Abigail Reynolds

GORDON CHEUNG
ROSIE LEVENTON
BRIGHID LOWE
EMMA MCNALLY
ABIGAIL REYNOLDS
TOVE STORCH
SARAH WOODFINE

“ UNFOLD”

26 JUNE – 2 AUGUST 2009
Private View: Thursday 25 June, 6-9pm

The connotations associated with paper refer systematically to the idea of retranscription; writings and drawings being the retranscription of voices and thoughts and more widely of a certain reality. Through a range of different practices and investigative approaches, Unfold questions a creative and explorative process which has the particularity of stepping, conceptually or concretely, from two-dimensional mediums into a three dimensional space. These “new types of spatial fields” consecutively play and emphasize the virtual aspect of the “drawing process”, the physical nature of its material (carbon, paper) and techniques often associated with paper such as cutting, collage, folding; and therefore focusing on an interest in the physical world surrounding us.

In The Universal Now works Abigail Reynolds folds and ruffles photographs taken from second hand tourist guides. They bring the forgotten photographers that have stood in the same places but at different times, into a dialogue and into the present. ”The imperfection of the geometrical holes and folds, the lack of complete mastery over the images and their textures, allows for something to happen that is not reducible to possession or capture. The images not only gain flesh in their novel bodies but also fuse into something new in each encounter, in every move.” (Abigail Reynolds is represented by Seventeen Gallery).

Brighid Lowe uses a wide range of situations, materials and scales from site-specific installations to small, single photographs through which a new reading is encouraged. Central to Lowe’s work is the idea of montage or assemblage, in which a juxtaposition of elements disrupts the context in which it is inserted. Recent work has also included the use of text, in various formats, collected from our daily surroundings.
The artist’s interest in the intersection of the virtual and the material is developed through a series of ongoing works called “Rain Drawings”. Using rain to interrupt a repetitive surface, the artist explains that the intention of this series is to set a concrete space against other imagined spaces or systems. In the drawing, repeated horizon lines are hand drawn onto the paper, which is then exposed to rainfall - the original linear marks then record the materiality of the droplets, whilst retaining the romantic space of the rain.

Emma McNally investigates the possibilities of semiotic connections and disconnections through a visually and conceptually dense use of pencil on paper. Her large and small-scale drawings offer themselves to the viewer as surfaces or sites for rhythmic relations of graphite marks disruptively connected in gatherings, collisions, swirls and dispersals that are both geometric and chaotic.
Maps and mappings figure heavily - imagined paths, trajectories and psychogeographic boundaries of possible journeys are implied. Her work suggests aerial views, geological formations, oceanic charts, disease transmissions, animal migratory routes, molecule structures, black holes etc. and beyond mappings of physical space we also find notations of dataspace in the nodal connections of imagined networks. All pieces imply the micro and macroscopic, often simultaneously, from teeming constellations of axons and dendrites to the conjunctions of celestial cells and organelles. (1)

Gordon Cheung’s psychedelic-coloured paintings reveal an apocalyptic vision of our globalized world. Through a mixed medium of spray paint, oil, acrylic, pastels, newspaper and ink, Cheung is interested in the way we move between the physical world and the virtual realities of communications, technology, global finance and the internet. Cheung depicts artificial spaces, including epic landscapes informed by imagery such as science-fiction and 19th century romantic painting. “I use the Financial Times newspaper stock listings as I think of the stock market as a global dream-world that literally flows through all of us. This for me is a contemporary form of landscape from where I take inspiration and fuse images from the Internet on computer before printing directly onto sections of the stock listings to jigsaw back together on canvas.“ (2)

Rosie Leventon makes indoor and outdoor sculptural installations using a broad variety of recycled materials. All of Leventon’s work however is grounded in a sensitive concern for the natural environment and how we use it. She sees her work as a way of interweaving a kind of personal archaeology with the archaeology of contemporary society and the physical archaeology of places, incorporating elements of surprise and humour.
Made mainly with Romantic and other novels, Leventon’s tower block refers to suburban social housing - symbolising a space where large numbers of people gather without however being able to see, from an outside observation, any traces of life other than small spots of light.

