A major new exhibition of work by Jenny Holzer opens today in Gateshead at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. The exhibition, in one word, is stunning. The walk up to the BALTIC reveals the first insight into what is to come inside; the façade of the building emblazoned with “THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR WILL BE SECRET”.
Holzer’s use of text as art rises to a new political level as she takes classified documents from the US Government, made public under the Freedom of Information Act, and creates impressive LED sculptures displaying this information repeatedly in bright, flashing, almost blinding fashion. The documents in question range from emails between US Military officials, emails discussing the interest in oil as the cause of the conflict, and documents regarding prisoner-questioning methods. The sculptures themselves are breathtaking, filling the dimly lit white space with bright pink, green and amber, disappearing in to the walls in their various forms to give a sense of their endless nature. Whilst demanding your attention, it is clear that they are complex and often difficult to stand and read. While I think one of the major points to the work is to reveal once confidential material, just the fact that it is playing on a loop, always being released, unclassified and made public. A statement is always being made and cannot be stopped.
Also included is The Redaction Paintings Series, first exhibited in 2006. The series, taken from original official documents, depicts handprints belonging to US soldiers accused of crimes in Iraq. They have been defaced with heavy marks to erase the prints that differentiate them. By refusing to separate the convicted from the wrongly accused, Holzer demonstrates the failure of war to differentiate.
One of the earliest works of the exhibition, Lustmord Table (1994) is perhaps the most quietly unassuming, yet most disturbing of the show. Trigged by the conflict in former Yugoslavia, human bones laid out neatly on tables are collared with silver rings engraved with text. They illustrate directly the connection between physical and psychological consequences of conflict, war and trauma.
By moving to the upper floor, the exhibition takes a more personal turn into Holzer’s mind, with my personal favourite, Monument, a 20-foot-high LED sculpture, comprising of 22 semi-circular bands emblazoned with the artist’s Truisms and Inflammatory Essays, throwing out ironic sayings that always seem to relate to your own personal experiences. One of the highlights is a huge, floor-based sculpture, ideal for viewing from the top floor viewing platform – definitely recommended if you visit this show.
Holzer’s take on peace, conflict, love and longing and survival are perfectly captured throughout this exhibition, providing the viewer with the best of both worlds – incredibly stunning visuals, coupled with unsettlingly global and personal ideas.
Jenny Holzer is showing at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art from today (Friday 5 March) until Sunday 16 May. For more information, please see www.balticmill.com
In 2010 Mexico celebrates a double anniversary: the bicentenary of its independence and the centenary of its revolution. The occasion is being marked by festivities in Mexico and around the world, all year long. Belgium will play a prominent role in the celebrations. The bicentenary commemorates 200 years of Mexican independence or – to be more precise – the beginning of the country's struggle for independence. It was on 16 September 1810 that the "¡Grito de Dolores!" rang out, the call to fight the Spanish invader issued by Miguel Hidalgo, also renowned for his summons, "¡Mexicanos, Viva México!" About 100 years later the Mexican Revolution was initiated by those who resisted the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. In Mexico the Centenario celebrates the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, one of the first great social uprising of the 20th century. In the context of this double commemoration, Mexico has also organised festivities outside its own frontiers.
The ¡México! festival that will take place at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in 2010 will be the largest Mexican cultural event outside the country itself. Behind the clichés of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and revolutionaries in sombreros, you can discover, over three whole months, a rich and complex nation that is constantly inventing and deconstructing its own "Mexicanness".
The five exhibitions at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts this spring will offer a fine overview of Mexican culture, past and present. The keynote exhibition Imágenes del mexicano (11 February > 25 April) sketches, in 150 portraits, "the Mexican", as seen by both Mexican and foreign artists, including Hermenegildo Bustos, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Frida Kahlo y su Mundo (16 January > 18 April) offers an opportunity to explore the world of Mexico's most famous painter in an exhibition that presents the entire Kahlo collection of the Dolores Olmedo Museum (19 paintings, an etching, and 6 drawings), as well as photographs of the artist's family, friends, and surroundings. Photography and architecture are also represented, in Mundos mexicanos: 25 Contemporary Photographers (11 February > 11 April) and Mexican Modernisms (11 February > 11 April). In The Mole’s Horizon (11 February > 25 April) visitors to the Centre can also discover the work of contemporary artists such as Daniel Guzmán, Jorge Satorre, Ilán Lieberman, Teresa Margolles, Yoshua Okón and Sergio de la Torre. Throughout the festival (11 February > 25 April), moreover, Alejibres, fantastic papier mâché creatures from the Museo de Arte Popular de México, will be on display in the Horta Hall.
