Tag Archives: Turner Prize

Grayson Perry I Smash Hits

26 October 2023

This month join us for this year’s summer blockbuster, Grayson Perry| Smash Hits where we will be joined by the exhibition’s curator, Patrick Elliot. 

The biggest ever exhibition of Sir Grayson Perry’s work, covering his 40-year career. Perry has gone from taking pottery evening classes to winning the Turner Prize, presenting television programmes on Channel 4 and writing acclaimed books. Pottery allowed him the opportunity to indulge his fascination with sex, Punk, and counterculture, amongst other things, in the most unlikely and polite of artforms. Today he is one of Britain’s most celebrated artists and cultural figures. 

Popular and provocative, Perry makes art that deals with difficult and complex ideas in an accessible and often funny way. He loves taking on big issues that are universally human: masculinity, sexuality, class, religion, politics and more. On view will be subversive pots, brilliantly intricate prints, elaborate sculptures, and huge, captivating tapestries – all imbued with Perry’s sharp wit and social commentary. Working with traditional artforms, Perry addresses the controversial issues of our times. 

NOW Monster Chetwynd, Henry Coobes, Moyna Flannigan, Betye Saar, Wael Shawky

25 October 2018

This month we will visit the fourth phase of the contemporary art exhibition series NOW which opens on Saturday 20 October at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Senior Curator Dan Brown will meet us there and offer us an insight into the production of this group exhibition and the practice of the artists represented.

Previous editions of NOW have shown work by Nathan Coley, Susan Philipsz and Jenny Saville (amongst many others), this instalment is built around the work of Turner Prize nominee (2012) Monster Chetwynd. Renowned for using diverse cultural and historical sources to create performative work, sculptural installation and video, Alalia Chetwynd was born in London in 1973; she later adopted the name Spartacus Chetwynd, then morphing into Marvin Gaye Chetwynd before earlier this year becoming Monster Chetwynd. She studied Anthropology and holds a BA in Fine Art from Slade School of Art (London). In 2002, she completed her studies with an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London.

Until 28 April 2019, Chetwynd’s work, including collage and painting, will be on show at Modern One surrounded by the work of four international contemporary artists: Moyna Flannigan (Scotland), Henry Coombes (Scotland), Betye Saar (USA) and Wael Shawky (Egypt). Although working in diverse mediums and with different approaches all these artists share a desire to challenge convention.

NOW Susan Philipsz, Yto Barrada, Kate Davis, Hiwa K, Sarah Rose and Michael Armitage

25 January 2018

For our first event for 2018, we will be exploring NOW – the second in a series of exhibitions which highlight the range of quality of work being made by artists associated with Scotland and across the globe.

The centrepiece of NOW is new and recent sound installations, paintings and photographs by the Turner Prize-winning artist, Susan Philipsz. Born in Glasgow in 1965 and now based in Berlin, she is renowned for her installations and how sound can trigger memory and heighten perception.

Seven Tears (2016) features seven synchronized record players each playing a single note taken from the baroque lament, Lachrimae or Seaven Teares Figured in Seaven Passionate Pavans (1604) by the English composer, John Dowland (1563-1626). The original composition was written for viol and lute and is based on the motif of a falling tear. Philipsz has isolated individual tones from the original song, making it less recognisable. Each note was produced by running a wet finger around the rim of glasses filled with water. These recordings have then been rendered onto transparent vinyl records.

To complement Seven Tears, Philipsz has made a series of salt paintings, produced by submerging painted canvases into a bath of salted water.

Other featured artists include paintings by Michael Armitage, a newly commissioned installation by Sarah Rose, photographs by Yto Barrada, video installation by Hiwa K and a display pairing 19th-century dolls with drawings by Kate Davis.

A key thread woven through the exhibition is storytelling and ideas around collecting, play, legacy, memory and loss.

Mark Wallinger Mark

30 March 2017

This month we are heading to The Fruitmarket Gallery to explore and discuss the work of Mark Wallinger. This is a two-part exhibition, shown at the Fruitmarket and the DCA in Dundee.

Mark Wallinger has been making art and exhibiting since the 1980s. You may be familiar with his piece, Ecce Homo, a marble resin life-sized statue of Jesus Christ which became the first sculpture to be mounted on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square in 1999. His Turner Prize-winning installation of 2007, State Britain, was a painstaking recreation of Brian Haw’s anti-war peace camp in Parliament Square.

For his new exhibition, Wallinger presents his id Paintings (2015-16), a recent body of monumental paintings made entirely by the artist’s hands and black acrylic paint. Part-painting, part-performance, he used both hands simultaneously, the left mirroring the right. Also on show, will be his ‘I’ self-portrait paintings, continuing his on-going fascination with self-portraiture. In addition, there will be a selection of works from the last 10 or so years including the film Sleeper (2004).

Spin-Off Trip to the Venice Biennale 2011

20-24 October 2011

We are organising another trip to the Venice Biennale for Spin members following on from our successful visits in 2005, 2007 and 2009. The Venice Biennale is the oldest and most prestigious contemporary art festivals in the world and was established in 1895. Held every two years, the Biennale is an excellent opportunity to see works by leading, international and up-and-coming artists. Over 70 countries are taking part including first-time participations from Saudia Arabia, Bangladesh, Republic of Rwanda, as well as Congo and India which last participated respectively in 1968 and 1980.