Sarah Woodfine trained as a sculptor, which is evident in her approach to landscape, architecture and optical illusion - all being recurring themes in her work. Her drawings are often constructed as self-contained three-dimensional worlds reminiscent of architectural models and of children’s toys such as cut-out card castles and toy theatres. Each element is drawn in pencil with a precision and clarity that suggest a perfectly observed reality, but also conjure up the obsessive hallucinatory character of a dream or fantasy. Accessible and intimate, these scenes are made up of fragments and clues which invite viewers to invent their own stories.

Tove Storch combines virtual and physical aspects of the world in order to create objects which belong to a third kind of spatiality. She examines sculptural presence and spatial experience by asking questions such as : How does a form, volume or shape appear? - What are the formal rules for creating a sculpture? Storch’s sculptures are static while deeply engaged with movement. She investigates how sound or movement would look physically. Fragility and transience are found in all of her attempts to make three dimensional objects. The works are at once concrete, physical and real but at the same time transparent, floating, absurd and imaginary.

(1) See Ana Balona de Oliveira Fields, Charts, Soundings (Essay), January 2008
And Paul Prudence, Emma McNally - Emergent Cartographies, Dataisnature, http://dataisnature.com/?p=498

(2) Interview of Gordon Cheung in MYARTSPACE>BLOG / http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2007/11/art-space-talk-gordon-cheung.html, Nov 07

The Museum of Souvenirs - The Surrealist Photography of Marcel Mariën

The Museum of Souvenirs - The Surrealist Photography of Marcel Mariën

24th June – 25th July 2009
11AM – 6PM, Tues-Sat

Diemar/Noble Photography
66/67 Wells Street
London W1T 3PY
United Kingdom
Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus

Tel: +44 (0)20 7636 5375
Email: enquiries@diemarnoble.com

Website: http://www.diemarnoble.com

In June 2009, Diemar/Noble Photography will open its doors to the very first UK exhibition of photographs by the Belgian Surrealist Marcel Mariën (1920 - 1993).

Mariën (1920-1993) was a poet, essayist, photographer, filmmaker, and maker of objects. He is one of the most intriguing and elusive figures in the Belgian wing of the Surrealist movement. He was not only an artist but also a publisher, a bookseller, a sailor, a journalist and an elaborate Surrealist prankster.

Mariën worked in several mediums, including photography, collage, drawing, painting, object making, poetry and film. He was also the chronicler of the activities of the Belgian Surrealists and wrote the very first monograph on René Magritte, published in 1943. His work is in numerous private and public collections, including the Tate and the Centre Pompidou. Although his very first exhibition with the Surrealists, in 1938, was in London, this will be the very first UK exhibition of Mariën’s photographs.

Thirty photographs, dating from 1983 to 1990 are included in the exhibition at Diemar/Noble Photography.

Follow us on Twitter @DiemarNoble

Eduardo Kac, Free Alba! (New York Times) 2001

Eye of the Storm
An interdisciplinary art and science conference on scientific controversy

Tate Britain, Millbank, London 19 & 20 June 2009

From esoteric arguments over the structure of the universe to highly charged public controversies around the use of stem cells, The Arts Catalyst is bringing together an international line up of artists and scientists to debate today’s hot issues in science and society in the Eye of the Storm at Tate Britain on 19 and 20 June.

This conference will touch on brilliance and ego, obsessions and cover-ups, dissent and whistle-blowing, big science, high finance, deviant science, the reliability of knowledge and the legislation of uncertainty.

Nicola Triscott, Director of The Arts Catalyst explains: “These two days will spark dynamic conversations about our changing world, and showcase the role of artists in reframing and bringing debates in science to a broader public. It’s eleven years since our first Eye of the Storm conference; during the last decade The Arts Catalyst has curated an exciting series of commissions, exhibitions and events to widen the conversation about climate change, genetics and our knowledge of the universe. Now it’s time to revisit how artists, scientists and social scientists are responding to contemporary concerns around these themes.”

