Fuzz Club Festival – Edition 2015
Somewhere under two railway arches, psychedelic sounds and rock-and-roll beats are echoing and exclusive vinyls are calling your name.
Somewhere under two railway arches, psychedelic sounds and rock-and-roll beats are echoing and exclusive vinyls are calling your name.
This November 13th and 14th, Independent label, online store and production company Fuzz Club, known for bringing in the best experimental music and upcoming music genres, celebrates the 2015 edition of their annual event: Fuzz Club Festival. Co-presented with Bad Vibrations, the festival has gathered their go-to psych and underground bands from Europe and places beyond, as well as some of their recently spotted talent.
The musical madness is divided over two stages located inside the London Fields Brewhouse. Known for its cultural versatility and popularity in the music industry, the venue makes for a perfect match. The line-up features artists such as Camera, The Telescopes, Lola Colt, The Janitors, Radar Men From The Moon, and Dead Rabbits, making the festival is a first-class feast for lovers of psychedelia, noise, garage, blues, folk, electronica, basically anything that doesn’t have your everyday pop song sound.
With The KVB chosen as the main act for this event, you’ve got your go-to performance already set. Prepare for a headline full of shoegaze guitars, hypnotic voices and abstract visuals, causing the show of the Berlin-based duo to be a rare experience on its own.
As for the die-hard fans planning to be present at the event, Fuzz Club has some exclusive pre-releases of upcoming albums, as well as a selection of releases including sold out vinyl editions from Austin Psych Fest up its sleeve. If that wasn’t enough, the production company is launching the Fuzz Club Black Editions, allowing everyone to devour up to 10 copies, selling them exclusively at the festival.
Fuzz Club London 2015, November 13th & 14th at London Fields Brewhouse
FRIDAY NOV. 13th
THE KVB
CAMERA
THE TELESCOPES
10,000 RUSSOS
NEW CANDYS
THROW DOWN BONES
SATURDAY NOV. 14th
THE MYRRORS
LOLA COLT
SONIC JESUS
MUGSTAR
THE CULT OF DOM KELLER
RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON
THE JANITORS
THE ORANGE REVIVAL
DEAD RABBITS
BUY TICKETS HERE
Early Bird from £12.50
Weekend from £25
Doors:
Friday at 7pm
Saturday at 4pm
Hackney Wonderland 2015
Hackney Wonderland's sold out 2014 success has left us wanting more.
Hackney Wonderland's sold out 2014 success has left us wanting more. The one-day rock'n'roll festival returns for its second year to Hackney's coolest music venues. With just 10 days to go we are gearing-up for it. Get your tickets before you regret it!
When: 10 October 2015
Where: Oslo | Seabright Arms | London Fields Brewery | Oval Space
Tickets here
TOY - Interview
Bo Ningen - Photo by Cat Stevens
To Kill A King - photo by Wolf James Photography
Late at the Library: Felabration
Celebrating the birthday of Fela Kuti, ‘Late at the Library: Felabration’ is a musical tribute to the pioneer of Jazz, Funk and Afrobeat and praised defender of human rights in Nigeria.
Celebrating the birthday of Fela Kuti, ‘Late at the Library: Felabration’ is a musical tribute to the pioneer of Jazz, Funk and Afrobeat and praised defender of human rights in Nigeria.
Prepare for a night full of rhythmic vibes, as it will be loaded with recognizable hits and new beats from some of the most renowned African musicians in the world.
Starting of with former band members and friends of Kuti, Dele Sosimi who was part of Fela’s band ‘Egypt 80’ will be leading the event with his 16-piece Afrobeat Orchestra. Following up is legendary drummer Tony Allen, who is known as co-creator of Afrobeat.
Carrying on Fela’s legacy at this event are non other than 2FaceIdiba, multimillion selling recording artist and producer who brought life into hip-hop with the hit ‘Afrikan Queen’, Shingai Shoniwa, vocalist and bassist of the insanely popular indie rock band Noissettes, and other brilliant guest vocalists such as: Laura Mvula, Afrikan Boy, Bumi Thomas, Ed Keazor, Terri Walker, Audrey Gbaguidi and The Floacist (Floesis). Plus DJ Koichi and The Trinity College Afrobeat Ensemble.
For the art fans attending the event, there is free access to the British Library’s outstanding new exhibition West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song - dedicated to the power of words and its sociocultural influence on West Africa.
The event will take place on Friday, October 16th in the beautiful atrium of the British Library.
Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts has just opened its doors to Ai Weiwei's major exhibition in the UK - check out the preview photos by Nick JS Thompson
The Royal Academy of Arts has just opened its doors to Ai Weiwei's major exhibition in the UK, presenting some of his most notable works from the time he returned to China from the US in 1993, right up to present day.
Photos by Nick JS Thompson
Ai Weiwei – Creating Under Imminent Threat
Ai Weiwei at The Royal Academy of Arts
Saturday – Thursday 10am – 6pm
Friday 10am – 10pm
Main Galleries, Burlington House
A preview of Judy Chicago's Star Cunts & Other Attractions
The Riflemaker Gallery will play host to Judy Chicago once again with work both acquainted and un-introduced. Meet her Star Cunts & other attractions; a feminist-fired suite of her historic sculptures, paintings and archival pieces.
Image credit - Judy Chicago at work in her china-painting studio in 1974. Courtesy of Through the Flower Archives
By Suzanna Swanson - Johnston
From 14th September - 31st December 2015, the Riflemaker Gallery will play host to Judy Chicago once again with work both acquainted and un-introduced. Meet her Star Cunts & other attractions; a feminist-fired suite of her historic sculptures, paintings and archival pieces.
Artist, writer, educator, pioneer and artistic-punk-rocker, Judy Chicago created the feminist art movement; reacting to to social and political injustice during the revolutionary times of the 1960s and 1970s that she rose to prominence in. The history of art was the history of the white bourgeois man, till it was remoulded in the hands of Judy Chicago. Her art is dry-witted, dirty-talking, socially-pointed, intricate, fecund, frank, kick-ass-colourist abstraction. It dresses up in a history of representational feminine imagery in order to draw on the historical associations, and subvert them. Rifle-maker offers us a peep-show of the elements unseen.
In their exhibitive debut, on show are porcelain test plates which chronicle Chicago’s studies of china painting in preparation for the Dinner Party. In her key note work, Chicago created the symbolic history of women in Western civilisation and brought the diminished voices of 39 historical and mythological female figures to the table…literally. Using her distinctive multi-disciplinary-multi-media style, Chicago incorporated subject matter into the method by drawing on the traditionally feminine applied arts for the place settings. Along the 49ft triangular table sits embroidered runners, ceramic flatware, embroidered gold napkins, 2000 inscribed tiles and china plates with hand-painted vaginas; the studies for which are on show. Also featured are a series of steel dome sculptures and the eponymous Star Cunts - a set of prismacolour and pastels on paper - that lean towards her earlier minimalist style but still carry the prevailing feminist and feminine forms that characterise her work.
2015 marks quite the year for Chicago; she will simultaneously carry seven shows across Europe which stands as quite the testimony to her continuing influence, impact, relevance and status as ’America’s most important living artist’; this is one dinner party invitation I wouldn’t pass up.
‘Star Cunts & Other Attractions’ : Riflemaker Gallery, 79 Beak Street, London
14th September - 31st December 2015
All images courtesy Riflemaker Gallery
Overture: Idris Khan’s figurative translation of language
Idris Khan presents his upcoming solo exhibition Overture, revealing further interrogation of language through his practice.
London based artist Idris Khan exhibits in New York this September with some ambitious and exciting new work. Khan uses photography and digital images in his work but does not consider himself a photographer. He repeatedly layers these images, often text, to create a new piece, which is distanced from the original through the process of abstraction.
One of his more known work involved scanning every page of the Qur’an and layering the text into an image, bringing a figurative element to the writing while remaining almost readable.
Khan’s work reaches for a new perspective or a re-appropriation of an already existing visual cultural significance; he explores and interrogates language by working with text in this way. His work simultaneously addresses society’s shift on how photography as a medium is used. Khan has previously encountered the work of two German photographers and closely duplicated their photos, giving the new images new context and meaning. With the widespread use of smart phones as a photographic instrument documenting culture, the question of amateur/professional continues and images are easily available for hijack.
In his upcoming exhibition there is set to be a large-scale sculpture using panes of glass to overlap layers of text, casting an image onto the gallery wall. Khan will be exhibiting a wall drawing derived from what is cast by the glass, adding a performative element to an already complex multimedia body of work.
Overture Is opening at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York on 10 September 2015 running until 24 October 2015.
Idris Khan at Sean Kelly Gallery
The von Bartha gallery hosts Bernhard Luginbühl and friends
The works of one of Switzerland’s best known sculptors, and a few of his fellow contemporaries are erected in all their glory at the von Bartha gallery.
