On cities, mapping, psychogeography and the experience of places.

Nicholas Brooks, Graham Hudson, Tim Ivison & Julia Tcharfas, Paul Kneale, Guan Rong, Brendan Threadgill

Private view 17 September 6-9pm

18 September – 3 October
Thursday – Sunday 12 – 6pm

Auto Italia South East
1 Glengall Road
London
SE15 6NJ

Counter Constructs brings together seven artists from the UK and North America in an exhibition exploring strategies of representation and critique of the urban built environment. Responding to the undead ‘regeneration’ of global development projects and the geologic sediment of spatial histories, the exhibition is a series of implicit proposals and contestations. Unfinished maps, unspecified models, unbuilt plans and unbuilding the city – the exhibition is as much about utopia as it is about its folly.
Initially organised by Tim Ivison & Julia Tcharfas around their research-based collaborative practice, Counter Constructs is a way to extend their dialogue on urban space to a wider range of interpretations. The artists in the show are brought together by a shared interest in mining the structures of architectural thinking, taking failure and conjecture as a starting point for productive investigations.

Comprising a number of independent installations, each work forms a part of a circuitous system of associations and digressions. The politics of history and preservation are played out in sound installation and sculpture, while the fetishisation of the suburban is both questioned and consecrated in film. An installation of sculpture, maps and images investigates the unbuilt visions of Edward Lutyens, a détourned architectural pavilion subverts the logic of modern utopias, and a floor-drawing altered daily recalls the paradox of permanent traces in the deep ephemerality of urban space in development an conflict.

Meanwhile other utopias are constructed in earnest in the form of small models and paintings forming a partial proposal towards a liberated social construction. These, and other projects will find space at Auto Italia over the course of the two week exhibition, working towards a negotiation of what we want from out cities, past and future – what is vital and resonant, what is dead and should remain so.

www.autoitaliasoutheast.org
info@autoitaliasoutheast.org

16 SEPTEMBER – 3 OCTOBER 2010
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Repair Manual

An exhibition showing the work of 17 graduates from the MA Photography and Urban Cultures of Goldsmiths University of London and the Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR). The possible convergence of urban and social theory with a photographic practice has been taken into practice, explored, celebrated, taken apart, revisited, and deconstructed in order to reassemble all the different approaches within a graduate exhibition.

PRIVATE VIEW – 16 September 5:30-8:30 pm

You are kindly invited to come and visit our private view and opening night. Drinks will be accompanied by Chinese snacks courtesy of Seng Jariangroj.

PLEASE VISIT

www.repairmanualexhibition.net for a schedule of events

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CONTACT

APT Gallery
Harold Wharf
6 Creekside
Deptford
London SE 8 4SA
Open dates: 16 September – 3 October on Thursday – Saturday from 12am – 5pm

Bus: 53, 177, 188, 199, 47
Tube: DLR Deptford Bridge or Greenwich
Rail: British Rail from London Bridge, ten minutes walk to Deptford
Car: Free parking on Creekside

You are cordially invited to the presentation of Translocated – a platform for reflection and artistic practices revolving around urban space and psychogeography.

TRANSLOCATED – EXHIBITION PREVIEW + FORUM

21st / 22nd August 2010

The Alleyway
219 Glyn Road
E5 0JP

The preview will feature projects and presentations from three artists whose work is currently engaged in the issues raised by Translocated, as well as some work in development and an open forum to discuss the boundaries of translocation.

// PROGRAMME ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Saturday 21st August
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4 – 5 pm
exhibition preview

5 – 6 pm
presentations
(curator’s introduction, artist talk, open forum)

7 – 8 pm
drinks reception

8 – 10pm
film screening

// Sunday 22nd August
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4 – 6pm
video actions

6 – 8pm
1-to-1 guided walks

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http://translocated.org

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The summer season at Rivington Place proposes new artistic perspectives on mapping: bringing together nine contemporary international artists working in film, installation, print and audio, whose work challenge the authority of the map and question the underlying structures and hierarchies that inform traditional mapmaking and social and political issues surrounding it, or uses maps to examine self-positioning and global geographies.

