Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery London: What we saw
Artworks that resemble the intimate recesses of the human bodies grow from the walls of the Lisson Gallery, in an exhibition that both disgusts and compels.
Artworks that resemble the intimate recesses of the human bodies grow from the walls of the Lisson Gallery, in an exhibition that both disgusts and compels.
Anish Kapoor
Born in Bombay in 1954, Kapoor is one of the forerunners of British abstract sculpture and has been awarded both the Turner Prize (1991) and a Knighthood for services to the Visual Arts (2013).
Kapoor’s new show at the Lisson is as gruesome as it is beautiful. Dense undulating landscapes of thick reddish silicone are personified to resemble imagined bodily matter, smeared upon the walls.
The first work in the main gallery “Internal Objects in Three Parts” is a floor-to-ceiling triptych that is spread over three walls of the room. Large in height, width, and depth, these paintings are large enough to encompass real human bodies, a feeling that is increased by the imagined faces pushing their way through the paint in a haunting case of pareidolia.
These works seem to contain the whole spectrum of reds, offset against a brilliant white that raises itself to the surface occasionally. The sinewy red silicone resembles all kinds of bodily matter, including muscles, veins, and blood. Occasional bursts of yellow suggest fat, and thin black layers give the work the appearance of charred flesh.
The work is incredibly inviting to the touch (I did, I apologise Anish), and it is as spongy and firm as one would imagine. It is impossible when viewing these works to avoid imagining them as inside your own body, as part of yourself.
Like expectorated mounds of blood upon white tissue, or coagulated clumps on dirty bandages, the work is almost sickening. Despite this, it is impossible to look away. One is transported to the very depths of hell, with its volcanous landscape and inescapable voids. I stood transfixed below the first painting until I felt the compulsion to walk straight into it, and at that point I had to tear myself away.
These works, a new direction for Kapoor, bridge the gap between his smooth, shiny works (Cloud Gate - 2006), and his matte, colourful works (Mother as Mountain - 1985). Both the shiny and the matte appear together in these works, fighting for prominence.
As well as the visceral bloodlike paintings, Kapoor has included two prostrate pink onyx sculptures that at the same time resemble both orifices and protrusions. The smoothness of the surface and the sugary-pink hues are reminiscent of tongues and vulvas, and contrast brilliantly against the darker landscapes of the paintings.
As well as these there are a few polished reflective works that don’t seem to sit so well with the intentionally rough and perfectly flawed pieces, something that I’m sure Kapoor has intended, as displacement is something that he does very well. The contrast between these works and his paintings seems to exemplify and exaggerate the qualities of each. The mirrored pieces make the paintings all the more textured, and the paintings make these works all the more flawless. There is still a bodily quality to the mirrored pieces, one of which resembles a gold mouth, or another vulva, gilded and hung in the corner.
The main body of the work (excuse the pun) is the paintings, and it is these that are the most alluring. One could get lost for hours in amongst these visceral topological maps of the internal human landscape. These artworks represent what is in all of us, and in this they are universal. What are we all but bags of gore.
As with all great works by Anish Kapoor, you are transported from the gallery into a personal space for contemplation. You lose yourself in his epic works and are able to ponder quietly for a few minutes, free from all of your real-world worries. Worries like death, disease, and coughing up blood.
All images via © Lisson Gallery website
The show runs until the 9th of May 2015
Lisson Gallery 52-54 Bell Street, London NW1 5DA
FIELD DAY 2015 LINEUP
“I refuse to believe that Hendrix had the last possessed hand, that Joplin had the last drunken throat, that Morrison had the last enlightened mind.”
— Patti Smith
“I refuse to believe that Hendrix had the last possessed hand, that Joplin had the last drunken throat, that Morrison had the last enlightened mind.”
Field day, the much-awaited London festival, returns this year with some of the most cutting-edge artists of the last few years. The line-up, which reads as a who’s who of artists who have been under the radar in the past few months, comprises of new acts, and returning legends including Patti Smith.
East London’s Field Day Festival brings together over 80 performers and is now well-known to be one of the best places to encounter underground artists before they hit the mainstream, already established talents such as FKA Twigs or Caribou, as well as regular acts like James Holden and Four Tet. Although a number of them are DJs, the festival still makes room for a variety of genres including electronic, rock, indie, pop, hip hop and R&B.
The recipe for Field Day Festival’s success lies in its location –it’s situated in Victoria Park, which makes it cool and spacious enough to attract all six zones (and more) of London, and means that the satisfied crowds can go back to their own beds at the end of the night. Because of this, Field Day possesses a distinct London edge and reflects its culture –creative, vibrant and powerful.
Exciting performers this year include Baxter Dury and his genuine retro-pop sound, Todd Terje who is performing with his band The Olsens in London for the first time and local artist Shura, whose early ‘90s infused soft pop and R&B has put her on BBC Sound of 2015’s longlist.
With a line-up such as this year’s, Field Day Festival is sure to be one of the most promising live music events of the year, and remains a testament to today’s talents who believe that there is still musical history to be written.
Field Day Festival, Victoria Park, 6th-7th June 2015.
Images via Field Day
Tribeca Film Festival 2015
Artists, innovators and film enthusiasts all gather for NYC’s 10th annual Tribeca Film Festival.
Daniel Arsham ‘Future Relic 03’ Photos by James Law
The tenth annual Tribeca Film festival presented by AT&T took off last Thursday in the Tribeca district of Manhattan in New York City.
