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An Academic Hiatus

Just a quick note to say: I haven't stopped this blog! 


I'm taking a short break while I complete my final year dissertation and my exams. But I'll be back very shortly and I have lots of plans to improve The London Art Scene. 


So bear with my while I'm off looking at pictures. Meanwhile, for your enjoyment, here are some of the prettiest images from my current revision topic: Documentary Photography. 

Eugene Atget, Coin de la Rue Valette et Pantheon

Lewis Hine, Power House Mechanic Working on Steam Pump

Sebastião Salgado, Fishermen in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Government Cuts to the Arts Announced

This article was originally published in MouthLondon online.

We have heard this morning about the extent of government cuts to the Arts.

There are 50,000 Arts organizations in Britain today. Just 1,200-1,300 of these theatres, galleries and arts groups applied for funding under the new regime, but today’s announcements have declared that just 695 of these have been successful. This is a significant decrease from the 849 groups that received funding under the old regime and, out of those who have been granted funding, almost half will see a significant reduction in the amount of money they will receive.

The organisations affected are largely small and medium sized companies. One such group, that has been denied funding by the new government, is New Deal of Mind. The small company, set up by Martin Bright two years ago, lobbies for governmental policy that will help find unemployed people creative positions within the arts and culture sector, they also provide support and advice for those looking to break into the sector. New Deal of Mind initially received enthusiastic support from prominent members of parliament. But now their future does not look so certain.

The Arts Council’s budget has been cut by £100million. But where will this money be made up? It seems that the government is hoping that these small companies will turn to the private sector, encouraging a new age of cultural philanthropy. However, in grim economic times, few are readily doling out the cash. 

In many cases these small groups do not have the time or the manpower to undertake the difficult task of seeking funding privately. The likely result will be increased pressure on regional councils to make up the funding and there will inevitably be job losses in the sector.

Your Guide to London’s Gallery Events and Late Openings

This article was originally published in the Spring 2011 edition of MouthLondon magazine.

Looking for an unusual night out? Feeling the need for a culture fix to counteract the debauchery of Sports Night? An evening event in a gallery might be just what you’re looking for, with all of the arty-goodness of a gallery, plus the added bonus of a bar and no silence-enforcing attendants that judge you for texting. But where to go? Not to worry, we have done the legwork for you – we have journeyed across the postcodes to bring you this comprehensive guide to events and late openings.

Tate Britain

Late at Tate Britain - Open until 10pm on the first Friday of every month. Browse the collections with a drink in hand or enjoy cutting-edge performance art, live music and film. All for free.

“A welcome change from the gallery rage experienced at the major exhibitions. It also ties in nicely with a visit to the bar and walk along the river.” Timothy Davies.

Tate Modern

Open until 10pm every Friday and Saturday. View the collection and take a look at the schedule of talks, music, film and art performances. Prices start at free.

“Some galleries do really work at night and I think this is one of them, because it is so different at night than it is during the day. The darkness outside adds something to the atmosphere.” Megan Yakeley.

The National Gallery

Open until 9pm on Fridays. Events include drawing sessions with a professional artist, talks and classical music performances. All for free. The evenings tend to attract an older audience than other galleries, but subscribe to their mailing list and you’ll get invited to great free student events.

“The Canaletto free student view was fantastic drinks and nibbles wise.” Sophie Morris.

The National Portrait Gallery

Open until 9pm on Thursdays and Fridays. Events include drawing sessions with a professional artist, talks, DJ sets and classical music performances. All for free.

Whitechapel

Open until 9pm on Thursdays. There is an exciting programme of talks, music, films, spoken work and performance art. Exhibitions are free, but prices for events vary.

“Generally it's a great way of introducing you to art forms that you wouldn't otherwise encounter. Especially when the focus is on performance art.” Clio Heslop

Parasol Unit

Open until 9pm on the first Thursday of every month. Events include discussions and poetry readings. Prices vary. Sign up to the mailing list and you’ll be invited to free private views where the gallery and garden are transformed into social space.

Saatchi Gallery

Members (it’s free to signup) are invited to evening talks and private views in the gallery. These are free and usually involve a complimentary drink!