Maps are often involved in debates around subjects such as resources, territoriality, identity and migration; but in a globalised, trans-national world infused by new technological advances and rapid changes, the two dimensional map has become less adequate.

The exhibition includes three new commissions by Gayle Chong Kwan, Susan Stockwell and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, alongside recent work by Milena Bonilla, Alexandra Handal, Bouchra Khalili, Otobong Nkanga, Esther Polak and Oraib Toukan.

‘Who Map is it?‘ runs at Rivington Place, from the 2nd June to the 24th July 2010.

Please visit the InIVA website for full listings of events (symposium, talks, panel discussion, tours and workshops) associated with the exhibition.

This spring, Somerset House Trust and Sound and Music will present River Sounding, a major new commission by sound artist Bill Fontana, which will invite visitors on a journey through the hidden sound worlds of the River Thames. Opening on 15 April 2010 at Somerset House, the work will create an imaginary acoustic map of the Thames, taking visitors through Somerset House’s atmospheric subterranean spaces, normally closed to the public, and out to the Great Arch on the Embankment, highlighting the building’s historical connection to the river.

River Sounding at Somerset House features a series of different sound sequences, recorded by Bill Fontana along a one-hundred-mile section of the Thames stretching from Richmond to Southend. Projected through loudspeakers installed at river level, in the hidden pathways beneath the courtyard, visitors will be immersed in the rich musical vocabulary of the Thames, from whistling buoys and steam pumps to hidden underwater sounds and rushing water at river locks. The sounds will be played alongside his video images of the recording locations, which include Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, the Thames Barrier and the historic Teddington Lock.

As well as revealing the rich and varied sound worlds of the Thames, River Sounding will pay homage to Somerset House’s historical connection to the river. Somerset House was originally built as a grand riverside palace in the sixteenth century and in the eighteenth century became the home of Admiral Nelson’s Navy Office, with boats entering through the building’s Great Arch. River Sounding will return the sounds of the river to Somerset House, highlighting the forgotten shared history of one of London’s most iconic buildings and the Thames.

River Sounding demonstrates the communicative power of sound art, and the commission launches Sound and Music’s new programme, dedicated to championing and developing audiences for new and innovative music and sound. It will be complemented by a series of film screenings and talks by prominent cultural figures including Iain Sinclair and Romesh Gunesekera, Writer in Residence at Somerset House, engaging with River Sounding’s themes, which will take place in and around Somerset House.

Trained as a composer, Bill Fontana (born 1947, USA) is internationally known for his pioneering works in sound, which examine the nature of our acoustic environment. He has presented his “sound sculptures” at leading museums around the world, as well as at iconic locations in many of the world’s great cities, including London’s Millennium Bridge and Big Ben, San Francisco’s Golden Gate and Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. He has received numerous fellowships for his work, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship in 1986. He lives and works in San Francisco and is represented in the UK by Haunch of Venison.

15 April – 31 May 2010
Somerset House
The Strand
London WC2R 1LA

www.somersethouse.org.uk

Opening hours:
Monday – Sunday: 10:00am– 6:00pm,
Thursdays: late night opening until 8:00pm

Admission Free

‘Holding Time’ is a survey of still, object-based works derived out of ‘Time-based’ practices by artists. An opportunity to dialogue, debate and share how artists extend their practice from Performance, Moving Image and Time-based concerns into recording, documenting, interventions and object-making. The exhibition has been curated by Darshana Vora from an open call.

Participating Artists:
Arantxa Echarte, Beatrice Jarvis, Bettina John, Bill Leslie, Cinzia Cremona, Cos Ahmet, Daniel Somerville, Darshana Vora, David Theobald, Elaina Arkeooll &Tim Flitcroft, Ella Golt, Helena Eflerová, Herve Constant, Laura Davidson, Mat Chivers, Nicola Mccartney, Peter Nutley, Rachel Gomme, Sam Holden, Sebastian Edge, Daniel Belasco Rogers & Sophia New, Teresa Paiva, Tory Smith, Wiracha Daochai and Yaron Lapid.