The film festival was founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Graign Hatkoff with the aim of celebrating New York City as a major filmmaking center.
Tribeca runs from the 16th April until the 25th April with an overwhelming compellation of events, talks, screenings, exhibitions and discussions guaranteed to satisfy all film fanatics.
This year’s film line-up represents a significant landmark in Tribeca’s fourteen year history with 40 of the 119 feature-length films directed by women and even more significant for Tribeca, 11 of those 40 women are from New York City. This is an increasingly relevant subject, which references the surge in female filmmaking over the recent years. (see also, Rooms 17 Presents: A female Perspective in Film)
Staying with the feminism theme, documentary ‘Code: Debugging the Gender Gap’ will feature in the film festival. Code is a documentary exposing the shortage of American female and minority software engineers and explores the reasons for this gender gap. Code raises the question: What would society gain from having more women and minorities code?
One of the biggest names to feature in this year’s line-up is a talk by Courtney Love who discusses the impact of watching the documentary movie about her late husband Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, ‘Montage of Heck’. Love discusses the personal effects this film has had on her views about her late husband’s suicide, which is compiled of journals, photography, songs, recordings and artwork from the 90’s rock icon.
Another highlight comes from the Star Wars mastermind himself, George Lucas who candidly talks about the newly released trailer for the latest edition in the Star Wars franchise; ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ The creator discusses informally as part of this year’s Tribeca Talks Series.
Deviating from the Hollywood blockbusters, Tribeca exposes audiences to the complex world of abstract filmmakers like Daniel Arsham, who has built his career combining art, performance, architecture and film in his short ‘Future Relic 03.’ ‘Future Relic’ is a series of shorts with the concept depicting a future civilization at various points before and after a major ecological change on Earth. In his latest project ‘Future Relic 04,’ Arsham shoots his film inside a space shuttle set. Arsham’s film will premiere as part of the shorts program entitled ‘Gallery Opening’ at the Tribeca Film festival.
There will also be the Artists Award Gallery Exhibition, which showcases the works of world-renowned artists who create and donate works to be presented to the Tribeca Film festival’s award winners.
Tribeca promises to be the platform of future film making and viewing, exploring, educating and exposing audiences to the next big thing to come out in cinema in the all inspiring backdrop of NYC. More importantly, you don’t need a special VIP invitation, you just need to be available and in New York to purchase your reasonable festival pass and begin exploring all that the festival has to offer.
Tribeca Film Festival 2015 | Image taken from the Tribeca Film Festival website
ROOMS 17 presents: PING WANG
Ping Wang’s works display themes of isolation, solitude and resignation in a variety of different settings and are teemed with a sense of renowned admiration, a timeless energy, as if one were seeing the world again for the first time.
Photographer Ping Wang graduated from the New York Film Academy in 2014 and is currently completing a Master’s in Digital photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. His works display themes of isolation, solitude and resignation in a variety of different settings and are teemed with a sense of renowned admiration, a timeless energy, as if one were seeing the world again for the first time. I caught up with the artist to find out more.
Hi Ping, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Born and raised in Beijing, I am the single child in a traditional military family. No one in my family has any background in art; actually, my family still do not really understand what exactly I am doing now. I live and work in New York City. My photographic works evidence a delicate balance between Eastern and Western visual culture, resulting in a personal style characterized by drama and restrain. My emotional sensitivity drives me to focus on the subtleties of light, architecture and the moments that often go unobserved.
What are your inspirations?
Talking about inspirations, I have to mention Michael Jackson. He is the first western artist came into my world. The first time I saw the video of his Billie Jean performance in his concert, his stage lighting and the way he controls the rhythm of the performance fascinated me. That triggered my interest in music videos and stage arts. Since then I began to explore the dramatic stage setting and the way to present the climax of the scene.
Are there any particular artists that have influenced you?
Tableau Photography: Gregory Crewdson, Jeff Wall, Ray K Metzker
Painting: Edward Hopper, René Magritte | Minjun Yue
Your photographs are very theatrical in the way that they are staged, like the sets to a film. How has film influenced your work, if at all?
Actually, I am more influenced by music videos and live performances (and stage arts). Because music videos are so short and delicate, I feel that it is more significant to focus on the rhythm and hit the climax than actually telling a story. Similarly to my works, I tend to present a feeling or a vibe instead of telling a complete story. Also, talking about music videos, Michael Jackson’s music video Smooth Criminal greatly influenced me in how it carefully stages every scene, and how each scene is related to one another.
Do you think that our ability to interact with one another is being affected by the digital within our lives?
Well, I would say the digital or digital lifestyle within our lives enables us to be exposed to the outside world. I can see what everyone is doing more easily, and can get inspirations from other artists’ works. It accelerates the speed of getting know each other, but also makes it hard to “really” know each other—the connection could only be on the surface.
From time to time, as an artist, I feel that I need a space to be isolated from the outside world in order to discover myself. Sometimes artists might lose their direction when marketing their career, but they really need to “go back to the nature”. For me, I don’t have a logical storyline behind my works; I focus on the feelings. Isolation enables me to discover this feeling. It opens up a door to let the curiousness and aspirations in, and my feelings are then automatically projected onto certain objects to make a photograph.
You grew up in Beijing and now live in New York. To what extent have these cities influenced your visions?
