Top 5 Things of 2017

Mira Calix (WARP) - Exhibitions

 

Mira Calix

Award winning artist, composer and performer Mira Calix talks about the year from her perspective…

Coventry Biennal

Full disclosure, I took part in the inaugural Coventry Biennial curated by Ryan Hughes at the incredible former evening news building. Under the title of #TheFuture, Hughes put together a stellar mix of provocative work by upcoming and established artists as well as experimental music performances. I’d recommend following @CETpopup (on twitter) as they expand the use of the space for exhibitions. I’m looking forward to more good things happening in Coventry in the run up to their 2021 City Of Culture.

Andy Holden & Peter Holden – Natural Selection
Artangel, Former Newington Library

The first impression of this installation by artist Andy Holden created in collaboration with his father, the renowned ornithologist Peter Holden, is that it’s all about the birds and the wonder of nature. But what sticks with you after immersing yourself in Holden’s world of constructed films, music, drawings and sculptures and beautifully constructed nests is the nuances and trickeries of human relationships. Our infinite capability for self-delusion and obsession and perhaps most intimately what it means to be at home.

Documenta14
Athens

Documenta, perhaps the largest contemporary art exhibition in the world comes round but once every 5 years and this year was split between its usual Kassel home & Athens. I headed to Athens with friends where there was much criticism and local protest. I crammed in as many of the 47 exhibition spaces as possible and particularly enjoyed the exhibited graphic scores and recreation of the pioneering sound art work  Symfoniya Gudcov by Arserry Avramov.

William Kentridge – Thick Time
Whitechapel gallery

Kentridge is one of my favourite artists and i was lucky enough to accidentally have the gallery almost to myself for hours on a rainy afternoon. This time and space allowed me to take in all the film pieces in their entirety & peruse his books at leisüre. What a luxury. Like all his work, this exhibition was playful, profound and deeply moving.

Richard Hards – Let’s Decant
Chalton Gallery

For this sound installation/ public intervention Hards not only filled the entire intimate gallery space with exposed panes of glass, cables and light strips but removed the gallery windows  and ceiling lights completely. Half the fun of the work was watching the interaction of passers by as the arresting explosive rhythms of the interior glass were struck by small motors sending reverberations up and down the street.