In addition to these five exhibitions, the performing arts will also be at the heart of the Mexico festival. There will also be literary encounters with Jorge Volpi (1 April) and Paco Ignacio Taibo II, two worthy successors of Carlos Fuentes. Cinema also features in the festival, with a panorama of the new Mexican cinema (at the CINEMATEK) and a day devoted to the new Mexican documentary, in the presence of the directors (25 April). Onstage, audiences can also see two works directed by Claudio Valdés Kuri, who made a great impression at the KunstenFestivaldesArts and at the Wiener Festwochen, El Automóvil Gris (17 April) and El Gallo (20 April). And on the evening of 19 March local audiences can discover the leading lights of the booming and extraordinarily dynamic Mexican contemporary dance scene. On 21 March, moreover, Party Time at the Centre will have a decidedly Mexican flavour.
The built environment is ubiquitous – we cannot escape the structures that define us. This milieu has altered greatly over the past 50 years. The concrete jungle is being replaced by smart, functional designs – there’s even a roof top garden in our building. So, I was delighted to find out about Stephen King’s first solo show – A Storey of Photography. The show reveals secrets and hidden iconic design of city store. It follows the announcement this week that the store is set to close in June for redevelopment. In a poignant turn of events, a contemporary fine art photography exhibition, Lewis’s Fifth Floor: A Department Storey opened 26 February and runs until 30 August 2010 documenting the current state of the store’s fifth floor of this Liverpool institution.
The first solo exhibition by Liverpool photographer Stephen King reflects his visits to the store’s ‘lost’ fifth floor, closed to the public for the last three decades. Its world of 1950s design has remained hidden since it was closed to the public in the early 1980s, being used as a storage floor ever since. King’s photographs record two aspects of the fifth floor, providing a rare glimpse of the spaces which originally comprised three restaurants and what was at one time the world’s largest hair salon, while also revealing the faces of 40 current and ex-employees.
National Museums Liverpool curator Nicky Lewis commented: “Lewis’s is a household name in the city, and we hope this will be a popular exhibition with local visitors who wish to re-capture memories of the store and a bygone age, particularly in light of its impending closure. “The exhibition will also be enjoyed by people who have a passion for history, interior decoration, photography and design. Stephen’s photography captures perfectly the unique aspects of the fifth floor, including specially commissioned artwork that put it at the forefront of interior design in its day. His portrait work with Lewis’s staff puts life back into the now deserted floor.”
Included in the exhibition are images of the cafeteria which once seated 600 people, with its Grade II listed unique hand-painted ceramic tile work still standing the test of time. Created by Carter’s of Poole, the 65 metre long mural is inspired by a mural at the 1951 Festival of Britain which celebrated the best of British design. The Lewis’s mural features condiments, utensils, vegetables and cutlery.
Other features typical of 1950s style were designed to inject vibrancy into the post-war years that saw Liverpool’s population, along with the rest of the UK, emerging from destruction and deprivation. The fifth floor flaunted bright colours and light.
Stephen King commented: “The fifth floor is a great place for photography. However, the randomness that 30 years storage brought to the stylish 1950s and 70s interiors needed making sense of in some way. It became obvious that it was necessary to involve the people who had worked in these spaces to breathe life to the fifth floor once again with integrity. What started out as a purely documentary project now incorporated the new dimension of 40 portraits with ex-employees photographed in their original place of work. I tried to create a series of images that correctly translated both the glamorous and eerie atmospheres that make the fifth floor the strange place it is.”
Lewis’s Fifth Floor: A Department Storey is part of a wider project developed by Neutral Spoon, who also commissioned local artist Jacqueline Passmore to produce a film for the exhibition. Capturing the ghostly abandonment of the fifth floor through the use of old-fashioned cine-film footage of the floor as it is today, the film is overlaid with the voices of the participants recapturing their memories taken from hours of filmed interviews.
The exhibition reminds Merseysiders of their own stories of Lewis’s, but provides all viewers with a unique insight into the history of shopping culture. Stephen’s sympathetic approach to capturing his subjects not only immerses the visitor in the eerie emptiness of the floor but also evokes a feeling of joyful nostalgia and a longing for a time that once was.