The military community in Beijing, a relatively closed, rigorous and a secure place for me. That environment influenced me a lot in the form of my works; you could see very few people in my works, in a clean and precise setting. But New York helps me to be fearless. Being with so many talented artists in New York, I feel free and bold to break the “rules” in my mind.
Check out Ping Wang's work in our current issue ROOMS 17, Who decides what you see?
The Writer’s Selection: Angel Chen
As much as this issue’s No Borders, No Boundaries sub-section pushed the boat out in terms of vibrant design, Angel Chen’s motley collection is a clear stand out for me.
As much as this issue’s No Borders, No Boundaries sub-section pushed the boat out in terms of vibrant design, Angel Chen’s motley collection is a clear stand out for me.
Chen describes herself in the article as a newborn baby, “curious about growing up and experimenting with prints.” This self-evaluation hits home with her latest collection, AW15The Bunny With Short Legs.
It is a explosion of colour in which patchwork cloaks hang over red rompers, puffed out bonnets dangle streamers onto the floor and scribbled faces adorn 3-piece pyjama suits. The collection bares resemblance to a troop of scouts on a weekend exhibition to the Highlands; albeit with the uncanny ability to actually suit yellow and blue pinstripe.
If Chen’s combinations in AW15 seem to be pushing the boundaries, a glorious pastiche of 70s high fashion, then her earlier work goes fully beyond the left-field.
AW14 Les Noces is the story of two girls who met in Africa and decided to get married. “My collection is a narrative of that story,” Chen says. “It’s a beautiful, colourful wedding, because in Europe weddings are always in black and white. The characters I portrayed are four friends who came from all over the world to celebrate.”
It is a charming story and a charming characterisation by Chen, who glosses over the fact that the four friends all seem to work as bedraggled clowns. Les Noces is stupendously surreal. The patterns are intense and the cuts chunky. Although it veers far closer to the farcical than later work, it remains in the sublime with a similar joyous giddiness as FRUiTS.
At the end of the article Chen talks about the direction she going with her work.
“I’m growing up with my customer. I’m really crazy about colour too. I want to explore detail and colour as much as I can.”
Whether this admission signals a continuation along the svelter lines of AW15 or a return to the brazen textures of Les Noces, Chen’s work will undoubtably continue to be as eye catching as it is unique.
The Ones to Wear: Angel Chen, Monique Daniels, Magdalena Brozda, Ka Kui Cheng, Shimell and Madden. Check out the interviews by Alyss Bowen in our new issue ROOMS 17, Who decides what you see?
ROOMS 17 presents Phil Ashcroft
London based artist Phil Ashcroft combines influence from abstract expressionism, landscape painting, Japanese woodcuts and graphic street art to present a vision of environmental, financial and political threats.
Cave Paintings (Ramsey 1 & 2), studio view, both works acrylic on canvas, 122 x 92cm, 2014. photo: Joe Plommer
London based artist Phil Ashcroft combines influence from abstract expressionism, landscape painting, Japanese woodcuts and graphic street art to present a vision of environmental, financial and political threats. His works immerse the viewer in surrealist settings in which cartoon-like motifs deconstruct modernist ideals.
Was there a shift from some form of realism to the abstract work you do today? If so, what brought it about?
I switch between figuration and abstraction depending on the project at hand, but it is true that most recently I have focused on more abstract process-based painting. However, even the recent abstract works aren’t truly abstract; they hold a basis in landscape, even if its just a horizon line to ground the work in some way. I plan to work on more detailed architectural graphic works soon. It's something I’ve left since 2009 but have an urge to return to.
Practically and technically, how do you create your works? Do you make sketches first or is a lot of the work freestyled?
Basically pretty old school, I produce paintings on canvas, layering individual elements quickly over a period of months. I usually work on three to four at a time, developing all works as I go. These works are intuitive but do begin from an initial thumbnail sketch or idea I want to explore. I don’t know how the work will finish or whether it will succeed and that’s the way it should be. Some areas contain crisp gradients, other areas are flat colour. Loose washes of paint complete the work in a manner that can never be produced digitally. Practice, planning and not planning.
You have described your work as depicting the detritus of the modernist ideals of the past. What are these ideals, why have they failed and how do you depict them?
This phrase related specifically to my more figurative architectural studies of ruins of buildings from 2006-2009. I wanted to show respect to those fallen ruins of the imagined future of the 1950s and 60s, a future that never came.
Their titles referenced ‘future music’ that I listen to, titles that I felt added an emotional charge to the work, ‘Fragments of a Lost Language’, 2008 (from Jacob’s Optical Stairway, London, 1995, 4 Hero at their best), ‘Good Life’, 2009 (Kevin Saunderson’s Inner City, Detroit, 1988), ‘Where You Go I Go Too’, 2008 (Lindstrøm, 2008). ‘The Skid Stops At This Point People’ 2006 was a phrase I saw on the back of a lorry whilst driving.
Are these modernist ideals in conflict with the corporate commissions you’ve done?
I don’t think any corporate commissions I’ve worked with to date could have any such impact.
What did the No Soul for Sale project hope to achieve?
This was a weekend celebration of independent artist groups to celebrate Tate Modern’s 10th anniversary in 2010. The curators’ idea was to bring attention to artist collectives on the fringe of the mainstream, hence Scrawl Collective’s involvement painting live in the Turbine Hall. Others participants included The Museum of Everything, Liverpool’s Royal Standard, Hong Kong’s PARA/SITE, New York’s White Columns. It was a fun weekend.
The intensity of colour and the hardness of the shapes in your work can make for intense viewing. What do you hope this intensity conveys?
