London/Margate Fine Art Trip 2018

Tuesday 6^th February

Rich Mix (Tube: Aldgate East/Barbican) MARSM Photo and Design Expo

I particularly liked the work of El Moustach, however this entire exhibition was good for me to see. I felt that this could potentially be me in the not too distant future and felt very inspired by the work that I saw.

A photography and design showcase highlighting the visual and thematic influences of identity and belonging that shape the work of three exciting emerging Algerian artists.

The upcoming visual art scene of Africa’s largest country, Algeria, is about to take over East London.

Satirical graphic designer El Moustach, as well as photographers Lola Khalfa and Oualid Khelifi, will exhibit their work as part MAWAEF festival whose pilot edition focuses on Africa’s largest country – Algeria.

Through photography and design, this exposition aims to engage the Algerian diaspora in the UK, as well London’s diverse audiences, to explore alternative narratives of Algeria’s history and identity. The work has been curated not only to celebrate belonging, but also to confront the burning issues of rising xenophobia towards Subsaharan Africa, racial controversies and lack of ties south of the Sahara.

Uniquely critical and satirically colorful, El Mustach has emerged as a leading graphic pop-commentator in Algeria’s young visual art scene. Establishing his notoriety on social media, El Mustach takes over the country’s most sensitive historical, political and social issues, using the most accessible elements in Algerian popular culture.

Oualid Khelifi documents the juxtaposition of a continent caught between economic emergence and cultural blossoming on one side, and political turmoil and rampant conflict on the other. Drawing on parallels in his native country, Oualid stretches through his photography the exploration of Algerian dilemmas by documenting other case-studies in the continent

Lola Khalfa’s photographic exhibition draws from a childhood spent amidst the conflict of 1990s Algeria. It documents her contemporary Algeria through an emotional lens, which swings between a torn past and ambiguous present.

Marsm is an events company that promotes the rich and diverse culture of the Arab world across the UK. Uniting the vibrant cultural offerings of the Arab world with UK audiences, it proudly provides a space for the dissenting voices of today’s Middle East.

https://www.richmix.org.uk/events/exhibitions/photo-design-exposition

Barbican (Tube: Barbican): Vincent Moon and Priscill Telmon

This film is a 24 hour loop – an epic feat in itself displayed on a massive screen in the main area of the Barbican. Quite mesmerising to watch and another good example of how digital is used to present artwork in a public setting.

French filmmakers Vincent Moon and Priscilla Telmon have spent the last three years travelling and documenting over sixty different spiritual ceremonies, across the vast South American country. The result is an experimental and immersive audiovisual collection running on a 24 hour loop, that showcases an incredible array of cultural diversity and constantly evolving ritualistic forms. The film work, with its intense musical sequences, gives a rare glimpse into both ancient and modern spiritual observances, revealing the deepest expressions of the Brazilian soul.

Moon worked as the main director of the ‘Take Away Shows’ of La Blogothèque, which featured the likes of R.E.M and Arcade Fire. Now he travels the world making ethnographic-experimental films. Telmon has dedicated herself to long trips combining history and adventure, paying homage to the wisdom, tradition and mystery of the cultures she’s visited through words, pictures, audio and films.

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2017/event/vincent-moon-priscilla-telmon-hibridos

YTO Barrada (7th)

I did try to get into the Media event for this, and explained I wouldn’t be able to attend the event itself, however they were very strict about who they were letting in.

For her first major London commission, artist Yto Barrada weaves together personal narratives and political ideals to create a complex portrait of a city and its people in a state of transition.

The sweeping form of the Curve is transformed with a dramatic installation – encompassing a mural, film commission, sculptures, and a series of live and recorded performances – to consider how a city and its people might address the process of reinvention following disaster. Barrada takes as her starting point a surreal text by Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine – Agadir  (1967) – reflecting on the devastating earthquake of 1960 that destroyed much of the modernist Moroccan city.

Barrada’s multimedia practice has explored questions ranging from migration to abstraction, from fossils to botany, examining the strategies of resistance employed every day in her native Morocco.

Live performances* will take place on selected Saturdays 11am–8pm – 10 (12noon– 4.30pm) & 24 February, 3 & 31 March, 21 & 28 April, 5 & 12 May

Please note, the exhibition contains a film with scenes some viewers may find upsetting and language of an explicit nature within the sound installation and live performances.

Yto Barrada_Press Release FINAL

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/yto-barrada-agadir

Museum of London (Tube: Barbican)

Pulse Photography Exhibition

I really enjoyed this installation, a circular display around the cafe in the Museum of London that is showing a real-time twitter feed from the London area. I can’t even begin to get my head around how they achieved this. A good example of technology being used for artistic display.

Pulse is a new digital installation by Tekja collecting and visualising live data about London from Twitter. See the human stories and changing moods of the city visualised in real-time through analysis of the mass of data London generates through social media.

https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/event-detail?id=117808

Votes for Women

The day I saw this was the 100 anniversary, and although I had gone to the Museum of London to see the Pulse installation, I was pleased to have seen something of the suffragette movement.

This display forms part of the national commemorations marking the centenary of the 1918 Act that gave some women the right to vote for the first time. Dedicated to those who campaigned tirelessly for over 50 years to achieve votes for women, the exhibition features iconic objects from the Museum’s vast Suffragette collection, including Emmeline Pankhurst’s hunger strike medal. At the heart of the display is a powerful, newly commissioned film that reflects on the contemporary relevance of the militant campaign that continues to inspire, shock and divide opinion.

https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/whats-on/exhibitions/votes-women

Wednesday 7^th February 2018

Hayward Gallery (Tube Waterloo) Andreas Gursky

Having previously research Andreas Gursky, I was excited to get the opportunity to see the exhibition and before going had no concept of the sheer scale of the pieces he has made. I also had not understood fully the process that he goes through to create these pieces, a highly organised process of preparation, photography and then digital editing where the artworks are digitally stitched together. This has inspired me to attempt a similar piece for my final exhibition.

Hayward Gallery reopens with the first major UK retrospective of the work of acclaimed German photographer Andreas Gursky. Known for his large-scale, often spectacular pictures that portray emblematic sites and scenes of the global economy and contemporary life, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant photographers of our time.

Driven by an interest and insight into ‘the way that the world is constituted’, as well as what he describes as ‘the pure joy of seeing’, Gursky makes photographs that are not just depictions of places or situations, but reflections on the nature of image-making and the limits of human perception. Often taken from a high vantage point, these images make use of a ‘democratic’ perspective that gives equal importance to all elements of his highly detailed scenes.

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/hayward-gallery-art/andreas-gursky

Photographers Gallery (Oxford Circus)

Wim Wenders

The polaroids by Wim Wenders were amazing to look at – I like the fact that they consisted very much of the ordinary and the day to day, aspects of life that interest me particularly.