There are two main strands to the Venice Biennale: the Giardini which houses 30 permanent national pavilions and a curated exhibition by the Biennales appointed director. Bice Curiger has been appointed this year, only the second time that a woman has been at the directorial helm. Curiger is an art historian, critic and curator and has been curator at the Zurich Kunsthaus since 1993. The title for her curated exhibition is ILLUMinations (ILLUMinazioni) and will be presented in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly known as the Italian Pavilion) in the Giardini and the Arsenale – the buildings of the adjacent formal naval dockyard.

Artist Mike Nelson has been chosen to represent Great Britain in the Giardini. Nelson is best known for his atmospheric, installations. He has been shortlisted twice for the Turner Prize and in 2008, the Tate acquired one of his largest pieces, The Coral Reef. France will showing the work of Christian Boltanski known for his haunting, dimly-lit installations; Egypt-born sculptor Hany Amanious represents Australia and Tabaimo known for his vast projects shows work in the Japanese Pavilion.

Collateral exhibitions take place in venues spreading across the city of Venice. Scotland will be presenting the work of Karla Black in the Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina. Glasgow-based artist Black creates sculpural installations using materials like sugar, paper, chalk, powder, paint and make up. We are currently showing one of her works at the Gallery of Modern Art. Ireland are showing work by sculptor Corban Walker who creates large-scale sculptures and installations often involving sheets of glass and flying the flag for Wales is Tim Davies, a multimedia artist whose work addresses political subjects.

We will be devising an itinerary which will select and showcase the very best of this years Biennale. The dates of the tour are 20-24 October 2011 and places are limited.

Our group discussed the following artists: Mike Nelson, Christian Boltanski, Christoph Schlingensief, Tabaimo, Thomas Hirschhorn, Karla Black, TRA, Francisco Tropa, Liina Siib, Anish Kapoor, Roman Ondak, Rebecca Warren, James Turrell, Urs Fischer, Rosemarie Trockel, Christian Marclay and Haroon Mirza among others.

 

 

Richard Wright: The Stairwells Project and Luke Fowler: What you see is where you’re at (Part 3)

28 October 2010 at 6pm

Our Spin event will be split over the two modern art galleries to see the work of Turner prize winner Richard Wright who was commissioned by The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to make a major wall-painting in one of the public stairwells of the Dean Gallery; and Part 3 of the rehang What you see is where you’re at featuring the work of Luke Fowler.

Glasgow-based artist Richard Wright is best known for painting on walls, where the context and architecture of the space are the content of the work. Believing that ‘there’s already too much stuff in the world’ Wright describes his work as having similar qualities to a musical performance in that it exists in the memory of the creator and the audience, but can’t be owned, sold, or carried around.

The title of the rehang What you see is where you’re at comes from the film on display by award winning Glasgow-based artist Luke Fowler. Fowler’s film documents and explores the Kingsley Hall social experiment carried out in the 60s by the Scottish psychiatrist and writer R. D. Laing and is part of his ongoing investigation into radical thinkers and those responsible for the development of progressive ideas.

We look forward to you joining us in discussion to uncover how the Dean building’s architecture, history and present function have all informed Richard Wright’s work and how the medium of film has provided Luke Fowler with the unique ability to facilitate access to such a sensitive subject. This will also be a chance for us to see some of the new contemporary works on display as part of the re-hang including Robert Therrien and Gilbert and George.

Martin Creed – Down Over Up

30 September 2010 at 6pm

This month, we will be discussing Martin Creed’s major exhibition of new work, Down Over Up. One of Britain’s most highly-regarded and popular artists, he is known for installations such as his 2001 Turner Prize work, No. 227, The Lights Going On and Off and in 2008, No. 850, in which volunteer runners sprinted across the Tate Britain gallery every 30 seconds.

Renowned for his straightforward approach to making art and his deft economy of means, Creed has produced sculptures, installations, drawings, films, performances, music and text, each of which has found its inspiration in the objects and activities of everyday life. Always in search of the essential nature of things, Creed uses the simplest materials to create a world in which reality appears transformed by conceptual rules, as well as by the unexpected breaking of those rules.

‘I want to make things. Im not sure why, but I think its got something to do with other people. I think I want to try to communicate with other people, because I want to say “hello”, because I want to express myself, and because I want to be loved.’ Martin Creed.

Spin-Off Trip to the Venice Biennale 2009

22-24 October 2009

Spin is offering its members a weekend trip to the oldest and most prestigious contemporary art festivals in the world, the Venice Biennale. Held every two years, the Biennale is an excellent opportunity to see works by leading, international and up-and-coming contemporary artists. Over 77 countries are taking part this year (a record number) and include first-time participations of Montenegro, Republic of Gabon and the United Arab Emirates.