I want my work to visually energise the viewer, to be dynamic. I hope it's not for sleeping to.
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently working on a new series of my ‘Cave Paintings’. Also just remixing an existing record cover album gatefold for ‘Beyond The Goldmine Standard’, an art project curated by Matthew Hearn at RPM Records, Newcastle.
What’s your favourite film?
‘Bladerunner’ (1982), as per usual, followed closely by Tony Hancock’s ‘The Rebel’ (1961).
Check out Phil Ashcroft's work in our new issue ROOMS 17, Who decides what you see?
The Writer's Selection : Ping Wang Xin
Miranda Hill reviews Ping Wang's photography, featured in our current issue ROOMS 17, Who decides what you see?
ROOMS 17 presents Ping Wang Xin
Here are the works of an artist whose images capture and communicate the moments of solitude that too often in our busy lives, go unnoticed. In a world that has become so fixated on being constantly connected, these moments are becoming harder to visualise and harder to find, which is why I was drawn to the works of New York based artist Ping Wang. Ping’s photographs give way to these moments of reflection and serve to remind us of the small but important presence of things that we take for granted. The subtleties of light that frame our ever changing landscapes, for example, or the architecture that stands before us as we venture into work. Ping’s images remind us to look up from our screens, to take a break from the digital infusing our lives and to take pleasure in the fact that we live in a world filled with splendour and beauty.
With an emotional sensitivity that many photographers lack, Ping explores the subtle interaction of human beings and the environment and in capturing the lone figure in moments of silence, skillfully manages to recharge our own appreciation for such feelings. I was particularly drawn to Ping’s series of travel inspired images that effortlessly capture scenes of people and sweeping landscapes to express his overriding themes of solitude and solace. Among them, the hazy image of a young child wandering absent-mindedly amidst the blushing orange sun that sets low on Brooklyn’s Coney Island and the simple yet refreshing scenes of humans interacting with one another on a ferry to New York. For London’s underground would have you thinking otherwise. And then there is my favourite image of a man pondering and absorbing in the realm of nature as he tends his leaves (Shan Dong in China, 2014). The photograph documents nature and man working together to create an isolation that I believe, is often the driving force behind creativity.
With these images comes an amazing ability to fill you with a desire to experience these new cultures and feel the energy of such exotic locations. An ache for distant places, the craving to travel. These are the scenes prior to the indoctrination of digitalisation and they are like bouts of fresh air, captured so beautifully and artistically by Ping that it would be hard not to miss them.
Check out Ping Wang's work in our current issue ROOMS 17, Who decides what you see?
Resistance is futile against the slick new album Alone by the iconic Terakaft
Terakaft presents album Alone at the Rich Mix, London.
By Bunmi Akpata-Ohohe
Formed in 2001 and hailing from Mali, a landlocked nation in West Africa, the Tuareg band Terakaft (meaning “The Caravan” in their mother tongue) are regarded as the forerunners of desert rock/desert blues. The group are back with a new album, their fifth, titled Ténéré, which translates to Alone. All nine tracks in Alone will delight both aficionados of African music and newcomers to the genre, with their immense talent and fresh vibes, firmly rooted in tradition. The album expresses the kind of feeling and emotion that can’t be summoned up by commission in a studio. Also, it is an extremely personal nine-song discussion of love and identity which is what you want from a singing/songwriting group. According to the press statement by ilkamedia, the group’s music PR Alone was born out of “a need to maintain sanity in times of broken dreams and lies. It might be their most rock oriented album to date but at the same time it is their most poetic.”
It fuses the rhythms of Afrobeat, hi-life and that deep Saharan mesmeric rhythm into one infectious whole. It has the kind of poetic self-reflection of the pre-war years of Mali. “There are too many characters in the picture, too many chiefs and not enough people“, says Liya ag Ablil (aka Diara: guitar and vocals), when asked about the political developments in his country in the last years of conflict that only ended in December 2014. Diara used to sing political songs back in the days of his rebel youth when he was still playing guitar with Tinariwen, a Grammy award winning group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. Critics have pigeon-holed their songs as protest songs and protest vibes. Call it what you will, but Terakaft just keeps doing dazzling music and dazzling political stuff. It’s like they are a piece of equipment – always finding some novel issues to sing about.
These Malian desert blues legends are a band that must be seen live in all its amazing fierceness. They make their return to London for their album launch gig on 29th April 2015 at the intimate arts space Rich Mix venue.
35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road
London E1 6LA
United Kingdom
Rafaël Rozendaal: The Internet’s Artist
In the rising field of Digital Art, Rafaël Rozendaal’s interactive websites, colour-changing paintings, and immersive installations offer a fresh take on the definitions and limits of contemporary art.
By Lucy Saldavia
In the rising field of Digital Art, Rafaël Rozendaal’s interactive websites, colour-changing paintings, and immersive installations offer a fresh take on the definitions and limits of contemporary art.
Where some artists specialize in oils, and others in sculpture, Dutch-Brazilian artist Rafaël Rozendaal is best known for his work in pixels. His playful websites allow visitors to poke and prod a wobbling red jello mold, or unroll an endless roll of toilet paper, or simply watch an array of colors play across the screen. Some websites are completely abstract, while others contain recognizable shapes and symbols for viewers to manipulate. They are endlessly entertaining, and strangely hypnotic—like arcade games with a conceptual twist. Websites as art may seem a like strange idea at first, but in the growing field of Digital Art, Rozendaal’s work is a pioneering example of the ever-growing opportunities available to artists working with modern technology.
www.nevernowhere.com
The internet, for Rozendaal, is both his platform and his canvas. Like the works of other artists, Rozendaal’s websites can be bought and sold, but they must remain online and accessible to anyone. Where other works of art can only be reproduced on screen, Rozendaal’s pieces can be viewed and interacted with by anyone, anywhere.