Speakers at the Eye of the Storm conference at Tate Britain:
• Professor Sheila Jasanoff of Harvard University, one of the major voices in science and technology studies, calls for a new humility in science and technology
• Helen and Newton Mayer Harrison, pioneers of environmental art, will describe their recent work which highlights how ill-equipped we are to meet a future shaped by global warming
• artist Eduardo Kac will talk about his transgenic hybrid creations, which have generated controversy since he first persuaded French geneticists to produce a rabbit that glows in the dark
• scientist Sylvia Nagl will announce that the era of the gene - as we have known it - has ended, and demands a radical re-definition of the genetic paradigm
• astronomer Roger Malina will discuss the crisis in fundamental physics precipitated by the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe and the challenge posed by dark energy to our understanding of gravity
Eye of the Storm, Tate Britain, Millbank, London,
19 and 20 June 2009
£70 (£35 concessions), booking required.
Register online at www.artscatalyst.org or call +44 (0) 20 7887 8888.

Eye of the Storm is a collaboration between The Arts Catalyst and Tate Britain’s public programme which seeks to develop new conversations across disciplines. The conference in held in association with Leonardo/OLATS.

The Arts Catalyst is a London-based arts organisation that commissions new art which experimentally and critically engages with science. It produces provocative, playful, risk-taking projects that aim to spark meaningful conversations about our changing world. www.artscatalyst.org

Raqib Shaw

PAPERVIEW brings together works on paper from three renowned London based art collections, alongside a selection of emerging and established London based artists.

The featured pieces reflect curator Danny Rolph’s ongoing fascination with work created on paper. His selection offers us a multitude of visual and conceptual qualities that explore our relationship with the material, paralleling Rolph’s own studio practice, where opposing ideas and sensations occupy the same space simultaneously, looking for questions through instinctive and subjective arrangements.

At a time when many galleries are reducing their exhibition programmes, PAPERVIEW celebrates the humble medium of paper by bringing together works by 75 artists from around the world.

The exhibition has been supported by John Jones to create an open discourse on both the passion and practicalities of collecting. In the current economic climate John Jones hopes to help galvanise the art market and inspire new collectors.

In recent years the market has been driven by a thirst for profit through investment. These three collections bring the focus back to the art and the curator’s obsession with paper in a perfect way to explore the collections and bring together an exhibition that highlights the importance of collecting.

A panel discussion on June 17th led by writer and critic Martin Holman will invite a panel of guests to share their experiences of developing a contemporary collection, whilst discussing ideas that link and differentiate their collecting practice.

The Zabludowicz Collection is a privately funded contemporary art collection managed by The Zabludowicz Art Trust. It was founded in 1995 and currently comprises over 1,000 works by more than 350 contemporary artists from 33 countries.

The Collection is one of the first in the UK to focus on emerging artists on a global level and its strength lies in its focus on emerging artists of the late 20th and 21st Centuries. The Collection is open to the public through the exhibition programme at 176 in Kentish Town.

The Lodeveans Collection focuses on international contemporary art. It was founded in 2006 by Stuart and John Evans with the intent to acquire artworks in different media which are prophetic in the sense that they challenge people to reassess the ways in which they think, connecting work by artists operating in different countries working independently yet also exploring very similar processes and themes.

As well as collecting work by young artists the Collection also focuses on work made in the second half of the twentieth century where this has influenced current practice.

The John Jones Contemporary Collection has been established for over 40 years. The Collection largely reflects the incredible range of artists that John Jones have worked with over the years. It aims to engage with work that challenges the viewer and their everyday environment and includes work from different nationalities, genres and mediums. The Collection is on permanent display at the John Jones premises in Finsbury Park to be enjoyed by staff and clients, as well as visitors.

A selection of works from the Whitechapel Gallery Editions will accompany PAPERVIEW, bringing together an extensive range of artists working on different media and offering an excellent and affordable way to start a collection. Artist editions include Alex Katz, Paul McCarthy, Paul Noble and Albert Ohlen.