Camden Arts Centre

Gallery and café open until 9pm on Wednesdays with a programme of films, talks and performance art. Prices start at free.

“Saw an artsy film here the other day – it was an interesting film and they were selling good beer for £2 and it came with free popcorn!” Tom Fox.

ICA

Closed on Monday-Tuesday, but open late the rest of the week, until 1am Thursday-Saturday. On-the-pulse events include talks, contemporary music, art and film, as well as special events in the bar, such as festival openings and student forums (called Everything). Prices start at free; Everything is free before a certain time and there are a limited amount of free drinks.

Barbican

Open until 10pm on Thursdays. Calls itself a ‘multi-arts and conference venue’ and, housing a gallery, theatre, cinema and two halls, it is unsurprising that it has a lot of evening events on offer. Prices start at free.

 “ I really enjoyed Barbican last night. Pushing the limits of a PA with 6-inch speakers in the posh gallery environment. Felt subversive somehow.” Thomas Truax

The V&A

Open until 10pm on Fridays. Regular classical music performances on Friday evenings and, on the last Friday of the month, enjoy a free evening of installations, performances and live music.

The Royal Academy

Open until 10pm on Fridays. A program of evening lectures and talks and occasional music performances. Prices start at free.

The Southbank Centre

A hub of activity, there are many evening talks and performances. Prices start at free.

Time Out First Thursday Event

First Thursday of every month. Over 100 art venues in East London keep their doors open until 9pm. Experience the unique art of small time galleries. All for free, some galleries also provide free drinks.              

"First Thursdays are a great chance to experience art in a shaken up context. Less quiet appreciation, more debate, free beer, experimental art. In short a bit more fun." Imogen Adams.

Remastered at One Marylebone

This review was written for MouthLondon magazine.

In an original collaboration of the past with the present, the Remastered project exhibits 13 reinterpretations of 13 works by old masters. The exhibition has been put together by Intel Corporation with the ambition of fusing classic art and boundary-pushing technology. 

The familiar original artworks (Da Vinci’s Last Supper, Munch’s The Scream, the Venus de Milo) have commanding historical resonances and the artists have endeavored to engage, not only with the art works as objects, but also with the legacies they have accumulated over the years.

Of particular note are Sara Hibbert’s beautiful photographic works that reinterpret Degas’ Dancer with a Bouquet of Flowers. The fragmentation of the dancer’s body in movement recalls the sense of immediacy in Degas’ technique, but with 21^st century clarity. The reinterpretation of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, by the collective Midnight Toastie, is another crowd pleaser. The interactive work sticks religiously to Van Gogh’s original composition; highlighting the beautiful and enchanting qualities that have made the work so iconic. Viewers can light up the starry sky with the gesture of a hand.

I feel a sense of relief induced by the whole-hearted embrace of new technologies, apparent in this exhibition. There seems to be an attachment to not-quite-up-to-date technology that today’s artists are finding hard to shake. So often do we see artists using old school projectors and retro TVs; big black boxes that give the illusion of watching a miniaturized stage and create distance from the idea of the screen as an artistic surface. Here, and it may have something to do with the sponsorship of Intel, sleek flat screens are mounted like canvasses; these locate the artworks in the present day. Daniel Swan takes it one step further by using digital technology to perfectly recreate the visceral qualities of paint, dripping down his LCD canvas, in his reinterpretation of Dali’s The Persistence of Memory.

The artists and designers form connections, not only between their artworks and the originals, but also between themselves and the original artists. The original artists all have well-formed profiles in today’s society, but who are these new artists and do they have the right to be messing around with some of histories masterpieces? I would answer: yes. Our society does not have a singular construct which dictates what an ‘artist’ is. But the artists and designers involved in this project suggest a new figure; one that has close ties with a tech-geek, but retains a coolness that goes with creativity and originality. They are the artists of today and quite possibly the future of art, so I can’t imagine anyone better to offer us their take on art histories’ greats.

The exhibition is original and masterfully curated. It’s a shame it is showing for such a brief period. After Sunday 13^th March Remastered will move online; a progression that will unfortunately strip the majority of the works of much of their power.