As Aesthetica is making international ties from Australia, New Zealand and Japan through to the USA and Canada, I wanted to bring you details about one of the most exciting performing arts festivals in Canada.
Chutzpah! opening later this week in Vancouver runs from 4 March until 8 April, and promises to captivate audiences with a stunning repertoire of dance, music and theatre with a special pre-festival presentation of the Vancouver based dance troupe, Move: the company’s Legacy Repertory Project. This year, to celebrate the Festival’s 10th anniversary, Artistic and Managing Director Mary-Louise Albert has programmed a particularly exciting and eclectic selection of gifted artists from around the world and here in Canada.
Mary-Louise Albert commented: “This is a very special year for the Chutzpah! Festival. I’m so proud of how much the Festival has grown and matured over the past 10 years. The high calibre of music, dance, theatre and comedic artists that Chutzpah! is now able to present, offers Vancouver audiences a very diverse and dynamic experience. I’m particularly excited that we will be celebrating the Festival during the Olympic period as this also offers us the opportunity to show off Chutzpah! to the international stage”.
Kicking off the Festival is The Idan Raichel Project, who burst onto Israel’s music scene in 2002, changing the face of Israeli popular music and offering a message of love and tolerance. With an enchanting blend of African, Latin American, Caribbean and Middle Eastern sounds coupled with sophisticated production techniques and a spectacular live show, the Idan Raichel Project has become one of the most unexpected success stories in Israeli music history, regularly selling out shows worldwide.
For dance enthusiasts, Aszure Barton & Artists return to Chutzpah! with her full company of 9 dancers for a breathtaking and explosive repertoire show. The company will be presenting two works: Busk (2009) retains Aszure Barton's signature style of precise whole-body expression. Original, evocative music by Russian violist and composer Lev Ljova Zhurbin, along with a powerful selection of world sound (including choir music from Sweden's Orphei Drangar), enhance this dynamic piece. Blue Soup (2009) is a bubbling mosaic drawn from Aszure Barton's notable past creations. Dynamic, physical action and emotional honesty propelled by a score of global sound build a powerful, pulsating environment. “Full of surprise and humor, emotion and pain, expressed through a dance vocabulary that takes ballet technique and dismantles it to near-invisibility.” - The New York Times. Gallim Dance from New York with special guest Sidra Bell Dance New York will also enthral audiences. The work Gallim Dance will be presenting, I Can See Myself In Your Pupil, is a suite of dances set to the vibrant music of the Israeli band, Balkan Beat Box.
Theatre go-ers will enjoy a special treat with three great plays. Odysseus Chaoticis by Israel’s Ish Theater is a fantastic cabaret show based on the travels of Odysseus, King of Ithaca. Parts of the mythological Odyssey are intertwined into a story of an eccentric Italian family; a romantic-dreamer husband, his uptight dominating, but loving wife, a needy old Papa and their noisy newborn baby all packed like sardines in their small home. The day-dreaming husband escapes his mundane routine and takes an imaginative journey inspired by Homer’s Odyssey – this is one of the most entertaining hours you will ever spend in the theatre! “An amazing balance between sharp directing and the brilliant improvisational skills of the three clowns, each one of them bursting with talent” - M.Zur-Glozman, Ma'ariv Online.
Also the world premiere of Donald and Lenore - a wild and seductive play about survival set in an underground Tahitian Lounge by internationally renowned Vancouver based playwright Tom Cone, directed by David Bloom and starring Linda Quibel and Billy Marchenski.
With its interdisciplinary nature, Chutzpah! 2010 offers an insightful programme and vast range of performances.
Aesthetica engages with the arts both in the UK and internationally, combining dynamic content with compelling critical debate. Aesthetica is distributed in the UK in WH Smith, major galleries such as Tate Modern, ICA, and the Serpentine, as well as in 18 countries worldwide. Aesthetica is one of the leading publications for arts and culture and the editor of Aesthetica is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. The Aesthetica Blog has a broad scope; covering the latest exhibitions and cultural events from the UK and abroad. www.aestheticamagazine.com
You can’t help but feel like you are disturbing an undeniable sense of stillness as you enter the Japan House Gallery at the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation; the floor squeaks under your feet and the chandelier sways slightly. Quietly lurking here, tucked away behind a throbbing Marylebone Street, is the first London solo show of Japanese artist, Akiko Takizawa. Her work, hung just shy of the creeping shadows cast by the park’s trees outside, are mainly black and white photographs taken in the county of Aomori in North Japan and at the shrines of Osorezan (Fear Mountain). They depict places where the memories of dead children are remembered and preserved, where their souls are protected and cherished and where parents gather to grieve. Amongst images of the shrines are strange volcanic landscapes, people obscured behind grass, clouds, reflections; every image seems to be cloaked in a melancholic mystery.