Rozendaal’s ‘lenticular paintings’ are more traditional, but still involve the viewer to create their effect. Using the same technology that makes the figures on baseball cards to appear to move, Rozendaal’s swirls, blotches, and shards of color shift hue and form as viewers walk past. They give the impression of digital animations placed within frames.
As well as his websites and paintings, Rozendaal also creates installations, drawings, haikus, writings, and lectures. His installation works utilize light, reflections, and animations to cultivate an immersive experience, and his writings often explore the nature of his art and the art world in general. In 2010, Rozendaal founded BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer), an open source series of exhibitions created by artists worldwide. The idea is simple, as the BYOB website explains: “Find a place, invite many artists, and ask them to bring their projectors.” This avant-garde approach to art and exhibitions, utilizing new media and the internet, is typical of Rozendaal’s progressive style. His work has been exhibited at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, at the Venice Biennale, and at numerous smaller galleries across Europe, the United States, and Asia. He has lectured at prestigious universities, including Yale and the École beaux-arts. He currently lives and works in New York City.
Check out some his Internet works:
All Images via © Rafaël Rozendaal
Hackney-made acrobatic expression of ‘Bromance’
Bertil Nilsson’s new short film ‘Bromance’ tells a story of brotherly affection through the artistic movement of acrobatic dance.
Bertil Nilsson’s new short film ‘Bromance’ tells a story of brotherly affection through the artistic movement of acrobatic dance.
Swedish born Nilsson collaborated with the award winning, experimental acrobatic company, Barely Methodical Troupe, to create this 3-minute short.
Nilsson describes his film about the exploration of “…intimacy of physical interaction between guys; of their bromance. The concept of the film was to set something unusual in the real world, almost a documentary in the most abstract of senses.”
It’s refreshing to watch the affection of three men depicted through this close union of dance moves that interlace with each other to create this free flow choreography.
The familiar East London streets of Hackney where the boys relay their professional dance routine gives this film its contemporary edge, which paired with the theme of the film, translates as a beautiful and modern depiction of love and friendship.
Nilsson is used to pairing dance with film, as a trained photographer, he shot his collection ‘Naturally’ based on contemporary dance expressions in natural surroundings.
There is a level of purity in Nilsson’s work in his natural subjects and themes, which elevate its beauty and resonates with its audience. After watching ‘Bromance’, it left me with a profound feeling of togetherness you cannot find easily with just anything.
Watch Bromance and check out Bertil Nilsson’s photography collection
Images via Bertil Nilsson website
ROOMS 17 | Who decides what you see? Unravelling Perspective
We invite you to embrace the un-embraced, explore the unexplored, in an adventure of perception. Will you unravel yours? NEW ISSUE OUT NOW!
How do you gain clarity in a world of instinctually different perspectives? Of minds fixated in black and white, oblivious to those standing boldly in-between? The greys, the what ifs, the could haves… the creators. This April, ROOMS answer exactly that and invite you to explore the ever-growing path of fresh talent and raw perspectives, bringing to you a carefully selected, impressive host of artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers and world class, working creatives.
Among them, exclusive interviews with former graphic designer and now director Greg Barth, composer and video artist Michael Nyman and the man behind the lens, photographer Luke Wassmann. Delve into the delicate works of Yuko Oda, the perceptive designs of Asa Ashuach and the playful works of Olaf Breuning. And skillfully mastering the art of art making with tea drinking, we speak to Carne Griffiths about his drawing rituals, catch up with the visual charmers of PUTPUT and Luis Vasquez tells his beautiful story of how his music turned into an engrossing passion of survival that saved his life.
We invite you to embrace the un-embraced, explore the unexplored, in an adventure of perception. Will you unravel yours?
Also in this issue, we talk to Addictive TV duo, Bianca Pilet, Daisy Jacobs, George Vasey, Realities United, Tom Hancocks and so much more.
Greg Barth: Icons of the Unpredictable
Greg Barth is a London based award winning artist and director from Geneva, Switzerland, and the cover artist of our brand new issue ROOMS 17, photographed by Alexandra Uhart.
The cover artist of ROOMS 17 uncovered
Greg Barth is a London based award winning artist and director from Geneva, Switzerland, and the cover artist of our brand new issue, ROOMS 17 -- photographed by Alexandra Uhart.
Barth is known for producing work that combines Surrealism, Minimalism and Pop. His work seemed perfect for ROOMS 17’s tagline: ‘Who decides what you see?’ This question combined with Barth’s image creates a cover that approaches both art and politics.
Is the mask an act of censorship or an act of art?
A mask covers a person’s face. Who put the mask there? Is he forced to wear it, or is he willing? Why are his eyes covered up? What doesn’t he want to see? The mask could be obscuring his vision of the outside world, preventing him from seeing something. Or, the mask could be showing him something; inside the mask could be a digital screen or images, which showcases something, new and wondrous to him.
