The global movement of people has always been a source of fertility, growth and creativity; the vital pulse of humanity. But if a voyage is inflicted on others as an act of violence, how should it be remembered? In the final stage of a major project to mark the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of Britain’s slave trade, the October Gallery presents works by four artists reflecting on the notion of the ‘Voyage’, in particular that most laden of historical journeys, the movement of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic ‘Middle Passage’.
Shows & Exhibitions : Fine Art & Fine Craft
The emergence of Op art and kinetic art in the early 1960s evinced a strong interest in objectivity and in scientific experiment. Fascinated by the physical laws of light and optics, a whole generation of artists devoted themselves to exploring visual phenomena and principles of perception. Probing the possibilities of optical illusion, Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, François Morellet, Julio Le Parc, Gianni Colombo, and others deliberately aimed at producing visual irritations.
f a projects presents an exhibition of new works by the Dutch painter, Arjan van Helmond. Navigator is the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, and continues van Helmond’s investigation into the ‘lived experiences of spaces’. van Helmond uses photographs as a starting point from which he develops a story or event through a subtle reworking of the documented image. Working with gouache and acrylic on paper, the artist creates beautiful and precise paintings that explore the relationship between image and narrative.
This year’s photo-london, to be held at Old Billingsgate from 31st May to 3rd June 2007, features forty selected galleries and publishers from 9 countries, including 25 first-time participants. The largest contingent of exhibitors is from the UK (15), followed by France (6), The Netherlands, Spain and USA (4 each), Germany and Italy (2 each) and one representative from Belgium and Denmark. For the re-launch of photo-london a selection committee* was established to ensure that the fair meets the highest international standards.
The Lisbon Architecture Triennale, happening between May 31st and July 31st, aims to become a ‘Festival’ of architecture, participated by the local community and able to attract an international audience. In this initiative by the Architects’ Guild – South Region Section, where some of the most relevant authors and thinkers of today’s world will interact, Portuguese Architecture will be pretext for an important global forum dedicated to the reflection, debate, prospecting and display of Architecture, from the building to the city and territory planning.
Matthew Buckingham, one of today’s most significant critical artists, presents three new film and video works at Camden Arts Centre and a site-specific participative installation. Buckingham investigates history and its representation, concerned with addressing present day realities such as the impact of globalisation and colonialism. He has long been praised for the formal elegance of his films and his thoughtful approach to their installations.
The choreographer Latifa Laâbissi will dance a solo in an everyday space, more specifically in the homes of residents of a city. She has set up a protocol. After scouting for locations and wandering through the city, she puts an ad in the local papers : “Artist-choreographer looking for resident willing to host a dance project in his/her home. The proposition is free and will require 2 hours of your time. For more information, contact 06 .. .. .. ..” She teams up at la criée centre for contemporary art with Nadia Lauro, the scenographer and visual artist who develops her work in various contexts: performance, landscape architecture, fashion.
IN FOCUS is a London-wide contemporary art project relating to the Middle East. It will include: multimedia art exhibitions, series of film and video screenings, live art performances & interventions as well as more than 100 educational activities, that will take place across London, during the spring/summer of 2007.
GAM, the modern art gallery of Turin, is continuing its presentations of new generation artists with a personal exhibition of Elisa Sigichelli, one of the most prominent young Italian artists. Six video projections and five partially illuminated light-box photographs will be on display in the exhibition hall dedicated to current-day art and photography on the ground floor.
Born in Pécs, Hungary, Marcel Breuer (1902–1981) was one of the most influential designers and architects of twentieth century modernism. One of the raisons d’être of this large exhibition was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist. The exhibition has been travelling around the world since 2002. In Hungary, it is particularly important to shed light on Breuer’s oeuvre, up till now familiar mostly to professionals. The message of his œuvre, i.e. that architecture, preserving its traditions, must create a livable environment according to the needs of the people, is still valid in our time.