In the first room there is a low-standing table in the centre with neatly stacked booklets and a stunningly pristine portfolio of Takizawa’s prints. On the surrounding walls, curated like the pages of a book – readable, simple and considered - are the artist’s peaceful yet haunting images of soft hues of varying greys and transparent whites. The shrines and landscapes seem empty on first appearance, but viewers who spend time with each image, allowing their eyes to adjust to Takizawa’s intricate subtleties of tone will realise that many of the photographs are haunted by translucent faces. In a particularly striking piece, Father #2, a man’s fading body disappears against the chaotic grain of a floor of woodchips. First drawn to the complex textures of the wood, you barely notice the man’s hand drifting quietly in the centre. His face, engulfed by flickers of white, could be sleeping. Is this man a ghost? Is he a memory? Is he dead?
In each landscape a similar obscurity is apparent; in People #4, a family portrait is swallowed by the shadow of temples, the eldest member stooping, skeletal and frowning, and in Waterfall #1, a figure, seemingly still as a rock is cloaked in the waterfall’s shower. There is something very distant about every face in this room, in their vacant expressions, gestures and in Takizawa’s magical and sensitive use of monochrome. My shoes continue to squeak on the floor as I drift in and out of each image and, for a moment, a woman dressed in white and grey (blending strangely into the colours of the exhibit) comes to stand in front of the same photograph as me. We stand almost brushing shoulders and she turns to me and says “Aren’t they sad?” Nodding in agreement I smile, but thinking further, I decide a better word might be “nostalgic” or “peaceful”. Of course there is a sadness in the fading subjects of Takizawa’s images and in the recurrent feeling of a heavy grief, but overall, her work seems gentle, still and warm. They are images of acceptance, not anger.
In the second room, the visitor is confronted yet again with landscapes haunted with faces. In Wedding Up in Heaven, shrines and photographs of deceased children appear and disappear amongst thick streams of clouds, and in Where We Belong, Senbazuru, a shadowed face stares upwards, submerged by tumbling specs. Peering through these obscuring layers in Takizawa’s pieces, you feel as if you am looking into some form of parallel universe, a universe only visible through Takizawa’s lens. As if printed on felt or velvet, the photographs seem to absorb all sound and light; some, such as Earless Houichi, Heiki Ghost, even appear to glow. In one image, Where We Belong, Magnolia #1, the subject, a woman in round spectacles and a red top, is hung on the wall at exactly my height. As I approach, our heads slot into one another and immediately I am engulfed by her landscape, leaves around my head, overwhelmed in a deep yellow. This place, commanded by Takizawa’s work, seems to have a timelessness to it – the past mingling freely with the present. As I leave the gallery, I imagine the chandelier becoming still again and the space reverting to its previous silence. I step outside to head to the station and time begins back on its endless churning.
If you only read Aesthetica online, you're missing out. The February/March issue of Aesthetica is out now and offers a diverse range of features from an examination of the diversity and complexity of art produced during the tumultuous decade of the 1980s in Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, opening 11 February at MCA Chiacgo, a photographic presentation of the Irish Museum of Modern Art's latest opening, Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection. Plus, we recount the story of British design in relation to a comprehensive exhibition opening this spring at the V&A.
If you would like to buy this issue, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Better yet call +44 (0) 1904 629 137 or visit the website to subscribe to Aesthetica for a year and save 20% on the printed magazine.
Jerwood Gallery in Hastings to open March 17th | Q&A with Liz Gilmore, Director of the Jerwood Gallery
There are a lot of projects that get the go-ahead in the name of regeneration, and the savagely debated Jerwood Gallery in Hastings is no exception. There's a whole website devoted to the 'Say No to Jerwood on The Stade' (an area next to the fish market) campaign but one only has look East for two shining examples of cultural regeneration come good; the hugely successful Folkestone Triennial and the celebrated Turner Contemporary in Margate. In geographical terms at least, the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings could become the next in a long-line of galleries on the South Coast (The De La Warr Pavilion, Towner, Turner Contemporary) that are not only worth the short day trip from London but worth our support as they embark on the long process of making a significant difference and a positive impact on seaside towns in need of renewed prosperity. The Jerwood Gallery in Hastings will open its doors to visitors on 17 March 2012. We spoke to Liz Gilmore, Director of the Jerwood Gallery to find out more.