In either case the question still throws up political questions, both about state and about art. Thankfully in most countries, the state cannot control what you watch. This came to the fore when working on this issue of ROOMS, as many in the cultural world where still reeling from incident surrounding the infamous film ‘The Interview’. In art, the question of ‘Who decides what you see?’ is bound up is questions and theories surrounding the artist. Ultimately, when viewing an artwork the viewer’s thoughts return to the artist and why they created the work: ‘what do they want me to see?’ However, I would suggest more emphasis needs to be put on the viewer and what they can add to the work, rather than what they need to see. In this instance the same can be applied to our cultural freedom. I was encouraged when I saw members of the public, including the heads of film industries, critics and cinemagoers protesting and wanting to see the film. In the end we all have to stand up to our cultural freedom. We have a right to choose to look.
Jesc Bunyard interviews Greg Barth in our new issue ROOMS 17, Who decides what you see?
Visionaries and reporters united : Unknown Fields Division
This summer on the salt flats of south-west Bolivia, a pan-global group of artists, designers, architects and filmmakers are digging down through the caked up layers of sodium chloride.
This summer on the salt flats of south-west Bolivia, a pan-global group of artists, designers, architects and filmmakers are digging down through the caked up layers of sodium chloride. Their aim is to find a chemical that laid unused for 140 years after its discovery. A largely unwanted and impure element, good for little more than turning flames red and refusing to disconnect from aluminium.
This is lithium, and it is now the beating pulse of mass communication that lies at the heart of the green revolution. The group are the Unknown Fields Division, a collective that undertake artistic studies into the mechanisms of a modern world.
In Bolivia, the group will turn its attention to lithium, or ’grey gold’. The fascination in what is to a cursory glancer dirt stems from its seeming lack of worth. For years it was underrated, hoisted up with the elemental also rans. A neighbour of dull old beryllium. This all changed however, when a Stamford graduate, M Stanley Whttingham, suggested that the then nuclear associated chemical might serve better in batteries. After 30 years of development he proved right. Lithium is now the core component of every electronic mobile device and the future of electronic cars.
The goal of Unknown Field’s trip is to study lithium, to dissect its new found cultural significance and then, through written reports, films and sculptures, to communicate these findings to the wider world.
With all of Unknown Field’s work, there is a focus both on the end product, the smart-phone in your pocket, and its origins. For Bolivia, this is a found reserve that has added billions to the country’s economy. On a previous trip, it was a town turned upside down by global demand.
Unknown Fields Winter 14 Expedition
Liam Young + Kate Davies
Showrell Dir. by Rich Seymour + Jonathan Skerritt
In 2014 Unknown Fields undertook a three week journey up the global supply chain, tracing back the path of consumer goods taken from the factories of China and into our homes. What they encountered was the brutal side effects of an industrial machine. Situated in northern most China, Baotou, or Deer City, was a settlement of 97,000 in 1950. It is now home to 2.5 million and is the world’s biggest supplier of rare earth minerals.
The environmental impact of such an unprecedented boom is severe. Vast refineries sprawl endlessly through the cities neon lit streets. Massive pipes erupt from the ground and run along roadways and pavements, arching into the air to cross roads like bridges. Despite such a man-made, synthetic dent, the work produced by Unknown Fields is free of condemnation.
One piece was formed from radioactive clay from the city’s polluted lake. It is a series of ceramic pots modelled on traditional ming vases, with each proportioned on the amount of toxic waste produced by the city’s use of different minerals.
A vessel takes shape, formed from the amount of toxic material produced in the manufacture of a single mobile phone. Film Still © Toby Smith/Unknown Fields
Another is a video of visceral quality. It looks inside the factories, glimpsing the might of un-fathomably powerful machines. The effect is something similar to Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi.
The result of such considered work is profound. The approach is subtle, with the viewer coaxed rather than forced to reflect on the weighty topics. From the Texaco oil fields of the Ecuadorian Amazon to The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the subjects are massive, and a personal, emotive response undeniable.
All images via © Unknown Fields Division
NEW PRINT | Benjamin Murphy’s Conversation Among the Ruins
ROOMS are delighted to announce the release of London’s super talented Benjamin Murphy’s popular print Conversation Among the Ruins.
Pigeonholed as the ‘best artist since sliced bread’, and quite rightly so, ROOMS are delighted to announce the release of London’s super talented Benjamin Murphy’s popular print Conversation Among the Ruins who, in following on from his electrical tape inspired image making, has transitioned seamlessly to create bold, striking black and white woodcuts, and we’re excited.
Hand drawn, cut and printed, Murphy’s newest print inspired by Sylvia Plath’s poem Conversation Among the Ruins, reflects the bold fluidity of a poem rooted in tragedy and the searing pain of a poet who suffered in isolation. Free of any words, the print also allows for one’s own exploration and interpretation. The tragic story of a man’s animalistic capabilities, perhaps, or the struggles of a woman bound to her role as housewife and homemaker in the kitchen. Either way, it’s an undeniably morbid print with a subtle hint of humour and we love it. Grab yours today at www.benjaminmurhy.bigcartel.com
Benjamin will also be exhibiting at the Saatchi Gallery next month and will have a solo show in Italy this May.
Details:
A2 woodcut
Fabriano Rosaspina Bianca torn edge paper
Edition of 30, £150
Simon Payne’s NOT AND OR to screen at Close-Up Film Centre
On the 16th April the Close-up Film Centre in Shoreditch will play host to a night of weird and wonderful digital creations by abstract filmmaker Simon Payne.