Opening Preview: Thursday,  April 8, 2010. 6pm-8pm
Exhibition Dates: April 8-14, 11am-7pm.
Special Events: Sat & Sun, April 10 & 11, 3pm-5pm: Performances and artist’s talks

Online catalogue

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, UK Centre
4a Castletown Road
London W14 9HE
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 207 381 3086/4608

http://www.bhavan.net

HYBRID TERRITORIES JOAN AYRTON / GRÉGORY CHATONSKY / BAS ZOONTJENS
20.03.2010 > 01.05.2010
VERNISSAGE 20.03.10 >16H

Galerie Kamchatka
23, rue charles V
75008 Paris

La galerie Kamchatka est heureuse d’annoncer l’exposition HYBRID TERRITORIES qui regroupe les travaux de Joan Ayrton (artiste de la galerie) et de deux artistes invités : Grégory Chatonsky (galerie Poller, Frankfurt – New York) et Bas Zoontjens (galerie Cokkie Snoei, Rotterdam) autour d’une intention d’invention du paysage.

Tous trois créent à travers les oeuvres présentées des paysages et territoires fictifs. Le paysage s’oppose à la nature en cela qu’il est un point de vue, un point précis d’où part le regard, un simple pas de côté modifie et altère notre perception d’un espace, donnant à voir tout autre chose. A l’heure où l’homme est décidé à sauver la nature et la terre, rejetant deux degrés supplémentaires au thermomètre, nous pouvons nous interroger sur la manière choisie ou non d’agencer les territoires et paysages. Aux frontières des zones rurales et urbaines, on trouve des espaces étranges et difficiles à définir. On y ronge le sauvage pour y planter ce qui ne passe plus en ville : zones commerciales et industrielles, échangeurs routiers, parkings, etc…
Ces espaces hybrides s’étendent depuis longtemps, le paysage agencé et maîtrisé dans un but fonctionnel et utilitariste. L’anthropisation – transformation d’espaces ou de milieux naturels sous l’action de l’homme – est inhérente à notre présence, l’idée de Wilderness, un espace naturel préservé à tout prix, interdit à l’activité humaine, est une utopie réalisée – tous les pays ont créés des concepts de réserves et parcs naturels – mais incomplète puisqu’elle ne peut être que temporaire. L’idée romantique d’une nature vierge et primaire ne fait pas le poids face à l’utilisation pragmatique de ses ressources et le risque constant de destruction volontaire ou accidentelle.
Deux notions s’affrontent : contrôler et régenter tel le démiurge conscient de son pouvoir et sûr de son droit ou, être le strict gardien de ce qui peut être préserver, le conservateur des vestiges naturels encore intacts, John Muir face à la vallée de Yosemite.
Le terme hybride nous renvoit également à l’altération humaine de la nature ; hybrida, en latin, définit simplement le croisement d’un cochon et d’un sanglier. C’est à travers son étymologie grecque que l’on retrouve le sens moral du mot : L’hybris étant considérée dans la mythologie comme la faute humaine ou divine de démesure, de dépassement de la limite. Dans le code moral antique, prémice de la morale chrétienne, elle est punie par la Némesis, vengeance divine destinée à rétablir l’équilibre naturel des choses.
On retrouve cette dualité dans les oeuvres de Joan Ayrton, Grégory Chatonsky et Bas Zoontjens, elles révèlent une nature et des paysages altérés, transformés d’où poignent un malaise, un sentiment étrange de désolation. Ils nous montrent des territoires hybrides, à portée de Nemesis.

Joan Ayrton, présente des oeuvres récentes de la série «Iridescant Landscape» (acrylique sur papier, 2009-2010). Dans cette série, l’utilisation de couleurs iridescantes révèle des paysages denses et complexes où la ligne d’horizon toujours présente apparaît selon l’angle de vue. «Graphite» (graphite sur bois, 2009) évoque un paysage de nuit dont la ligne d’horizon apparaît ou non selon les reflets du graphite.

«The road» (photographie, 2009), de Grégory Chatonsky dévoile des bords de route où des arbres calcinés s’entremêlent et surgissent d’une nuit d’encre. L’enchevêtrement des branches grises et mates ne nous permet pas réellement de distinguer s’il s’agit de bois ou de matériaux manufacturés détruits. Grégory Chatonsky présente également au sous sol de la galerie, une installation vidéo «The Forest» (2009), un long traveling à travers les cimes d’une forêt numérique. Il s’agit en réalité d’images en 3D créées automatiquement à partir de données récupérées sur internet.