BR: We have seen a wave of new regional contemporary galleries opening in the UK over the last two years; Nottingham Contemporary, Towner in Eastbourne, Hepworth Wakefield, Turner Contemporary, firstsite in Colchester. The general mood was these would be the last of their kind to open for some time to come. How has the opening of the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings been made possible?
LG: Jerwood Gallery has been solely funded by Jerwood Foundation and has come into being through the vision of its Chairman, Alan Grieve. There have been a number of iconic new gallery buildings and re-developments the past 5 years and we are delighted by their successes. Margate’s Turner Contemporary, Bexhill’s De La Warr Pavilion, Eastbourne’s Towner to name but a few. Jerwood Gallery is the final link in the "string of pearls" around the SE coast and delivers a "future-facing" gallery for 2012 – environmentally, artistically and architecturally.
LG: Putting Jerwood Foundation’s collection in the public realm (c. 200 artworks) for the first time and enabling a dialogue between that and a contemporary programme. We open with a retrospective of paintings by Rose Wylie, a 77 year old Kent based artist – the first UK retrospective of her work which will be housed in our contemporary space.
BR: You read about the care required to create a programme that is both ambitious and artistically significant- but also one that will be embraced by the local community. How will the new space in Hastings overcome this challenge?
LG: Building new appetites and balancing that with what people know or hope is on the menu is always a challenge. But the successful galleries always do this well. We are very keen that Jerwood Gallery should be a cultural hub for Hastings, offering an ambitious, nationally significant programme that local people can be proud of. We open with Rose Wylie, then its Gary Hume . . . both artists have had a long association with Jerwood Foundation, personal connections with the region and in terms of ambition, place Hastings/Jerwood Gallery on an international stage.
BR: Would you be able to tell us a bit more about the design of the new gallery? How did the relationship with HAT Projects come about?
LG: The design is a sensitive response to the needs, ethos and qualities of the Jerwood Collection, and to the extraordinary architectural context of the site with its fishing beach, listed net shops and medieval Old Town. It is also an exemplar of environmental sustainability, through passive design, ground source heat pump cooling, solar thermal hot water and other measures.
Seven gallery rooms are dedicated to the Jerwood Collection: a large ground floor gallery is for temporary exhibitions; there is a sculpture courtyard, a first floor café overlooking the fishing beach, education space, library and shop. Its "grand domestic" scale brings a quality appropriate for Jerwood’s Modern British art collection which it will house.
Hana Loftus of HAT Projects worked with Jerwood from the genesis of the project, helping to develop the brief and research potential locations. HAT Projects were then appointed architects to design the project as Jerwood decided they had the best understanding and experience of the needs and ambitions of the project.
LG: It’s the first UK retrospective for Rose Wylie. The title of the exhibition, Big Boys Sit in the Front is taken from the final line of a poem by Robert Creeley (1926-2005 "… the big people, sitting up front"), whom Rose met in Vancouver in 1962. Written late in Creeley’s career, it reminds us, how childhood can feel. This mirrors Rose’s respect for direct imagery, an example of which she finds in the work of African lorry artists which inspired her piece Lorry Art (2010) which is on show for the first time. We’re delighted to be showing new works, including a monumental piece Getting Better with Water, 2011; along with some of her well know works such as Woman Sitting on a Bench with Boarder (film notes) 2007-8.
LG: The collection has grown over 20 years under the aegis of Alan Grieve and celebrates 20th and 21st century British art and artists, some of whom are well-known and some less so.
The first exhibition of c. 58 works puts on show: Flowers in a Terracotta Pot by David Bomberg (1890-1957); a portrait by Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) of his niece Daphne. Some works have strong local resonance – eg: The Churchyard, Rye, by Edward Burra; others international interest for example, a stunning painting of the church of St Remy by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942). And a wonderful still life painting, entitled Green Jug by the artist Keith Vaughan (1912-1977).