ART IN MIND @ The Brick Lane gallery

ART IN MIND

30 April - 11 may
Opening 29 April 6.30 - 8.30

Artists
KRAH - HERO - Marlène-B - Katina Riba - Karl Anthoney - Bex Massey
David Barnes - Dolunay Magee - Faba - Gintallia Finlayson-Frost - Herman Noordermeer - Liron Ben Arzi - Tomas Tokle

The next Art in Mind exhibition will present once again a dynamic group show featuring 13 Street and Contemporary artists.

The Brick Lane Gallery is pleased to present the world famous street artist The Krah. Originally from Greece The Krah has been making waves in the UK street art scene and has been painting the streets of London for many years. The Krah’s works can be seen around the Shoreditch and Brick Lane area. Like many street artists his recent projects have been moving into galleries and he has been showing extensively in London, Greece and worldwide. The Krah’s work started several years ago in Greece writing graf and traditional graffiti. His natural progression has evolved towards a new way of painting which emerges into a contemporary style of street art. The Krah’s signature street works look something between organic and hybrid robot bodies presented with computer monitors and TV heads. Caught within a hyper reality, they observe the situation and world order around them. The TV faces look both happy and sad, they laugh and look pleased and sometimes angry with passers by. !
The Krah
will be showing several new works on canvas and wood board.

The Art in Mind Exhibition will continue until the 11th May and is open daily from 1 to 6pm.
Art in Mind is a regular group exhibition organized by the Brick Lane gallery, presenting a selection of Street and Contemporary artists. The gallery is currently looking for artists to take part in the next Art in Mind exhibition in August. Contact info@thebricklanegallry.com

The Brick Lane Gallery
196 Brick Lane | London | E1 6SA | UK
w: www.thebricklanegallery.com

Gwenael Belanger

GWENAEL BELANGER
DANIEL FIRMAN
ORI GERSHT
LORI HERSBERGER
The Hidden Land

1 MAY - 14 JUNE 2009
Private View: Thursday 30 April, 6-9 pm

Antique philosophy is at the origin of numerous reflections on the nature of our world as well as the existence of universes parallel to our reality. These thoughts were “materialised” in the concept of infinity - described by the indefinite and complex nature of the physical world - as well as in the suggestion that a constant and eternel movement pre-exists in all things.
The Hidden Land (1) is an invitation to reflect on these theories of multiple worlds and the unidentified zones situated between fiction and reality. Transcending universal understanding, these remarkable theories symbolise acts of intellectual humility as the world is indubitably more vaste and complexe, more unpredictable and colourful, than what our comprehension, here and now, would want to let us know. (2)

The works presented in the exhibition address issues surrounding the spatiotemporal process, questioning our perception of things through varied mediums and materials as well as the idea that each piece is the comprehensive result of an experimental approach. Each work emphasizes the idea that movement is an intrinsic and permanent flux existing in all things, as well as being the sign and measure of space and time.

A close, critical observation of what forms a vivid picture in our everyday world is the starting point for all of Gwenaël Bélanger’s projects. His approach, he says « is characterized above all by a “bricoleur” attitude which consists of playing with the limits of the perception we have of reality and its grey areas, using graphic and photographic processes. I want to exploit the interaction between what we see and what we imagine, or what we recall, in the various human activities. » The video “Le Tournis” embodies perfectly this exploratory vision of our day-to-day; it is one of those “machinations of the gaze” through which forgotten or inaccessible visual zones emerge.
“Le Tournis” is a 6 minute looped video showing an interior space (the artist’s studio) from a central viewing point. The camera continually revolves on itself, scanning the space at high speed. In this repetitive 360° panorama, an event arises. Progressively, at the top of the screen, a slight sparkling appears. Then something falls. We then identify, gradually, that a multitude of mirrors come crashing to the ground. (3)