Why is Nobody vomiting over this Dirty Filth?

It made the news when Radio 4 presenter, James Naughtie, accidently mispronounced the name of culture secretary Jeremy Hunt. Jonathan Ross was booted off his own chat show when he and Russell Brand made a provocative prank phone call to an aging TV actor. Everyone has heard about the breast milk ice cream.

But when Gilbert & George frame a whole exhibition around the work of a suspected kiddy fiddler, nobody bats an eyelid. When Tracey Emin scribbles obscenities across the walls of a public gallery young London couples are still happy to take their kids along for a Sunday afternoon of culture.

What is going on? 

Why is nobody writing letters, throwing paint and vomiting (yes, vomiting) over this dirty filth? Why is nobody countering with – “It’s Aaaart!” and retorting with mocking bemusement: “it’s political correctness gone mad!” Have we lost the will to rile about art? And back at those who do? I am not condoning vandalism, I'm just wondering: have we lost interest?

Or, have we simply lost the ability to be shocked by Art?

Excrement and other bodily fluids sprawled across a canvas – we’ve seen it. Mutilated endangered animals – we’ve seen it. A portrait of a convicted child murderer formed out of kids’ handprints – we’ve seen it. Nudity, war, sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, masochism, fire, death, peadophilia – we have seen it all before!

We were up in arms. It was all over the news.  

And then the world moved on. 

So maybe is it not us, but art that has changed. The scene has indisputably mellowed since the days of Sensation, Saatchi’s scandalous show of 1997. His recent Newspeak exhibitions alone are testament to that. But have those days been forgotten, or have we committed them to our banks of experience? Maybe they have become – those old days when art could really sucker punch you in the mouth, and now, veterans of experience, we can enjoy today’s prudent art whilst proudly sporting our war wounds.

But what does this mean? Has contemporary art, as we know it, entered its retirement years?

Even Marina Abramović, who during the 1970s got naked and cut 5-pointed stars into her stomach, seems to have entered a more placid phase in her career; last year at the Lisson Gallery she showed her more recent work, which included sedate and beautiful photographs presenting themes of nature, nationality and religion. 

Another way to look at it is that the avant-garde exists in many guises. Abstract expressionism may no longer seem scandalous, we may have even become accustomed to performance and interactive art, but people will always want to push boundaries.

Look a little deeper and it becomes apparent that today’s artists are trying just as hard (arguably much harder) to challenge the way we look at the world and to come up with new ways of communicating their ideas in an artistic context. Take for example the work of, Turner Prize winners, the Otolith Group, who use film, text, workshops and any other way possible, to engage with delicate issues from history and to suggest radical futures; encouraging audiences to think and relate in ways that art has not attempted before. The issues they address are big, but they do so with refrain and an air of melancholy, avoiding shock tactics and sensationalist tricks even though they might gain them a more popular profile. 

So maybe as a culture we have got a little bored of all that drastic stuff: the violence, the confrontation, the seeming insensitivity. We still have fire and nudity (get yourself down to the Hayward), but it is less obvious fire and nudity.

Some artists such as Emin and Gilbert & George will always want to cause a scandal, but that’s just what they do. They’ve worked their way into the cultural scene so we’ll humour them for now. Meanwhile, we can enjoy the work of a thoughtful and subtle group of new artists. It may be less newsworthy, but maybe that is not such a bad thing.

Who knows what approach artists will choose to take in the future; like fashion, these things are often cyclical. Have we really seen it all? Are we now unshakable? Only time will tell.

The Urethra Postcard Art of Gilbert & George at White Cube

“We are the most disturbed people we have ever met”. This statement was carefully written, rewritten and signed by the artistic duo 13 times. Then the 13 postcards were arranged into a square with a single postcard in the middle, an arrangement they state symbolises the urethra and is a direct reference to Charles Webster Leadbeater, who incorporated the symbol into his signature. Leadbeater was a follower of Theosophy and an author on the occult; his career was also haunted by rumours of peadophilic crimes. This tickling of the line between provocative and shockingly inappropriate is typical of the pair’s work.