The works of one of Switzerland’s best known sculptors, and a few of his fellow contemporaries are erected in all their glory at the von Bartha gallery.
If you live in Zürich, there’s probably no doubt that you’ve heard of Bernhard Luginbühl. And if you’ve walked down Mythenquai road you definitely would have seen De Grosse Giraffe (1969) – a great iron sculpture, with its magnificent curved beam looming over Zürich like a watchful sentry.
The sculptures of Bernhard Luginbühl (1929 – 2011) can be seen erected not only in Zürich, but in Hamburg and Muttenz too. He was an expert craftsman – who had a particular penchant for producing sculptures from scrap metal. Aside from Eduardo Chillida, he was one of the first to pioneer the iron sculpture from the 1950s, which is arguably what raised him to prominence in the art world.
A large portion of his earlier work no longer exists – due to Luginbühl destroying or burning some of them. This ‘creative arsony’ rekindled itself in his later work, from the mid 1970s, where he burned several of his wooden structures in ceremonious artistic fashion.
But of particular note were his fascinating collaborations with contemporaries Dieter Roth, Jean Tinguely and Aflred Hofkunst, who feature in this upcoming exhibition. Sculptures like HAUS (1979-94) are comprised of iron and wood, brushes and bone – showcasing his playful yet masterful ability to combine media into something to marvel at.
While some of the collaborative sculptures such as Schluckuck (1978 – 1979) look like condensed, complicated rube-goldberg machines, the exhibition displays some of his solo works too. Expect to witness his ink drawings as well as the fantastically mechanical, yet abstract Kleine Kulturkarrette II (1975) – which is more than just a colourful cabinet on wheels.
Bernhard Luginbühl and Friends will run from 4th September – 24th October 2015 and the preview will be on September 4 from 5-8pm.
Address:
von Bartha, Kannenfeldplatz 6,
4056, Basel, Switzerland
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Friday 2-6pm, Saturday 11am – 4pm or by appointment.
Tetsumi Kudo at Hauser & Wirth London
A seminal figure in Tokyo’s Anti-Art movement in the late 1950’s, multidisciplinary artist Tetsumi Kudo (1935 – 1990) left behind a lasting legacy: this autumn, Hauser & Wirth London will host an exhibition of his works, marking 25 years since his passing.
A seminal figure in Tokyo’s Anti-Art movement in the late 1950’s, multidisciplinary artist Tetsumi Kudo (1935 – 1990) left behind a lasting legacy: this autumn, Hauser & Wirth London will host an exhibition of his works, marking 25 years since his passing.
The exhibition will present a selection of work dating from the first ten years that Kudo spent in Paris (1963 – 1972), following the completion of his studies at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts in 1958.
Although marginalised in North America and Europe for many years, Kudo’s influence on subsequent generations of artists has been profound and far-reaching. The artist spent the majority of his career preoccupied with the impact of nuclear catastrophe and the excess of consumer society associated with the post-war economic boom, his interest in these topics intensified upon his exposure to the European intellectual scene.
Developed in the context of post-war Japan and France, Kudo’s practice, which encompasses sculpture, installation and performance-based work, is dominated by a sense of disillusionment with the modern world – its blind faith in progress, technological advancement, and humanist ideals.
Consisting of a die enlarged to over 3.5 square metres with a small circular door allowing the viewer to climb into the dark interior lit with UV light, ‘Garden of the Metamorphosis in the Space Capsule’ will form the exhibition’s focal point, shown alongside examples from his cube and dome series.
In his cube series, small boxes contain decaying cocoons and shells revealing half-living forms – often replica limbs, detached phalli or papier-mâché organs – that merge with man-made items. These sculptures were intended as a comment on the individualistic outlook and eager adoption of mass-production which he found to be prevalent in Europe.
Kudo’s dome works appear as futuristic terrariums: perspex spheres fed by circuit boards or batteries house artificial plant life, soil, and radioactive detritus. What is being cultivated in these mini eco-systems is a grotesque, decomposing fusion of the biological and mechanical, illustrating Kudo’s feeling that with the pollution of nature comes the decomposition of humanity.
The simultaneously political, yet highly aesthetic, characteristic of his sculptural work is at the centre of the contemporary oeuvre.