Daniel Firman’s work stems from the field of sculpture in the broadest sense, considering each piece as an “environment-system”. Ideas, forms, as well as scales, signifiers and references meet and dialogue within the work to form unexpected and yet eloquent lectures. This versatility logically leads to the use of diverse mediums and conceptual approaches. The idea of energy and movement is notably at the centre of his preoccupations, expressed through the theme of the fall, his interest in choreography or through the so-called untraceable forms defined by the phenomenon of deflection or stealth technologies. Firman’s minimalist, almost scientific, approach to the phenomena and matter surrounding us shows a profound sensorial acuity in the detection of these minute, unstable or unexplored zones where language finds itself reinstated.

Ori Gersht uses the medium of photography to develop specific environments in which the image explores personal and collective memory through geographies and metaphysical spaces – and also reflects on advanced technologies in photography such as freeze-framing actions. Through a filmic trilogy composed of a series of photographs, Gersht addresses what Walter Benjamin called “the optical unconscious”, and namely the moments exposed by photography which the eye cannot perceive. Inspired by the frozen aspect of a classical still-life, the series “Falling Bird”, evoking a particular painting by Chardin, shows the slow fall of a bird into a dark liquid surface. The long journey, orchestrated by gravity and given rhythm by the camera, underlines the tension created when a body passes from one state to another. Creating a multitude of micro-events, the slow motion and the decomposition of movements thereby intensify the action, triggering chain reactions reminiscent of a
geological disaster.

Lori Hersberger’s world expresses a technical and sensorial plurality resulting from the experimental exploration of multiple medias and genres. In his spatial works and installations, composed mainly of different materials such as broken mirror and neon light, or other atypical objects such as old carpets or empty barrels, Hersberger addresses issues of the semantic double nature of phenomena. At the end of the 90’s, abstract painting appears in his practice, initiated by a free gestural movement and composed strictly of fluorescent day-glo colours, with various techniques such as spray, sponge, dripping or stencilling. This moment is a radical milestone for him whereby a subversive body of work is introduced into his practice. Hersberger uses the processes of construction and deconstruction to create a zone of hybrid forces of individual or personal feelings of freedom and intension, where irony and superfluity, flirtation and antagonism overlap. The presented works on!
canvas
and collages express well this synesthesia of artificiality and authenticity which generates a permanent flux evoking notions of infinity, visibility and intrinsic dynamics.

(1) “The Hidden Land” is the name of a sacred region, of extremely difficult access, situated in the Himalayan mountains. It is considered to be one of the most secret places in the world. Even the satellites are unable to show details of this area, which is perpetually covered in mist and shadowed by immense mountains. This area perfectly illustrates the thin line separating reality and fiction and the idea that a fictitious world is only so according to whether we believe in it or not. It is typically the case for this place as the legend says that one must believe in its existence and reach a certain level of spirituality to be able to access it.
(2) See Théodore Bachelet and Louis Charles Dezobry in Dictionnaire général des lettres, des beaux-arts et des sciences morales et politiques, Paris, Delagrave, 1876
(3) Text by Gwenaël Bélanger

Gwenaël Bélanger was born in Rimouski, Quebec in 1975. He lives and works in Montréal (Canada).
Solo show (selection): OEuvres récentes, Galerie Graff, Montréal (2008) ; Poursuivre le hors-champ, Galerie de l’UQAM, Montréal (2008) ; Courir les rues, Optica, Montréal (2006) ; Le Point à la ligne, Galerie Graff, Montréal (2004). Group show (selection) : Décoratif! Décoratif?, traveling exhibition organised by le Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec (2008) ; La Triennale québécoise - Rien ne se perd, rien ne se crée, tout se transforme, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2008) ; L’oreille dans l’oeil, Centre Clark, Montréal (2007), La Collection : Acquisitions récentes, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2006).