The majority of the postcards in the exhibition are not made by Gilbert & George; they are a collection of London’s touristic postcards and call cards, apparently collected from phone booths. Mesmerizing patterns formed by the composition of Union Jacks are juxtaposed with photos of a man’s tight backside and the curious advertisement: "i'll drag you round my posh flat by your nuts, you filthy vetch".

The deliberate combination of these two points of focus: the garish side of tourism and the sex market, blend to form a bizarre view of contemporary London. White Cube claims that Gilbert & George describe ‘with utmost clarity, poignancy and intensity, the unifying experiences of being alive in the modern world’. While it is impossible to claim that tourism and sex are not a part of our modern consumerist society there is little here for the common person to relate to. Audiences at White Cube explore the postcard collection, squealing with shock and delight at the explicit call cards, however I suspect that Urethra Postcard Art will not remain long in their minds, after they emerge from the Gallery back into pristine St. James’s.

The exhibition at White Cube, Mason's Yard closes on 19^th February 2011.

'La Tempesta' in Mime

Chocolate cakes and tape cassettes swinging from a washing line, a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves and dying clowns, an industrial robot and audacious nude performers, aerial acrobatics and melodramatic musical strains; these are just some of the theatrical treats enjoyed at this year’s International Mime Festival in London. The festival is difficult to typify. It is difficult, in fact, to typify what precisely mime is today; it seems that silence is no longer a prerequisite. Some of the performers in this year’s festival would look at home in the Cirque du Soleil, while others lack not only such acrobatic skill but also the concentrated physical control associated with traditional mime.

I went along to the ICA, to see the Italian duo Anagoor perform Tempesta. The company define themselves as a ‘theatrical project’. Tempesta took as a point of reference, and as a namesake, Italian Renaissance painter Giorgione’s work La Tempesta, although they make reference to several of his works.

During the performance, the two performers move slowly around the stage, traveling in and out of a large constructed glass box. They repeatedly dress and undress, emerging and disappearing in the mist created by a smoke machine. Layers are built in smoke, flesh, and cloth, alluding to the slow evolution of the painting process. In sparse moments of clarity the figures pause in the pose of a Giorgione figure. Playing on two portrait-shaped video screens are images of the performers; snippets of the outside world. The performers mirror their filmed selves as if willing themselves into this exterior reality. The ambiguity of their interaction recalls the ambiguity of Giorgione’s painting – the nature of its subject is still debated.

Mysterious or simply pretentious? Intense and atmospheric, or boring?  I would say that Tempesta occupies a grey space in-between these labels. Such an enigmatic nature welcomes personal interpretation with open arms. But it also risks not conveying any message with conviction.

Tempesta uses theatre to recreate a painting and one must ask the question: why? Watching Tempesta is indisputably a very different experience to sitting in front of a painting for an hour but there is a niggling sense that, in spending so long exploring the nuances of Giorgione’s artworks, Anagoor have forgotten to relate it to their own world; consequently the themes and issues engaged with in Tempesta lack the bite of the contemporary.

Anagoor are on tour in Italy until the 20^th February.

Crooning and Milling at Late at Tate Britain

Perhaps my visit to Late at Tate Britain was doomed from the start. On a damp and blustery, January evening I coaxed my cynical (yet ever obliging) boyfriend off the sofa and out onto the London Art Scene. He is neither a lover of art nor, with the exception of myself, of those who love art. So when, on disembarking from the long bus journey down from North London and finding that this particular evening does attract 'that particular kind of art-lover’ – there were white leather jackets, thick-rimmed glasses and geometrically printed leggings-a-plenty, I suspected we were not in for the best of nights. 

I have been to a fair few evening events in galleries, but Late at Tate has remained unique.  Most galleries open their doors for the odd evening, to allow those soles, too busy during normal opening hours, a chance to peruse their collection. It is also common for galleries to hold talks, show films or have poetry readings on these nights. But Tate Britain is something different; the entire gallery is transformed in to a social space. Normal gallery etiquette is abandoned as the lights are dimmed and the drinks are brought out.