On the 16th April the Close-up Film Centre in Shoreditch will play host to a night of weird and wonderful digital creations by abstract filmmaker Simon Payne.
Close-Up is committed to supporting and developing the exhibition of independent and experimental cinema, focusing on the cross over between the arts and film culture.
The night is part #4 of their Teaser Screening series of videos. Simon’s film ‘Not And Or,’ will be screened last along with some of his other digital exerts such as, ‘Colour Bars’ and ‘Cut Out.’
The films all turn on the concept of indefinite qualities of images, colour, shapes and sounds from shot to shot or moment-to-moment. Hence, his erratic film making style, which sees Payne subvert the ideas of what we think we see by manipulating time and space.
In ‘Not And Or’, we see black and white quadrilaterals spinning in virtual space that alternate with the same static shapes re-filmed from screen in real space. The second half of the piece is the same as the first, but flipped, reversed and re-filmed again, through successive generations – adding while taking away.
The program includes pieces from 1997 to 2014, from observational films to hard-edge abstraction primarily focused on experimental video, promising to open up your mind to the different dimensions at the interface of digital design.
The screening is a futurist’s call for new autonomous cinema for the modern age, helping to merge the lines between artistic mediums of art and film. The event ultimately calls upon us the viewers to debate the notion of what we consider as art and the question: Can video installations be considered a form of artistic expression in the same way film is?
Expand the realm of art in this rare screening of mind-altering digital videos. Alternatively, invest in a worthy membership at the Close-Up Film Centre that allow committed film enthusiasts to raid their huge archive of experimental and independent films and discount admission on film screenings.
Time-lapse | An interview with Jeffry Spekenbrink
Jeffry Spekenbrink is a photographer, filmmaker and visual image artist whose works are the result of a very long and dedicated process involving his camera and the unremitting power of earth’s multifarious landscapes.
Jeffry Spekenbrink is a photographer, filmmaker and visual image artist whose works are the result of a very long and dedicated process involving his camera and the unremitting power of earth’s multifarious landscapes. Using his photography to create time-scapes, Jeffry’s works transform the everyday into an otherworldly representation of stunning visuals, perspectives and pure cinematography, often captured in the space of a few minutes.
In 2014, Jeffry graduated from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede and was a finalist in the TENT Academy’s Film Awards for his hugely successful time-lapse film, Part of the Empire/Plague. His video presented a six-minute compilation of the many highlights captured on his journey that stretched between the uniquely desolate environs of Iceland to the densely populated French capital of Paris and with it, the realisation of a growing population living in social isolation.
Jeffry’s accompanying music adds an extra exciting, slightly unnerving feel to the film and the sheer spectacle of the entire video is incredible to behold. I caught up with the man behind the lens to find out more about his journey.
How did everything begin for you? What inspired you to start making time-lapse videos?
I bought my first DSLR in 2010. Shortly after I saw a short time-lapse video from the northern lights shot somewhere in Norway. I was really touched by this phenomenon, but also by the way it was shot. It gave me a very calm and serene feeling and I realised that, although it looked very surreal, this was a real life phenomenon, captured by just a camera. From that moment on I began to experiment with my own camera as often as I could.
With every meteorological phenomenon that I was able to capture around my house, I began to wonder what it would look like in a time-lapse video. Just like analogue photography, you could never tell what the actual footage would look like until the process of digital developing… making a video out of the few hundred pictures that you take.
A time-lapse video can also create a very different perspective…
I love the perspective of the time-lapse medium… it’s almost as if you are looking at the world from another sense of time. It’s the perfect medium to let people realise what their civilisation looks like from an outsider’s perspective. I didn't realise this until I started shooting cities. This changed the composition of a wide-angle view to a shot of the people from above. I wanted to give the people a look at our world from a slightly different perspective.
A lot of your shots capture scenes without people…
I have always had some kind of curiosity for desolate places. I lived my life in the countryside in the east of the Netherlands, but there weren’t really any desolate places here, I was always wondering how it would feel to be in a place where it was just you and nature. I liked the nights because they were quiet and nobody was ever around to ruin the shot.
What was the inspiration behind Part of the Empire/Plague? Were there any main themes that you tried to incorporate within your images?
At first I just wanted to capture the feeling of serenity that I got from watching night skies and empty landscapes, but I also wanted to add a subtle storyline. I started writing ideas on paper for a short film. That's how I came up with the idea to contrast an empty landscape with a big city. I had lots of ideas but no budget, so I had to make choices… my priority was to show the biggest contrast possible.
You must have travelled quite a bit for this project…
I didn't have much of a budget, so I saved and made a shooting list with all the shots I needed. My first priority was to look for desolate places. The Northern lights was first on the list, which I knew would be difficult to capture. So after doing some research, it came down to Iceland in April.
“In April, Jeffry took a three-week trip with his car and 1.5-meter long slider to Seyðisfjörður in Iceland and spent fourteen consecutive days shooting time-lapses. The results were mind-blowing.”
Had you visited all of these places before?
I had never been to Iceland. For the cities, I had been to Rotterdam and Paris before but not to the places I needed to take the shots from. So again I had to do some research before I went.
Why Iceland?
Iceland has a very unique and various landscape with volcanic activity, glaciers, moving icebergs… its sea with black beaches. In the summertime it doesn't get dark in Iceland… that means there are no Northern lights to see and in the wintertime it stays dark, so not ideal for landscapes. That's why I wanted to go in April, the last month that you can see the northern lights, and experience Iceland with a day and a night.