Tetsumi Kudo
Hauser & Wirth London, North Gallery
22 September – 21 November 2015
Opening: Monday 21 September, 6 – 8 pm
Charles Avery alternative reality at Edinburgh Art Festival 2015
This year's Edinburgh Art Festival brings the immersive and complex conceptual world created by Charles Avery to engulf us.
This year's Edinburgh Art Festival brings the immersive and complex conceptual world created by Charles Avery to engulf us.
Edinburgh’s annual arts festival sets off 30th July, combining contemporary art exhibitions as well as those of more historic movements. Working with leading art spaces throughout the UK, the festival is a month long happening bringing us exhibitions, events and talks from a wide range of great artists including Charles Avery.
Represented by Ingleby Gallery, Avery is presenting more detailed insight into his imagined island with The People and Things of Onomatopoeia. Beginning in 2004, The Islanders series has continued to present the intricate details of his imagined land, evolving to give the audience understanding of the complexities of the inhabitants’ personalities, the nuances, habits and dislikes of groups and individuals.
Avery’s work has an element of fantasy but is not simply a flat rerun of the genre; there are many aspects of this world that mirror issues in our own society as well as introducing abstract concepts of myths and rumors as a potential reality in this universe, even if only existing as a belief by the inhabitants.
The audience experiences this through a wide multimedia approach to a kind of open-ended storytelling using a narrative text, visual imagery, sculpture and installation on a large scale, often presenting objects used by constituents or posters from the streets of Onomatopoeia. These are used as tools for the audience to interpret and contextualise this world.
To add to the incomplete or continual nature of the work, many of Avery’s sketches are unfinished, giving the feeling that the work continues to live alongside the artist. The inhabitants’ lives do not begin and end during the course of the exhibition, there is an endless scope of story to be told about this place and these people.
It is compelling to think of this fictional world as a form of escapism for both the artist and the audience, however, the complexities it inherits being no less problematic than those of our own society can be somewhat grounding, not allowing us to submit to a utopian fantasy.
In addition to this Avery is also presenting a tree from Onomatopoeia cast in bronze at Edinburgh train station as part of the festival which runs until 30th August 2015.
Alexander Calder’s mobiles come to life at the Tate Modern
The UK’s largest ever Alexander Calder exhibition of kinetic sculptures is coming to the Tate Modern. And in more ways than one, it’s moving.
Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976)
Antennae with Red and Blue Dots 1953
Tate © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2015
Within art circles, if you were to mention the ‘mobile,’ there are no names that spring to mind other than Alexander Calder (1898-1976) – who is renowned for having invented these ingenious, performing sculptures.
Having amassed an impressive portfolio of work that spanned several decades, a large portion of Calder’s work is being brought to the Tate Modern for the UK audience to marvel at. The exhibition, entitled Performing Sculpture, will showcase about 100 of the American artist's works between his formative years from the late 20s to the early 60s where he had established an illustrious career.
Achim Borchardt-Hume, the Director of Exhibitions at the Tate Modern and co-curator of this exhibition, stated that Calder was ‘responsible for rethinking sculpture’ when referring to his innovative invention of the mobile. He went on to add that with regular sculptures, one must glean everything they can by moving around it – but Calder ‘made sculpture move for us.’
He further conflated Calder’s sculptures with the performance arts, stressing how important this field contributed to Calder’s work. Pieces like Dancers and Sphere (1938) showcases motion in a way similar to children playing whereas Red Gongs (1950) is a mobile that introduces the sound of a brass gong – showing how well he managed to take performance to another level.
Performing Sculpture will also feature Calder’s Alexander’s famed wire sculptures of his artistic contemporaries and friends, including a wired portrait of Joan Miró suspended in space.
However, perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this exhibition will be the mechanics of movement behind his mobiles. The slow, cloud-like movement of the sculptures will be powered purely by the airflow in the room. This delicate motion is something that is lost in images, but can only truly experienced in person.
Perhaps the only regrettable aspect of this upcoming exhibition would be the omission of the stage sets he designed when working with choreographer Martha Graham. Nevertheless, this is a necessary omission. The entirety of his performance art is suspended within and between the movements of his sculptures. There does not need to be anyone performing in order to augment the power of his sculptures – because they do all the performing instead.
Fans of modernism, mathematics and the masterful should most certainly attend. This is not an exhibition to be missed.
Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976)
Triple Gong c.1948
Calder Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Photo credit: Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, NY
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2015
Alexander Calder in his Roxbury studio, 1941
Photo credit: Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, NY
© ARS, NY and DACS, London 2015
Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture will be running at the Tate Modern from 11 November 2015 – 3 April 2016
NOS PRIMAVERA SOUND 15. Are you coming?
