The Frieze week has already gone… and it was quick like the tail of a falling star, but thanks to the myriads of shows opened in galleries and project spaces all around the city, its aura is still bright.

Amongst the countless exhibitions and special events, three are my favourites, (X) An Evening of Performances organised by DRAF (3^rd October, Koko), the group show Silver Sehnsucht curated by the collaborative organisation Approved by Pablo A-by-P (30^th September – 8^th October, Silver Building), and the film installation by Marianna Simnett, Worst Gift at Matt’s Gallery (6^th September – 22^nd October).

Thus, a performance event, a group exhibition and, an immersive film installation which together, have really left me with the thought that, after all, the art world it is not just about sale and possession-given value, but it is still about art, culture, politic, society, and having fun in making things collectively.

My Frieze-week exploration started on Tuesday 3^rd of October with (X) An Evening of Performances, the 10^th of an annual series also celebrating the 10^th anniversary of David Roberts Art Foundation. For this special occasion, the event occupied the fascinating KOKO – a theatre-like premier’s music venue in baroque style –  and brought together an astonishing number of artists, musicians, and choreographers (around 80-90 including their collaborators) in an evening of live works. The atmosphere was kind of chilled gig-like with a more artsy audience and the venue was packed with people. There I had the chance to see (and listen) some spectacular performances. In order of execution and amongst many others, the sarcastic performance by Kris Lemsalu, In Heaven Everything Is Fine, in which the singer and songwriter Glasser, while performing from a balcony, gets the company of four super-star archangels (David Bowie and Prince among the ones I recognised). Then, it was the turn of the ecstatic performance of Adam Christensen who, with his accordion and fantastic voice, enchanted the public. Last in order of execution, the performances of the Scottish group Stasis, a quartet of girls who investigates themes of gender and society through energy consuming and ironically choreographed dance works.

 

 

On the following days, I went down to south London between the Royal Dock and Silvertown where the Silver Building – a massive industrial building which has been left derelict for 20 years, now undergoing an impressive refurbishment to host artists’ studios and start-ups and creative enterprises – overlooks the area. It was here that Silver Sehnsucht took place, occupying two floors of the disused building in the days foregoing the refurbishment. Curated by the A-by-P, this was a group exhibition featuring the works of 14 artists coming from Europe, US, Korea, and Philippines (Brad Downey, Christine Sun Kim, Christopher Stead, Helen Hunter & Mark Peter Wright, James Bridle, Jazoo Yang, Khadija Von Zinnenburg Carroll, Mark Salvatus, Poklong Anading, Paola Torres Nunez Del Prado, Rosana Antoli, William Mackrell). The curators Mara-Johanna Kolmel, Silvana Lagos, and Rafael Schacter developed Silver Sehnsucht to transmit to the public the feeling of nostalgia (Sehnsucht) that could rise from a situation like the one of the Silver building, investigating the condition of being “in limbo” between past, present, and future. The show brought together sound, performance, video, and installation works and merged the tree temporalities reflecting on the building conditions as well as the condition of contemporary art now.

Upon entrance to the show, I had straight in front of my eyes the 4-channel video work Close Reading (2015) by Christine Sum Kim and immediately understood that Silver Sehnsucht was going to be a good exhibition. Christine Sun Kim, deaf since birth, is making her way in contemporary art exploring the materiality of sound and the possibilities of the American Sign Language (ASL). The work uses two films: 2001: A Space Odissey (1968), and The Little Mermaid (2015) which have been captioned by 4 non-hearing friends of the artist and offers an insight into non-hearing audience experiences. Moving further into the exhibition, the works were installed in halls, corridors, and storage rooms occupying both the ground floor and third floor of the building. The exhibition space was gorgeous, some areas were occupied by the exhibition and others were inaccessible, sealed with the black & yellow tape for hazard marking. Concrete, bricks, aged pipes, dust, and mould, contributed to creating a fascinating immersive experience which culminated in the video work Gradient Ascent (2017) by the artist, writer, and technologist James Bridle. Shot in Greece, Gradient Ascent follows an explorative drive up to Mount Parnassus which, in the classic age, was believed to be home of muses, art, and knowledge. As to follow its narrative, the video was installed on the farthest and smallest storage room of the building and it was projected on top of a steep wall, as if on top of a mountain. The narrative which accompanies the video was inspired by René Daumal’s surrealist novel Mount Analogue (1952) and describes the search for knowledge through mythology, bringing some elements of oriental religions, in the current technological time. An attempt to pursue a mystic path in an era which obstacles any human connection with the world, thus with the understanding (knowledge) of existence.

