturgis and Donald Smith on the occasion of an exhibition of work by Derek Jarman: ‘Almost Bliss: Notes on Derek Jarman’s Blue’ at Chelsea Space, London (29 January–15 March 2014). Smith curated the exhibition, which focused on Jarman’s notebooks for his seminal late film Blue (1993). The way the exhibition was displayed disrupted the architectural spaces of the gallery and immersed spectators into a charged environment. The conversation illuminates Jarman’s working processes, his influence from the work of Yves Klein and reflects on how the exhibition space and installation can speak around its subject.