During this particular Late there were displays of performance art, in the form of spoken word and a puppet show, there was a DJ and several live music performances. The hoards milled, floating between rooms plunged in tinted light, catching the odd word or idea, whilst nursing the neck of their bottle of Italian beer and crooning at their fellow millers.

Bravely we penetrated the crowd and broke to the front of a semi-circle that had formed around a man with a microphone. He spoke his lyrical lines with fluent rhythm yet we were at a loss as to what he was talking about. The Tate has left this artistic space open and fluid – there are no seats, no signs informing about performance times, as in the open collection visitors feel encouraged to browse – to stop and consider a work for a couple of minutes and then move on.

In the DJ room (formerly Painting: 1550-1880) the lights were dimmed to such an extent that is was difficult to see that there were frames on the wall at all, let alone what was in them. So what you have is a large, dimly lit room, with people socialising and drinking overpriced drinks while a DJ goes largely unnoticed. Apart from a lack of seating, I was hard-pressed to identify what makes this different to any other London bar. 

The performances may well have had their merits, however I feel this confused space only detracts from any power they might have. As much as I like the idea of exploring a gallery with a chilled beverage in my hand, I also require a practical amount of lighting. I think I’ll stick to daytime visits for now.

The Museum of Everything Peter Blake

The success of The Museum of Everything's last exhibition has led to its reopening, generously allowing you five more weeks to experience the world of Peter Blake. This review was originally published in the Arts section of the November edition of MouthLondon magazine.

Snuggled in amongst the gastro-pubs, the mock bohemian coffee shops and the learn-to-stitch (-and-bitch) studios on the picture perfect postcard streets of Primrose Hill the Museum of Everything awaits discovery. In this, Exhibition #3, the Museum’s founder, James Brett has collaborated with the innovator of British Pop Art and renowned collector: Peter Blake. The exhibition presents, for the first time, the outcome of Blake’s lifetime habit of collecting objects of his own fascination. It is a unique insight into the mind of the artist and will surely prove fascinating for anyone with an interest in his work. 

Illustration by Abi Daker

The warehouse-style space, a former dairy, has been constructed into a network of corridors, small intimate rooms and a large hall; these spaces intertwine and span two levels in a way that will confuse your orientation but also achieves the sense of exploration they were surely going for. The spaces are pieced together from stripped wood, nails and the odd splash of paint. The interior aesthetic draws a sharp contrast to the affluent neighborhood it is situated in and also to the typical visitor. However, it is fitting with the content in that it represents the haphazard collecting of an artistic mind.

The walls are adorned with posters and photographs of circus and music hall entertainers, carnival memorabilia is arranged on a fake grass turf and cabinets are filled with collections of dolls, puppets, taxidermy, boxes covered in shells and paper flowers. These objects if encountered singularly would be likely to be considered in bad taste, kitsch even. However, in mass-quantities Blake’s objects speak of the one common detectable theme that unites them – mass popular entertainment and production, mostly from the 19^th Century. It is unsurprising that Blake’s collection can be related to popular culture given this is the genre of his life’s work – some of his most well known artworks have been record sleeves, for bands such as the Beatles and The Who, and he often used cultural icons and logos. 

This multifaceted exhibition is being presented, by the Museum of Everything, as a singular piece of installation art. However this proposal is problematic. Peter Blake was quoted by journalist Helen Sumpter, three weeks before opening as saying: 

"In a way it's a conceptual art piece, we're just not quite sure what the concept is yet."

And although there is a sense of unity to the collection the lack of accompanying literature suggest a lack of thought; perhaps they never figured out the ‘concept’. 

There are implications to many of the objects in this exhibition, for example gollywog dolls and images that suggest the exploitation of so called ‘freaks’. Given the presentation of the objects within an environment that plays upon the art worlds’ fascination with the chaotic creativity of the artist and contemporary societies tendency to romanticize the past, and without providing any additional critique of the objects it would seem that the Museum of Everything is taking historical spectacles and transforming them into spectacles for the modern day. Yet, acknowledging this you cannot dispute the Museum of Everything’s ability to be on-trend and there is much to discover and enjoy in this diverse collection.

Exhibition #3 will be running until the 13th February.