There are two main strands to the Venice Biennale: the Giardini which houses 30 permanent national pavilions and a curated exhibition by the Biennale’s appointed director – Daniel Birnbaum, Rector of the Staedelschule Frankfurt/Main and its Kunsthalle Portikus – which is presented in the newly opened Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly known as the Italian Pavilion) in the Giardini and the Arsenale – the buildings of the adjacent formal naval dockyard. Birnbaums chosen theme is Making Worlds (Fare Mondi) and comprises works by over 90 artists from all over the world including John Baldessari, Carten Holler, Goshka Macuga, Yoko Ono, Philippe Parreno, Simon Starling, Wolfgang Tillmans and Richard Wentworth.

Steve McQueen has been chosen to represent Great Britain in the Giardini. McQueen, who works primarily in film, won the Turner Prize in 1999, was official war artist in Iraq in 2003 and won of the Camera dOr at Cannes for his debut feature, Hunger, about the death of Bobby Sands. For the Biennale, McQueen has made a film entitled Giardini which focuses on the gardens once the Biennale is over.

Other National Participation highlights include Liam Gillick (Germany), Fiona Tan (Netherlands), Bruce Nauman (USA) and the joint collaboration between Denmark and the Nordic Countries – The Collectors by artist duo, Elmgreen and Dragset.

Collateral exhibitions take place in venues spreading across the city of Venice. Scotland is presenting the work of Martin Boyce in the Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina where he has transformed the fading grandeur of a 15th century palazzio with a series of sculptural installations which echoes the maze-like nature of Venice. Representing Wales at the Giudecca is John Cale who has created an audio-visual film work.

In a labyrinthine city like Venice, given the sheer number of artworks to see, it is impossible to visit everything. So thats where we come in. We went on a research trip during the opening week in June and have come up with an itinerary which selects and showcases the very best of this years Biennale. This formula has worked well on our previous trips with members in 2005 and 2007.

The tour will take place from Thursday 22-Saturday 24 October 2009.

The Enlightenments

24 September 2009 at 6pm

For this month’s Spin event, we will be visiting The Enlightenments at the Dean Gallery presented by the Edinburgh International Festival, to see works by acclaimed international contemporary artists Tacita Dean, Greg Creek, Gabrielle de Vietri, Lee Mingwei, Nathan Coley and Joshua Mosley.

Against the backdrop of Edinburgh and its philosophical history, the artworks that make up The Enlightenments offer contemporary observations on subjects including religion, philosophy, superstition, architecture, literature, natural history, the cosmos, scepticism, stoicism and social manners.

Highlights include a new commission by Glasgow-based, Turner Prize nominee Nathan Coley who has re-presented three gnarled tree trunks that supported the roof of a remote 19th century stone cottage in Perthshire. This new sculptural installation is described by curator Juliana Engberg as ‘like a forest but it’s not. It’s like a natural cathedral but it’s not. It’s like a sanctuary but perhaps it’s more spooky than that. It’s for the viewer to decide.’

Other highlights include Lee Mingwei’s Letter Writing Project which invites viewers to think about communicating with absent friends, family and loved ones by writing all the letters they always meant to. Joshua Mosley’s digital film of animated clay figures, presents a fictional encounter between two of history’s greatest thinkers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Blaise Pascal as they journey through a forest and talk about God and nature. In The I Don’t Know Show: Philosophy for Kids, artist Gabrielle de Vietri has recorded interviews with eight to twelve-year-olds in which they answer fundamental philosophical questions about art and life.

Joining us in discussion will be art historian and curator, Bill Hare. Bill is an Honorary Fellow in Scottish art history at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Curator of the Universitys Fine Art Collection. He has also been a lecturer in modern art history and contemporary critical theory with Edinburgh College of Art for the past 30 years and has recently been apppointed Exhibition Curator of the ECA Cast Collection. He has curated many exhibitions working with major artists incuding Alan Davie, Eduardo Paolozzi and Boyle Family. His most recent exhibitions included Divided Selves-The Scottish Self-Portrait from the 17th Century to the Present (2006) at the Talbot Rice Gallery and Beyond Appearances-Painting and Picturing in Scottish Modern and Contemporary Painting (2007) at the City Art Centre.

Langlands & Bell: Films & Animations 1978-2008

30 October 2008 at 6pm

This month we will be visiting the Talbot Rice Gallery to see the work of Turner Prize 2004 nominees, Langlands & Bell.

Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell have been collaborating since 1978, and exhibiting internationally since the early 1980s. This exhibition marks 30 years of their artistic collaboration and looks to re-assess their early and most recent film works.

Well known for their use of modern technologies employed in the production of their animations, sculpture, object design and interactive artworks, the exhibition includes a new neon sculpture, and 13 films and animations.

Whilst the early works have the patina of age indicative of the now superseded technologies used in their creation, digital media has become an important part of their recent working practice, with interactive works such as the installation The House of Osama bin Laden using the most modern of computer production processes. This work, created in 2003 after their visit to Afghanistan as official war artists, is far removed from the everyday, western televised experience of events in the region.

Joining us in discussion will be Zoe Fothergill, Curator of Education and Development at the Talbot Rice Gallery, to talk about the diverse nature of Langlands & Bell’s output to date.