My visit to the Frieze-week exhibitions was prolonged for a considerable amount of time and concluded almost at the end of October at Matt’s Gallery in South London. Here, it was showcased an immersive video-installation by the British artist Marianna Simnett who premiered her last work Worst Gift, the sequel of The Needle and The Larynx (2016). Worst Gift is shot in a Botox factory and theatrical surgery and unrolls in the format of a musical with fairy tales (or rather Disney-like) elements in which a singing surgeon injects prepubescent boys with Botox to lower their voices. In the video, there is also a female protagonist (played by the artist) who is on a mission to obtain that same injection which, however, the surgeon refuses to her. The video projection is set up within a light and sound installation synchronised with the video and its music. Hanging from the gallery ceiling there were tens of retro-illuminated vials which recalled the pharmaceutical industry and brought out from the film – in the real world – the main element, Botox. In this way, the installation represents the continuation of the video into the physical dimension. The film installation left the spectators with a hint of how the body limits could be overcome (or not) by medicine interventions and how the medical profession could still be affected by traditional thoughts regarding gender and society structure, all part of Simnett’s ongoing artistic exploration. Worst Gift was captivating and disturbing, almost disgusting but fully immersive.

 

 

This was an intense art week which lasted pretty much one month and, since I moved to London in 2015, I believe that Frieze 2017 was the most interesting edition in terms of offer to the public. Thus, a big thank you to all the galleries, art organisations, studio spaces, and artists which every year contribute to the success of such an important art event by opening their best shows.

13^th May – 26^th November 2017

 

2017 is a great year for art lovers. In fact, just mentioning the European scene, there are at once documenta in Kassel (till 17^th September), the Sculpture Project in Munster (till 1^st October 2017), and the Art Biennale in Venice (till 26^th November 2017), plus all the annual big fairs like Art Basel (June 2017) and Frieze London (5^th-8^th October 2017) and hundreds of temporary shows in museums and galleries all around. Thus, a busy busy year!

The first destination I visited was the Venice Biennale, this year curated by Christine Macel (France 1969, Chief Curator at the Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou in Paris) who titled her creature Viva Arte Viva with the declared intention to celebrate ‘art for art’s sake’. Despite the apparent naivety of the core show, there is a solid group of international participations and side shows which investigate critical issues such as the phenomenon of global mobility and migration by presenting the notions of Diaspora, refugees, multi-culturalism, class, and the gradual rise of the term ‘global citizen’.

Just to mention a few, there are the acclaimed South-Africa Pavilion (for the first time ever exhibiting in the Arsenale), the pavilion of Zimbabwe, and the three-location booths presented by Tunisia which this year holds an artist-free project, The Absence of Path. Remarkably, for the size of the project which lays behind the show, the Diaspora Pavilion in Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina is amongst the ones which also deserve a visit. This show is part of a larger two-year educational programme, the Diaspora Project, linked with the Beyond the Frame project. Together these two programmes aim to support and help 22 among young artists and curators in further develop their practices and launch their careers in the professional world by offering them cross-generational mentoring from leading professionals in the arts, and international networking. Both the programmes are organised by the International Curators Forum (ICF) in collaboration with the University of the Arts London (UAL) and are supported by Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

The Diaspora Pavilion is a group show presenting the works of 19 artists who belong to the first and second generation of the worldwide Diaspora migrated to the UK. In the months preceding the show in Venice, the young artists – Larry Achiampong, Barby Asante, Libita Clayton, Kimathi Donkor, Michael Forbes, Paul Maheke, Susan Pui San Lok, Khadija Saye, Erika Tan, Barbara Walker, Abbas Zahedi – have been working together with the mentors – Sokari Douglas Camp, Ellen Gallagher, Nicola Green, Joy Gregory, Isaac Julien, Dave Lewis, Hew Locke, Yinka Shonibare MBE –  receiving feedback and suggestions on how to strengthen their work. The final display is inclusive of all media: paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, video, sound works, photography, and performances. Some of the works, such as the 6 steel-slaves by Douglas Camp – All the World is Now Richer (2012) – the new sculptural output by Forbes – Untitled (2017) –  and the already known video by Isaac Julien –  The Leopard (Western Union: Small Boats) (2007) – work powerfully speaking loudly to the public about the trauma which defines the Diasporic experiences also lived by the artists on show. However, none of the works feature an outstanding technical research and the media are used by the artists in the most traditional way with no much room for experimentation. Eventually, what you could expect from visiting the Diaspora Pavilion is an intense journey in a decidedly political show of both established and young artists of the Diaspora based in the UK who present works about cultural issues and their Diasporic experiences. Only do not expect to see anything which amazes the eye but rather questions your knowledge and raises awareness. Certainly, a thought-provoking show.

 

 

Last week I met an artist friend of mine with whom I visited some exhibitions in Bethnal Green which is flourishing with many exhibition spaces and it’s becoming a hub for the arts in East London. From that afternoon, I mention two exhibitions that I liked and work well together: MDAM (27 April – 26 May 2017) at Roman Road Gallery, and Perverts (1 April – 4 June 2017) at Cell Project Space. I have found these two shows powerful in relation to the relevance/irrelevance of our physicality within the society and how the body is likely becoming indifferent to sexuality, gender, and eroticism.