Daniel Firman was born in Bron (France) in 1966. He lives and works in Paris and Lyon (France).
Solo show (selection): Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris (2009) ; Arte headquarters, in partnership with the FRAC Alsace, Strasbourg (2008) ; Würsa (à 18000 km de la Terre), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2008) ; Le foulard d’Isidora, French Cultural Center, Milan, Italy (2006) ; Essences insensées, Parcours Saint Germain, boutique Christian Lacroix, Paris (2006). Group show (selection): Château de Tokyo / Palais de Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau (2008) ; Hyères encore - Christian Lacroix with David Dubois, Christian Rizzo, Daniel Firman, Galerie des Galeries, Paris (2007) ; Dérive, Fondation d’entreprise Paul Ricard, curator Mathieu Mercier, nominated for the Ricard Prize 2007, Paris (2007) ; Mutadis, Mutandis, extract from Antoine de Galbert’s collection, La Maison Rouge, Paris (2007).

Ori Gersht was born in Tel-Aviv (Israel) in 1967. He lives and works in London (UK).
Solo show (selection): Black Box: Ori Gersht, Hirschhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (2008); Folding Time, Noga Gallery, Tel Aviv (2008) ; Pomegranate, The Jewish Museum, New York; Time After Time, Mummery + Schnelle, London (2007); The Forest, Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv (2006); The Clearing, Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, USA (2006). Group show (selection): Personal Landscapes: Contemporary Art from Israel, Katzen Arts Centre at American University, Washington DC (2008) ; @60.art.israel.world, Judah L Magnes Museum, Berkley, California (2008); Pomegranate, Tate Britain, London, “Single Shot” commissioned by Film & Video Umbrella and The Film Council, UK (2007); Forest Primeval, MOCA (GA), Atlanta, USATwillight: Photography in the Magic Hour, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2006).

Lori Hersberger was born in Basel (Switzerland) in 1964. He lives and works in Zurich (Switzerland) and Berlin (Germany).
Solo shows (selection): Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg (2009); Lori Hersberger - Phantom Studies, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon (2008); Phantom Studien, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin (2008); Smooth Transition, Galerie Lange & Pult, Zürich (2007); Beautiful Occupation, House of Art, Budweis (2007); Zombie Voyager Nr 1, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg (2007); Insideout, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin (2006). Group show: Neon, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney (2008); Brave Lonesome Cowboy, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen (2007); Une question de génération, Musée d’art Contemporain Lyon (2007); Who Are You?, Galerie Lange & Pult, Zürich (2007); Big City Lab, Art Forum Berlin (2006); Light Art from Artificial Light, ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst Karlsruhe (2005); A Kind of Magic, Museum of Art Lucerne (2005)

Ecstasy, 2008 Newsprint, The Guardian 600 x 375 mm

NETTIE HORN is pleased to present Please Remain Calm, a solo exhibition presenting new works by Kim Rugg. Rugg is renowned for her meticulous and labor-intensive work which involves deconstructing and slicing an object into minute shards to then re-organise and reconstruct it according to arbitrary codes. The original meaning is removed in order to reveal new ones, and to corrupt or destroy the object’s function. This act of mischievous “sabotage” is applied to ephemeral and iconic objects such as newspapers, comic books, product boxes, sweaters and stamps, and more recently to larger formats such as wallpaper – and, by doing so, she turns a neutral vehicle for a message into an object to be considered.

By giving value to something which would normally be disposed of, Rugg transgresses conventional systems by obliterating what is conceived to be the important element, “the content”, and retaining everything else, the material, the shapes, the typography, the colour palettes and the layout. Through the new works presented in the exhibition, she continues her investigation into the relationship between images and their signifier. She questions the way in which the information we process daily is preconceived and prompts the viewer to consider the familiar from an entirely new perspective.

For example, in Rugg’s comic book pieces, she recreates in a 2D image the 3D distortions inherent to the object. She destabilizes what is understood and assumed to be true by short-circuiting the mental adjustments we make when recalling images which are often free of the distortions of perspective, scale and distance. Her focus lies in making an object that represents an image rather than an image that represents an object.