Bas Zoontjens qui expose pour la première fois en France, présente une série de peintures sur bois de petits et moyens formats. Ses peintures fragiles inventent un monde d’architectures utopistes, évoquant un futur possible pour l’humanité. Avec très peu de moyens, il nous plonge dans un univers irréel et atemporel mêlant formes géométriques et constructions d’espaces en ruine.

http://kamchatka-artblog.blogspot.com/

Stunning large-scale photographs of what was once the third largest energy generating site in the UK and the most thermally efficient power station in the world are currently on display at the Royal Institute of British Architects until 29 Sept.

The building’s exterior was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott (responsible amongst other things for the red letterbox, phonebox and Bankside Power Station  a.k.a. Tate Modern) and was built and opened in two phases, respectively in 1936 and 1956. It was decommissioned in 1983.

Having visited the derelict building a couple of years ago, I was already taken aback by its sheer scale (It is said that the boiler house could contain St Paul’s cathedral) and the poignant remains of heavy machinery scattered around the storeys. Michael Collins’ photographs succeeded particularly well in conveying the vastness of indoor spaces; He applied the technique of ‘record picture’ photography to capture the experience of the site, extensively used by the government and institutions for the purpose of official visual documentation, and used some traditional equipment to produce the shots, resulting in a somewhat bizarre timeless feel particularly visible in the shots of the control rooms.

The site now faces uncertain prospects after several failed attempts at re-development spanning over two decades, which only succeeded in removing the roof of this brick cathedral, now open to the elements.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

66 Portland Place
London, W1B 1AD
020 7580 5533

http://www.architecture.com

http://www.recordpictures.com Michael Collins Photography

The retrospective of arguably the best-known contemporary British artist/walker concludes this weekend at the Tate Britain. Richard Long’s practice has consistently placed primitive mark-making at the centre of the work, exploring relationships between time, distance, geography and measurement in the simplest way: by instigating walking as a means of marking, sensing and measuring the vastness and eternity of the world. Long explains with disarming simplicity:

“my work really is just about being a human being living on this planet and using nature at its source. [...] It’s about the intellectual pleasure of original ideas and the physical pleasure of realising them. I enjoy the simple pleasures of wellbeing, independence, eating, dreaming, and sometimes leaving (memorable) traces.”

Long instituted walking as an act of mark-making on possibly the vastest scale possible, freeing sculpture from the constraints of exhibition: the only remains of the artist’s peregrinations in the land are those pictures and diagrams, strangely similar to strategy maps: photographs of deserted landscapes or plans printed with geometrical figures showing the whereabouts of the artist/walker. His trajectory and purpose are often driven by natural forces: gravity, wind, water flow, magnetism, geology – or by his interest in transference (physics) – the idea of a certain equivalence of places and events on different sides of the world.

Using his foot as instrument for art, expressive and perceptive, the footprint as a testimony of his journey and presence in time and space, Long’s walks become an act of inscription; a reminder that the verb “to write” originates from the practice of incising, as in the inscription of running letters in stone or the furrowing of a track.

Richard Long – Heaven And Earth at Tate Britain until 6th September 2009.

Un: Place – A curation by Beatrice Jarvis, exhibition opens 3 June – 20 July at the Jerwood café

Alys Williams / Benjamin Bailey / Seecum Cheung / Ilona Sagar / Dana Macpherson / Inzajeano Latif

An exhibition of personal cartographies and urban responses

Six artists have each created a piece of work that responds directly to the landscape of Jerwood Space, an iconic building situated in the heart of bustling Bankside. This reclaimed area between London Bridge and Waterloo is steeped in fragmented traces of lingering history, where passages of time are lost in hidden corners and marked histories are glimpsed on decaying facades.

The city has and will always remain a myriad of inspiration, This exhibition explores the creative relationship between the city and the individual to develop unique personal cartographies ; relearning mapping as an intricate interaction of the imagination in a diversity of forms and media.

Jerwood Space
171 Union Street
London
SE1 OLN

www.jerwoodspace.co.uk or www.jerwoodvisualarts.org