After Iceland I needed city footage. I went to stay with a friend in Rotterdam to practice and shoot footage for the film but was looking for a bigger city like Paris or Berlin to shoot from a higher perspective.
Is digital manipulation a strong element of your work?
The film consists of 12.406 21-megapixel images from the 23.807 pictures shot in total. Because it is made out of 14 bits RAW-images you get the possibility to pull great details and beautiful colors out of the image. I also used filters whilst shooting to level the contrast between the sky and the ground - this is how you get more details in the clouds.
In some shots I removed smaller elements such as dust and birds… these were distracting because they were moving too fast. I wanted the viewer to focus on the slow movements that become visible due to the acceleration of time, like the movement of the clouds and the water.
Digital manipulation is an important element, but it has to remain the reality. With every shot, I experienced the environment and tried my best to express the feelings I had at the particular place through the image. I did that separately with every shot of the film.
There’s been a lot of interest recently in nature and the man-made. Do you think that your work reflects this through the contrast of rural and urban landscapes?
I think so, yes. It was my meaning to show people the contrast between the rural and urban from an outsider’s perspective, in combination with my view of the places.
The whole experience of traveling has been very important for the end result. During the city trips I experienced something really different to that in Iceland. It takes up to a few hours to take one time-lapse shot so during that time I was able to observe my surroundings very well.
Whilst I was looking around in the big cities I felt proud to be a part of a successful society. At the same time I felt a part of a huge growing population in which nobody really cares about the individual. I experienced the same in Iceland… I’d expected to find a lot of pristine nature, which we found, but it turned out to be pretty touristy.
Can you tell me about some of your favourite photographs captured within this time-lapse?
Technically, the first shot from the Eiffel Tower in Paris is my favourite, because that was number one on the list for Paris and I was quite happy with the end result, despite the challenges. I chose the Eiffel Tower because it has a fence at the top instead of windows. Taking pictures through the window of a high building brings more complications like reflections and limitations in focus length. The movement of the top of the tower caused by the win, for example. I wanted to take all of my shots at night which meant that I needed to use as much wide angles as possible and keep the shutter speed as short as possible to avoid blurry images.
Emotionally, both the Northern lights and the church are my favourites. In the two weeks that we were in Iceland, there was only one clear night when we the Northern lights could be seen so I was quite lucky to have experienced that. I drove my car up to the highest mountain in the area and aimed both of my camera’s at the sky. I go my own lightshow, which was stunning. And because I had to use exposures of 8 and 10 seconds, I had to stay there for 2.5 hours for less than 40 seconds of video, so I watched it from beginning to end. For me this was a very special moment, all alone on a mountain with a personal lightshow brought to me by nature.
After that, the northern lights only showed up once, barely visible with the naked eye, which became the shot with the full moon.
“For me this was a very special moment, all alone on a mountain with a personal lightshow brought to me by nature.”
How do you capture your chosen landscapes? What is the process?
I was well prepared before the traveling. I had already made a shooting list and decided the composition. It's always different when you get there but most of the time I stuck to the plan… that worked out pretty well, especially in the cities. For Iceland we planned the route. I had all of the spots marked on the map but I could never tell when I would see that thing on the list. The best shots were the spontaneous ones, and that's most of them!
Were there any challenges you faced along the way? Any freak weather conditions?!
Technically there were a few struggles like dust, but mainly the cold… harsh winds all of the time, blizzard, roads blocked with huge piles of snow… The shot with the wavy clouds under the orange sky, for example. I had wanted to shoot it from the top of the highest mountain on the map but that didn’t work out because of the weather conditions. I saw these clouds when we were in a village and they were pretty far away but I just had to make that shot, so I used a telephoto lens… slightly different than expected but in the end everything went well, we were pretty lucky I guess…
Timing is obviously a huge factor within your works... How long does a time lapse usually take to photograph at one specific location? The Northern Lights, for example, you capture them so beautifully!
In the daylight the interval between the pictures can be very short, but I used intervals of 4-6 seconds most of the time depending on how fast the clouds were moving. In the cities I chose to shoot everything at night. I think cities show their true beauty at night, when you see only the things that matter and all the movements become visible in lights.
With the Northern lights it was really dark so I had to take exposures of 8-10 seconds with a high ISO. For 10 seconds of video in 30 frames per second you need 300 pictures and the actual time to take the shot varies between 20 and 75 minutes.
And I understand you composed the music by yourself? (which is stunning!) What was the process? The film’s sense of discovery and wonderment is just incredible.
In my opinion music is a piece of art on its self, that's why I didn't want to use the music of another artist. Music is very important for guiding the viewer through the images. To me the choice of music is responsible for half of the emotion you are trying to express through the film. Because the whole film is a very personal work to me, I couldn't think of another way than to make my own music for it.
I play guitar and I also took it with me to Iceland. There were a lot of moments when I could play the guitar and so I began to come up with the basics of a song for the film. The guitar at the beginning of the song was recorded at home and I went on from there digitally, using the same chords for the other instruments.
I then categorised the shots and adjusted the music to that. Basically I worked the other way around… the images were most important and the music had to bend and support the images. That’s a really satisfying thing to do because you’re not able to do so with the already existing music.
Is music making something you intend to pursue?
Yes, at the moment I am quite busy recording my own guitar playing and singing to improve the quality of my music for my next work.
All images © Jeffry Spekenbrink