Whilst visually being very different, Rugg’s stamp and envelope pieces retain their original function and are sent through the mail unperturbed. Here she attempts to see just how far she can deconstruct them and still make them work as stamps by posting the resulting piece. A majority of envelopes arrive at their destination due to the fact that the value of the stamp is held in its very materials, the pigments, rather than the image these inks form. Consequently, these works are far more subversive as, to a degree, they actively undermine established, regulated systems.

The work with striped sweaters is reminiscent of a life drawing exercise where students are required to draw imaginary ‘ latitude’ lines all around a body and follow them as they rise and fall to express the contours, swellings and hollows of a body. Horizontally striped sweaters have the same effect - the straight lines of the unworn sweater become topological curves that reveal the shape and volumes of the body wearing them.

Despite living in an age of new technologies, notions of labour and handicraft are central to Rugg’s practice. What some may take as obsolete handiwork represents in fact another unconventional choice of hers to use low-tech procedures and obsessive qualities which contrast with the raw and ephemeral nature of the materials she works with.

Kim Rugg was born in 1963 in Montreal, Canada and now lives and works in London. Rugg graduated with a MFA from the Royal College of Art, London in 2004 where she was awarded the Thames and Hudson prize. Recent exhibitions include Don’t Mention the War, PPOW, New York, USA; Text/ural, OKOK Gallery, Seattle, USA; Billboard Text Art, Tina B, Prague, Czech Republic; Don’t mention the war, Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, USA.

image: ‘The Nightwatchman’ nuclear mug Hollington & Kyprianou

The Arts Catalyst with SCAN in association with RSA Arts & Ecology present

NUCLEAR: Art & Radioactivity
New commissions by Chris Oakley and Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou

Opens on: Thursday 13th November (private view 6 – 8.30pm, open to press from 4pm)
Runs on Thursday to Sunday
14 - 16, 20 - 23, 27 - 30 November 2008, 12 – 6.30pm
Admission free
Nicholls and Clarke Building, 3-10 Shoreditch High Street,
Spitalfields, London E1

Nuclear Talkaoke with The People Speak - Friday 14 November

Nuclear Forum at the RSA - Friday 28 November

Nuclear power is re-emerging as a concern for our times, both as a generator of energy and as part of a defence strategy. Today it seems to stand for the failed utopian promises of modernism and a fresh hope for a carbon-free future. The contradictions that lie at its core have provided a rich source of questioning for artists, scientists, ecologists and activists for many years. The exhibition NUCLEAR: Art & Radioactivity explores these intricacies through two new commissioned works by Chris Oakley and Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou.

The Nightwatchman

Last year, high court judge Jeremy Sullivan caused an apparent setback to the government’s nuclear energy ambitions by ruling that public consultation into the creation of a new fleet of nuclear power stations was “misleading”, “seriously flawed” and “procedurally unfair”. The content presented to the public was so without substance that the judge ruled it would be “wholly insufficient for them to make an intelligent response”. Soon after these events, Simon Hollington & Kypros Kyprianou started a residency at The British Atomic Nuclear Group as part of a public perceptions program initiated in response to the 2007 ruling.

Hollington & Kyprianou’s work in NUCLEAR: Art & Radioactivity is the outcome from this residency, particularly their work within B.A.N.G’s wide-ranging public consultation process into the possibility of siting a nuclear power facility in the heart of London.

Their new installation, ‘The Nightwatchman’ takes the changing perceptions of the nuclear power industry over its 50 year history into a single immersive narrative environment. Combining the concerns of two different eras (that of the mid-80’s and that of the present day), ‘The Nightwatchman’ blends fact and fiction into a darkly humorous
journey from hard-nosed PR to a logical hysteria.

Half-Life

Chris Oakley’s new film ‘Half-life’ looks at the histories of Harwell, birthplace of the UK nuclear industry, and the new development of fusion energy technology at the Culham facility in Oxfordshire. Oakley has gained the cooperation of both these organisations in his research
and filming. The film examines nuclear science research through a historical and cultural filter. It includes live action material alongside archive sources and animated sections drawn from scientific diagrams. With the recent widespread acceptance of the reality of climate change driven by carbon dioxide emissions, the work explores the realities and myths surrounding the nuclear sciences.