MDAM is a duo exhibition of new works by Mia Dudek (Poland, 1989) and Alix Marie (France, 1989), both recent graduates from the Royal College of Arts, London. The showcase includes three photographs by Mia Dudek depicting parts of an abstracted body of which two, Casing I & II, are a single shoot split into two parts interrupted by the presence of a concrete wall, Body Recast III. Here the architectural intrusion obstructs the physicality of the body depicted in the photographs while being itself a metaphor of the contemporary body. Indeed, Body Recast III echoes the skin texture which, once again, is broken by the small holes excavated from the concrete wall. Also by Dudek is Body Recast IV, a layer of ‘skin’ made of silicon which covers the right corner on the entrance side.

Walking past Dudek’s wall, there are four works by Alix Marie who investigates the artificiality and development of the contemporary sexuality. On the left: Lilith, a penis-shaped fountain built using industrial objects such as a chemical waste barrel and a piece of aluminium ducting to which is added a dildo in silicon pouring out water. Some small tongues are hanged on the opposite wall creating the piece If Walls Could Not Hear. On the floor: Eve, a trembling and noisy aluminium ducting ending in a silicon phallic shape, and Pharmacopornographic Relict 1, a double dildo covered with salt crystals in a tiny glass aquarium.

What I have seen in this is that the dialogue which emerges between the two artists opens a discussion on how the body is getting more and more disempowered of sexuality and eroticism as if it is not the means through which we communicate our instincts anymore. Sexuality does not come from the body which is becoming cold as ice, an engine.

Instead in Perverts, the body is missing and there is much to read and listen about eroticism, reading pleasure, and our desire for it as being a gesture which manifests in our physicality. The show presents the output of 9 amongst emerging and established artists and writers – Kathy Acker, Zuzanna Bartoszek, Harry Burke, Loretta Fahrenholz, Juliana Huxtable, Pierre Klossowski, Bruce Nauman, Keston Sutherland & Stephen G. Rhodes. The exhibition spreads through the first floor where there is a display of videos, sketches, drawings, and two poster-like texts.

Some of the works are kind of spicy for the mind, like “Body Pressure” (1974) by Bruce Nauman, and “Raw Heat” (1977) by Kathy Acker. Body Pressure lies between conceptual text and performance and consists of a poster in which Nauman provides the visitor with the instructions for merging her body with the exhibition space. Here, the visitor is invited to become the performer of a “very erotic exercise”. Instead, Acker’s work is a video documenting the experimental novelist and punk poet reading three of her writings as part of the American Writers Series. The reading includes Raw Heat which is a poem Acker has written as a present for one of her friends. These texts are characterised by meticulous descriptions which allow the spectator to visualise and perceive the situations Nauman and Acker induce through their writings. This results in an immersive experience offered without the physical alteration of the surrounding space. Back on the ground floor, there is also a reading room which implements the exhibition visit and expands the experience inviting the visitor to consult research and supporting material about the exhibition theme.

In Perverts, our physicality becomes an abstract concept and our emotions and sensations can be experienced through mental stimulation by means of reading and listening. The body is a concept.

Of course, this is just the peak of the iceberg and there is much more to say about each of these two exhibitions, but I liked to have seen them one after the other as being two shows linked together. Also, the way they ignite a discourse on the physicality of the body and its relation, if any, with eroticism, sexuality, and society is powerful and offers plenty of information and point of views on postgenderism and pleasure.

2011 has been the year in which the art world started to unveil part of its structure to me. At that time, I was studying for the MFA in Venice and a group of my teachers was focusing its programme on light. The same year opened ILLUMInations, the 54^th Venice Biennale, which as the title suggests had a lot to do with light. I remember that, while in the Arsenale, I queued more than one hour to enter the atmospheric installation Ganzfeld “APANI” (2011) by the Californian artist James Turrell. This has been for me the very first mind lighting experience at an art exhibition.

Since then, I have been paying attention to the artists who work with light and, yes, light in art is a recurrent theme and plenty of shows are documenting and showcasing fascinating artworks worldwide. In 2013 opened the Light Show at Hayward Gallery in London which exhibited light works from the 60s to the present day. The show was followed by the massive three-venue American James Turrell’s retrospective – organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. Then, between 2013 and 2014 opened Aisthesis, all’Origine delle Sensazioni at Villa Panza (Italy), again, a destabilising showcase of the most influential light artists. Of the same period was L’illusione della Luce at Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection in Venice. There, I experienced one of Doug Wheeler’s Infinity Rooms where borders disappeared and the room was an infinite space of light. That installation was really disorientating so much that I can say the artist’s expertise can produce highly sensational works.

The list of light focused shows can continue ad infinitum, but what I would like to point out is that in art there are different streams and sometimes some of them connect a wide range of communities worldwide. These communities of people span from artists investigating a similar topic to art professionals who are interested in what the artists are proposing for the society and how this affects/influences/inspires it, to the audience which comes from different background like teens, families, students, art lovers, scientists, philosophers, writers, musicians… or just curious minds looking for getting an enriching experience.

This is why I am in love with art, it connects people questioning our knowledge through the artist’s investigation of something specific and proposes possible ways of interpretation of our existence, which otherwise would be just boring.