LG: "Stade" is Anglo-Saxon for 'landing place', and this area of Hastings beach has been used by Hastings fishermen for nearly 1000 years. Indeed, many of the fishermen still working the beach can trace their family history back over several hundred years. It’s an area steeped in history and cultural tradition and a wonderful context for a gallery.
LG: We are both part of the same Jerwood family and work closely and collaboratively. Jerwood Space in Southwark opened in 1998 as a major capital initiative of the Jerwood Foundation and is recognised as one of the best rehearsal spaces for theatre and dance in the UK. The knowledge and experience of staff from that project has been instrumental to the success of our construction. Jerwood Space is also home to Jerwood Charitable Foundation (JCF) who develops and manages the Jerwood Visual Arts programme. Without giving too much away regarding our future programme I can confirm that we expect to show a number of the JVA shows in the future.
BR: It’s good to hear that the Gallery will benefit local communities through outreach activities. In this vein, could you give us an insight into the film collaboration with Project Artworks?
LG: The project captures the moment of practical completion – when we formally took possession of the building after the main construction phase. The film, directed by Kate Adams, MBE, captures the uninhabited Jerwood Gallery, providing poetic and intimate insight into its spaces by people who have perceptual and cognitive impairments but who are highly sensitive to the sounds, surfaces, light and qualities of built space. We will show the film at Jerwood Gallery in July 2012
Dan Flavin (1933-1996) was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from fluorescent light fixtures. His early work focused upon drawings and paintings influenced by Abstract Expressionism but the subsequent focus of his work was an exploration of the artistic possibilities of fluorescent light, limiting his possibilities by restricting his materials to commercially available tubing in standard sizes, shapes and colours.
Flavin's breakthrough came with The diagonal of may 25, 1963 (to Constantin Brancusi) (1963) a simple yellow fluorescent light set at a 45 degree angle. This bold statement effectively challenged art history by stating that a light tube could stand alone as a work of art, thereby attaining cultural significance by reducing the gap between art and everyday life.
This exhibition brings together eight sculptural works from 1963 to 1989, together with three thematic drawings entitled untitled (to the citizens of the Republic of France on the 200th anniversary of their revolution) from 1989. The extent of the works throughout the four exquisite rooms at Galerie Perrotin demonstrate the range of Flavin's vision. four red horizontals (to Sonja) (1963) exudes a visually arresting aura of red fluorescent light of deep intensity and beauty which complements and transforms it's physical surroundings. This contrasts with the subtle simplicity found in the cool white fluorescent light of white around a corner (1965) which comprises a single fluorescent tube placed in the intersection of the walls. This light is echoed and expanded in monument for V. Tatlin (1967) which consists of seven tubes of cool white fluorescent light and is part of a series dedicated to Vladimir Tatlin, a leading figure in the Russian Constructivist movement.
These three-dimensional monochromes belie their minimalist construction by embracing (and occasionally unsettling) the viewer in their glow of light, setting a dramatic and affecting tone. They develop a mood from which spirituality and mystery emanate, the result of which is a sense of timelessness. Flavins work dramatically reinvents the space with his installations of infinite combinations offering seduction and confrontation, promise and desolation.
The blue and pink fluorescent light emitted in untitled (to Don Judd, colorist) 4 (1987) has more than a sense of the iconic and of all the installations, has perhaps the most symbolic and architectural resonance. In untitled (to Charlotte) (1987), Flavin blends red, pink, yellow, blue and grey to create a very real sense of emotion. Through reflections on the floor, walls and ceiling, Flavin explores the behaviour of light through his creations. The lights bleed and stray into the space around the fixture itself and illuminate the space - to which the intimacy of the gallery is perfectly suited. It is said that Flavin disliked the term minimalist, and whilst one cannot help but indulge the minimalism on display, there is a definite richness and density beyond the spectral flood of colours that initially captivate your senses.
In order to inspire, one has to believe and Flavin's belief in his work is perhaps the most illuminating and revelatory aspect of the exhibition. What could so easily have been a neutral and unrewarding love is transformed by the level of engagement in blending colour, light and perspective in a way that goes beyond the physical. Flavin built a lasting legacy, successfully creating monuments of architecture bathed in rays of momentary beauty.