Two discussion events accompany the exhibition.

A Nuclear Talkaoke is being hosted by The People Speak at time, Fri 14
November within the exhibition in the Nicholls & Clarke building. A mobile chat-show, the format allows all visitors to comment on the work and the issues around it in an informal and entertaining way. Admission is free and there’s no need to book, however,if you would like to bring a group of people to the exhibition and Talkaoke, or if you have special access needs, please contact The Arts Catalyst on 020 7375 3690.

In partnership with the RSA Arts & Ecology, The Arts Catalyst and SCAN
present a nuclear forum at the RSA on Friday 28 November (10am to 6pm) exploring the impact of nuclear power in art and culture. Prominent artists, writers and experts will discuss their work and engagement with the issues around nuclear energy, from Hiroshima through the 50s’
‘white heat of technology’ and the Cold War nuclear tensions to present day energy debates. Speakers include the controversial American
‘nuclear sculptor’ James Acord, whose work caused huge public and media attention as the highlight of The Arts Catalyst’s ATOMIC exhibition in London ten years ago. The RSA is at 8 John Adam Street, WC2. Nearest tube Temple/Embankment. Free. Please register at art@rsa.org.uk

NUCLEAR: Art & Radioactivity is commissioned and produced by The Arts Catalyst with SCAN media arts agency, and in association with the RSA, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce. The Arts Catalyst and SCAN are funded by Arts Council England.

http:// www.artscatalyst.org

http:// www.electronicsunset.org

For further press information, please contact Alison Wright, press
consultant for The Arts Catalyst on 01608 811 474 or email
alison@alisonwrightpr.com

Peter Flemming ‘Canoe’ (2003)

Schematic is a group exhibition showcasing the work of five emerging and established new media artists Peter Flemming, Germain Koh, Norman White, Nicholas Stedman and Joe McKay. Using innovative engineering and robotics they explore the role than technologically mediated relationships play in shaping our attitudes towards leisure, work, the environment and each other.

8 November - 20 December 2008

[ space ]
129 - 131 Mare Street
London
E8 3RH
exhibitions@spacestudios.org.uk
http://www.spacestudios.org.uk

SS

A drawing experience by
Marta Angelozzi, Elena Cecchinato and Maia Sambonet

Area 10 Project Space
Entrance behind Library
Peckham Square
London SE15 5JT
www.area10.info

Sunday 12th October to Saturday 18th October
open everyday from 13pm to 19pm

Switch Supposing outlines an itinerary within the experience of the elsewhere happening here and now through the practice of Drawing.

In a maze of lines and mindscapes, the spectator participates to the chasing game of black and white. As light and darkness reverse one into the other, the viewer is free to swing between mindfulness and abandonment.

This series of pieces explore the possibility of generating new vocabularies for the intangible and mutual relation to the elsewhere.

Marta Angelozzi’s drawings are abstract landscapes that reflect a state of being experienced in the moment they are drawn. As a way to explore the unknown, they could represent a journey to and from an unexplored land. They are ‘codes’ open to interpretation, long scrolls, strictly black and white, under the watchful eye of a video camera.

Elena Cecchinato’s tile-carpets explore the immanent reordering that exists between inner experience and outer occurrence. ‘Contained’ is a floor tiles installation composed of prayer rugs embedded into the pavement. Their cosmographical designs are made up of finely psycho-poetical invocations meandering and converging in a sketch-like fashion of prayer for the everyday little traumas.

Maia Sambonet’s installations range from miniatures to environments, which catch drawing in motion. Set free, a story evades the sheet’s perimeter to navigate in space. Light cluster is an ensemble of light boxes that progressively reveal a drawing-microcosm. Incorporated in the drawing texture, calligraphy undescores a transition from illegibility to clarity, from dark to light.

Switch Su[[osing is part of The Big Draw, campaign for drawing. www.thebigdraw.com