Openings & Exhibitions: December 2017

1st || Friday

What is Art? – talk, Clapham Library, Mary Seacole Centre, 7-9pm

Fascinated by the question of ‘What is ART?’ and mesmerised by the hive mind of the internet, artist Robert Good began to collect online definitions as a way to explore both these ideas in one project. Eventually it became clear that a dictionary format, with full editing and annotation, was conceptually the best way to articulate the question as directly as possible. Book launch with the artist and art historian Corinna Lotz.

Open Choreography Performance Evening, Siobhan Davies Studios, 5.30-10pm

Open Choreography Performances feature works at various stages of their lives – some still developing and some being revisited – all in continual process. Performances by Evangelia Kolyra, Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome, Francesca Foscarini and Andrew Kerton with Hannah Holland. Booking required (£12/8).

2nd || Saturday

Trinh T Minh-ha, ICA

Until the 9th of December, Vietnamese-born writer, theorist, composer and filmmaker Trinh T Minh-ha visits the ICA to speak about her work on the occasion of this full retrospective of her films. Hugely influential in the fields of feminism and postcolonial studies through her writing and moving image work, she has developed innovative and experimental approaches to presenting images and telling stories. This retrospective is programmed in parallel with the UK premiere of her film Forgetting Vietnam at the Tate Modern.

The Line of Flight, RED DOOR Project Space 

The Line of Flight, the first exhibition at Red Door, presents the work of artists Mila Dolman, Lorraine Fossi, James Tabbush and composer Alexey Sysoev and explores the theme of migration. The exhibition takes its name from the Deleuzian term, which describes a theory of nomadism: the desire to continually move to new territories. Every participant lives through the phenomenon of migration in a particular way: Mila Dolman through acceptance, Lorraine Fossi through expansion, James Tabbush through exploration and Alexey Sysoev through sonic submersion. The exhibition is running until January 7th, 2018 and is curated by Olga Pogasova.

6th || Wednesday

Hassan Massoudy, October Gallery, PV 6-8pm

A new solo exhibition by the master artist-calligrapher from southern Iraq. His work features the texts of a diverse range of writers, from poet, Charles Baudelaire and philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Virgil and Ibn ‘Arabi. His work is deeply influenced by the great Arabic masters but also by the artists Léger, Matisse, Soulages and Picasso.

Peace and tolerance, central themes of his work, led him to work with Amnesty International, UNICEF and other related organisations.

8th || Friday

Tomorrow’s world, Atom Gallery, PV 6-9pm

An intriguing exhibition of new and recent work by over 40 artists about their view of the future – utopias, dystopias, sci-fi, visions and predictions – incorporating printmaking, painting, digital art, photography and small-scale sculpture.

13th || Wednesday

Kirsten Reynolds: Dark Ages, Art Bermondsey Project Space, PV 6-9pm

Kirsten Reynolds is an English artist whose current work uses photography, painting, printmaking and sound / light installation to re-interpret classical themes relating to landscape, nature and the environment. The photographs she takes record her explorations of place and time through drawing. She weaves skeins of light before the lens, sometimes white, sometimes coloured, with a process that she compares to music making.

Small is beautiful, Flowers Gallery, PV 6-8pm

The 35th edition of the annual Small is Beautiful exhibition at 21 Cork Street. 100 selected contemporary artists has been invited to work in any media, with a fixed economy of scale, each piece measuring no more than 7 x 9 inches.

22^{nd ||}Friday

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Snow White – exhibition closing, Marian Goodman Gallery

A capsule overview of Sugimoto’s Theatre Series, which first began in 1976. It is a collection of images of theatres and movie sceens with the goal of capturing an entire film in a single photographic exposure, raising the question of how we see and what remains in our visual memory after the passage of time. In the meantime, an exhibition in Paris is devoted to his Seascape series.

30th || Saturday

The Thousands Eyes of Dr. Mabuse – screening, ICA, 12.15pm

Fritz Lang’s last film sees him return to Germany for a continuation of his earlier classics Dr Mabuse the Gambler (1922) and The Testament of Dr Mabuse (1933). Set in 1960, the film begins with a series of murders that resemble the work of Dr Mabuse. Police detective Gert Frobe assembles an unlikely team to help him solve these murder mysteries. £6 the full price.

Silvia Meloni