Now in its second year after a successful launch in 2010, the Roundhouse’s Reverb Festival aims to dismantle the stuffy, jargon-loaded image of classical music. While commercially the past decade has seen our musicians take a battering, creatively it’s an exciting time for contemporary music with tastes broadening, genres metamorphosing and live performances defying the rough waters experienced by the rest of the industry. And why shouldn’t classical music experience the same resurgence? By debunking the classical and the experimental, Reverb engages wider audiences in the growth of contemporary classical with the primary aim of creating a relaxed, enjoyable and approachable atmosphere with clear and informal introductions from the performers and composers encouraging listeners to better engage with the work.
An alt-classical a cappella accompaniment to the first Surrealist (though widely-contested as such) film, created by a female director back in 1928, doesn’t leap off the page as an approachable introduction to contemporary classical but, performed as it is following an ethereal performance by Ana Silvera and the Estonian Television Girls Choir, this segue into uncharted waters (for myself at least) works surprisingly well.
Initially commissioned by Birds Eye View Film Festival to marry the two vastly under feminised areas of film direction and classical musical composition, the pairing is initially challenging because we have become so accustomed to expecting a performance out of our singers. I find myself focussing on Imogen Heap and the Holst singers rather than on Germaine Dulac’s pioneering film. With a modicum of self-discipline however the inventive and frequently absurd fluctuations of the human voice animate the silent characters on the screen in a manner that alludes to their minds rather than their spoken words. In this sense Heap has transported La Coquille et le clergyman back into the Surrealist canon by ignoring the conventions of dialogue and focusing (as Surrealism should) on the interior and the subconscious. We feel the puzzlement, rage, dismay and infuriating lust of the clergyman as his erotic fantasies spiral out of control. At times the piece is hilarious and Heap and the Holst singers only serve to emphasise this in their vivid exploration of the possibilities of the human voice (and unabashed lack of pretension and foible). The guttural projections, cries of ecstasy and pants of anticipation and climax only emphasise the bizarre nature of Dulac’s work and of self-righteous denial (a timely observation for the beginning of Lent). In doing so they improve the reception of Dulac’s masterpiece immensely.
More typical of a novice’s expectations of contemporary music is Ana Silvera’s Oracles, which loosely narrate (with instrumental and choral accompaniment) the gamut of emotions involved in a fairytale love affair. At times (such as in The Awakening) Silvera resembles a mellowed Tori Amos, improvising and allowing her accompaniments to catch on. With the emergence of an acoustic score resembling African tribal themes the performers seem to relax into their roles and into the story. Within our visually over-emphasised culture (and as someone focused day-in, day-out on aesthetics) to be transported so readily into a story through music is a welcome revelation.
Continuing into next weekend, Reverb has certainly succeeded in demystifying the classical music experience. Winding down the evening with performances of Silvera and Heap’s best-known works, as well as an eye-opening and exceptional rendition of traditional Estonian music (at times almost primitive and otherworldly, contemporary yet also timeless), the festival treads just the right side of approachable, without patronizing its audience, with a fantastic programme of events.
Richardson has been inspired by the multiple facets of Hollywood life. In his latest show,TERRYWOOD, he unveils a series of images of the famous city, as seen through his eyes. Terryworld meets Hollywood, as the local characters, familiar landscapes, and architectural details verge on a new identity.
With images such as Untitled (Hollywood Neon), and Untitled (Nude), both photographs of the recognisable signs that are ubiquitous throughout Hollywood, Richardson illustrates his penchant for branding (whatever subject matter may be.) Through a medium not typically understood as effective in translating an artist’s personality, Richardson manages to make his hand evident within his photographs. His identity is unmistakably present, as if he created the very objects and scenes his camera captures.
An artist often attributed with changing the field of photography, Richardson also defies the ideological limitations. TERRYWOOD takes all that Hollywood represents - celebrity, broken dreams, kitsch, and re-contextualises it by the works with a different narrative. Richardson is one of the most prolific and compelling photographers of his generation. Known for his uncanny ability to cut to the raw essence of whomever appears before his lens, Richardson's vision is at once humorous, tragic, often beautiful, and always provocative. Born in New York City and raised in Hollywood, he began photographing his environment while attending Hollywood High School and playing in a punk rock band. Richardson‘s work has been the subject of numerous group and solo shows throughout the world, and he has published a selection of books beginning with Hysteric Glamour in1998, followed by a print retrospective titled Terryworld, and most recently released LADY GAGA x TERRY RICHARDSON.
The picture above is a hydroponic system where a variety of vegetables on the left are watered with Brown’s Gas bubbled well water. The plants on the right got [...]