Just as summer is about to start, NOS Primavera Sound is preparing to kick off the Portuguese festival season.
Just as summer is about to start, NOS Primavera Sound is preparing to kick off the Portuguese festival season. Whilst less well-known than its cousin in Barcelona, NOS Primavera Sound manages a delicate balancing act of mainstream and alternative, distinguishing itself by variety of style. As well as a wide selection of internationally established artists, the festival boasts a significant representation of up-and-coming talent, from Portugal and abroad. With a lineup including acts ranging from Ariel Pink, Viet Cong and FKA Twigs to Patti Smith to Mac DeMarco to Jungle and Caribou, NOS Primavera Sound promises something for everyone.
Nestled by the Porto seaside, Parque da Cidade creates the ideal framework for the festival. Within the city, yet by the coast and with easy access and scenic surroundings the park itself is one of the main attractions of the event. Apart from the main stage and the Super Bock stage, All Tomorrow’s Parties commissions a stage responsible for the more experimental programming, in various musical styles and the Pitchfork stage, commissioned by Pitchfork Media will bring some of the emerging names of international alternative music.
Compared to many of its European competitors, NOS Primavera Sound, which runs for three days, promises great value at a relatively low price allowing for a great mix of people to gather together under the southern sun, sharing music and summer vibes. We are certainly excited to pack our bags and head off to NOS Primavera Sound 15.
All images via © NOS Primavera Sound
When: 4-6 June 2015
Where: Porto, Portugal
The Outdoor Cinema presents films under the Shoreditch stars
The Outdoor Cinema Company promises to be the new edition in line of al fresco stargazing cinema watching, dubbing themselves as ‘The best Outdoor Film experience in the UK.’
We’ve all heard of your Secret Cinema, Hot tub cinema, Pillow cinema and all the other assortment of companies showcasing your beloved movies in remarkable spaces.
Now as the summer season is approaching, The Outdoor Cinema Company promises to be the new edition in line of al fresco stargazing cinema watching, dubbing themselves as ‘The best Outdoor Film experience in the UK.’
The concept works similarly to the rest, remaining tight-lipped about the program of films that will be screened in the aim of surprising viewers. The films will be screened at night to the backdrop of the glistening stars promising to offer a dynamic and enchanting cinematic experience. The company has organized its UK tour stopping and setting up cinemas in multiple cities and towns from Bristol to Bradford to Lincolnshire and London.
The London event will take place on the 5th June and tickets will be made available when registering at The Outdoor cinema website and information about films will be divulged at a later date.
But for now, if the idea of paying in excessive amount for tickets to watch a film seems like an unappealing prospect. Recently, The Secret Cinema defended its £75 ticket price tag for their latest Star Wars installment. The next logical step would be to register and sign up for more feasible options like The Outdoor Cinema and experience a refreshing approach of viewing movies.
Register and Sign up for tickets and further information: The Outdoor Cinema Company
Image taken from Outdoor cinema instagram
URBAN KINGS: A solo exhibition with Gonny Van Hulst
To artistically imbue socio-political themes on an unforgiving medium such as glass is no easy task. But London-based artist Gonny Van Hulst (also known as GonnyGlass) manages just that.
To artistically imbue socio-political themes on an unforgiving medium such as glass is no easy task. But London-based artist Gonny Van Hulst (also known as GonnyGlass) manages just that.
URBAN KINGS elevates the pest to the princely. The vermin to the valiant. The animals native to our concrete, urban environment are paid a royal homage in this exhibition. The Foxes, Rats, Pigeons, Squirrels and Crows – all endemic to the city life – have had to adapt to their industrial surroundings and survive nonetheless. By depicting these crowned creatures in such a light, URBAN KINGS reminds us of our harmonious relationship with nature despite such an adversarial environment, and that we must celebrate all living things, no matter how big or small. These citified animals are enthroned on antique English glass, hot and cold cured photo-fusing prints, paint, lacquer, and hand-forged ironwork all framed in restored late 1800s Victorian timber.
URBAN KINGS by Gonny Van Hulst - 16th to 31st May 2015
PRIVATE VIEW: Friday 15th May 6:30-9pm
9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich, London SE10 9JA
Opening Times: Thursdays –Sundays 11-6pm | Monday –Wednesday by appointment.
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