Openings & Exhibitions: November 2016

2nd || Wednesday

Colloquium: Sound Art and Music – book launch, performance and screening, The Showroom, 7-9pm

An evening launch of the book Colloquium: Sound Art and Music published by Zero Books in September 2016, edited by Thomas Gardner and Salomé Voegelin. Free, no booking required. The launch will feature a performance by Thomas Gardner, David Mollin and Salomé Voegelin, practising the relationship between sound and music with words, movements, numbers and cello, and a screening of Aura Satz’ film Little Doorways to Paths Not Yet Taken (2016), about composer Laurie Spiegel’s musing on electronic music and the compositional process.

Cubitt 25 Tears – screening, ICA, 6.30pm

The premiere screening of new documentary Cubitt 25 Years: An Artist Led History is followed by a discussion involving Cubitt artists and curators. Produced by Cubitt’s current Curatorial Fellow Morgan Quaintance, this film explores Cubitt Studios, Cubitt Gallery and Cubitt Education, taking a look at the history and present of the organisation, its previous curators, artists and others who have been involved, as well as glimpsing into its possible future. Cubitt is an artist-led gallery, studios and education provider based in Islington.

3rd || Thursday

The Principle of Succifien Irritation, The Cello Factory Gallery, PV 6.30-8.30pm

An exhibition that engages anyone fascinated by anomalies in the built environment, and the possibilities inherent in discarded industrial materials. It presents the work of three artists who transform discarded metals, reclaimed materials, and demolished places, reanimating them with new narratives and personalities. The exhibition is titled after Philip K Dick’s short sci-fi work where an inventor realises that if he ‘’irritates” an inanimate object, it will spring into life. Featuring Cadi Froehlich, Martin Heron et Darren Nisbett.

‘WWTBTS’, João Retorta X CommaCollective, Window Space, PV 6:30pm to 8:30pm

CommaCollective presents ‘WWTBTS’, an installation by the London based filmmaker and photographer João Retorta at the Window Space. ‘WWTBTS’ is a reaction to the artist’s surroundings and whom he crosses paths with, triggered by Tim Etchell’s ‘We Wanted To Be The Sky’ colourful neon sign.

These photographs are part of an on-going project, which is ultimately a project about self-growth and self-discovery.

12th || Saturday

Peter Wächtler – exhibition visit, Chisenhale Gallery, 2pm

Paul Teasdale, London-based writer and editor of frieze.com, leads a tour of Peter Wächtler’s exhibition, placing Wächtler’s new work in relation to his previous animation, sculpture and text pieces. The exhibition is on until the 11th of December.

Free event, booking recommended.

15th || Tuesday

Monica Ross: A Critical Fine Art Prctice, Chelsea Space, PV 6-8.30pm

This exhibition presents the artist’s archival material and works from 1970-2013 including early feminist collaborative works, drawings made at Greenham Common in the 1980s, poster designs for the anti-nuclear movement, works relating to the writings of Walter Benjamin and documentation from the 60 performances of Anniversary-an act of memory, solo, collective and multi-lingual recitations from memory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2008-13) which concluded with a final collaborative performance at the UN in Geneva on the day of Ross’ death in 2013.

17th || Thursday

Teller on Mapplethorpe, Alison Jacques Gallery, PV 6-8pm

To coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of the iconic American photographer, Alison Jacques has invited acclaimed UK-based German photographer Juergen Teller to curate an exhibition of Mapplethorpe’s work, whose estate the Gallery has represented for 17 years. Teller’s selection will be drawn from the entire archive of the Mapplethorpe Foundation.

18th || Friday

Tensegrity – Symposium, Tenderpixel. Two day event, 18th Fri and 19th Sat, booking required

In 1948 the young student Kenneth Snelson attended the summer institute at Black Mountain College. Influenced by Richard Buckminster Fuller’s visions he created the first sculptures based on a very simple, but seemingly magical principle: Tensegrity (portmanteau of tension and integrity). Giving the impression of a cluster of struts floating in the air, tensegrity structures are composed by a set of compression components suspended within a continuous tension network.

This symposium takes tensegrity as a starting point to examine whether ‘tensional integrity’ is something other than just a spatial structure of struts and strings. Where do we recognise forms of push and pull strategies, tension- pressure relationships and stability-flexibility structures within our fields of research and interests? This symposium brings together artists, curators, writers, critics and other voices to explore how tensegrity could be defined in relation to their practices, whether through their working methods, concepts fabricated around tension/pressure or challenging space-time relations. The concept might be quite new to the field of art theory, but stems from an established practice we can draw from, thus allowing us to continually test our ideas in the making.

19th || Saturday

Your New Identity – Workshop by Heath Bunting, Arebyte, 10am-6pm

Heath Bunting is a British artist based in Bristol, UK. His work focuses on the development of open democratic and communication systems and social structures on the Internet and in the public space. In this workshop she will discuss identity as mutable object. It’s negotiated between people, organisations, and institutions, formalised in documentation, actions, and possessions. In this workshop Heath Bunting shows you how to create your own legal identity. As Bunting demonstrates, identities can be constructed over time by developing relationships to position a “person” within a chain of mobile phones, bills, correspondence and other “personal” data. Booking is required (£5).

20th || Sunday

Business as usual: SPBH in residence, The Photographers’ Gallery

In the first of a new series of experimental publisher residencies at The Photographers’ Gallery, Self-Published, Be Happy move their office into the Gallery’s studio floor to coincide with the launch of « Self Publish, Be Happy: A DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto » by Bruno Ceschel for a performative and participatory version of their working week. Forming the foundations of the space are a selection of around 1000 self-published photobooks from the SPBH library, daily book displays and selections, a dedicated area for SPBH TV screenings and a dynamic & active programme of artist presentations, talks, lectures, informal conversations, Skype presentations, dummy photobook drop-ins, zine-making workshops, Q&A sessions and live streaming of events. Until the 28th of the month.

23rd || Wednesday

Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2016, ICA

The panel of guest selectors comprising of Anya Gallaccio, Alan Kane and Haroon Mirza has chosen 46 artists working across a range of media with traditional techniques and materials used alongside digital applications and processes. Themes in this year’s works include; mass-production, socio-economics, gender equality and cultural identity. The resulting exhibition is both a social commentary and an indication of the emerging generations’ preoccupations.

---

Outside London ////

---

6th || Sunday

The Life and Death of Works of Art – book launch, P/////AKT, Amsterdam

A collection of stories and of theoretical texts, The Life and Death of Works of Art acts as an extension to the 2014 eponymous exhibition at Cneai (Chatou, France) and the panel discussion organized at Treize (Paris, France) in November of the same year. This book, starting with a collection of items that used to be works of art but no longer are, focuses on various material and perceptible continuities crossed by the definition of a work of art. More generally it raises a number of issues on the ontology of the work of art: how does a work of art inscribe itself in the material continuity of the object that contains it and surpasses it? How does the lifespan of a work of art within its object then surpass a human being’s lifespan?

Silvia Meloni