Spike Island Winter 2016 by Spike Island

Spike Island Winter 2016

Exhibitions CafĂŠ Events

Michael Simpson Ruaidhri Ryan

Exhibitions Michael Simpson Flat Surface Painting 16 January to 27 March 2016 Preview: Friday 15 January, 6–9pm

Michael Simpson (born 1940, lives and works in Wiltshire) makes large scale paintings in ongoing series that repeat and rework a number of key elements. Flat Surface Painting is his largest exhibition to date. Rooted in a fascination with fifteenth century Venetian and early Flemish painting, and inflected by the formal restraint and reduced palette of Minimalism, Simpson has developed a distinctive, darkly comedic artistic vocabulary with which to create works that move beyond their subject matter to question the nature of painting itself. Included in the exhibition are works from Simpson’s Bench Painting series (1989– 2009), originally intended as an homage to the Italian Renaissance philosopher

Giordano Bruno. Burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome in 1600, he is regarded as the last great medieval thinker, a martyr to a fully secular freedom of thought, and is known for his vision of an infinite universe and for realising the full implication of the Copernican Revolution — the discovery that the earth revolves around the sun, rather than sitting at the centre of the solar system. Several of the bench paintings directly reference Bruno through the inclusion of titles of his books or the date of his death. Increasingly Simpson has come to see these as vanitas paintings that symbolise the transience of life. The bench itself often takes on a coffin-like form in paintings in which the human body is always absent.

Michael Simpson Bench Painting No 63 (2006) Oil paint on canvas, 236 × 517 cm

To look at many of Simpson’s paintings is to see-saw between abstraction and representation, between depth and flatness. The artist’s key motifs are reduced to their essential geometry and situated in similarly pared-down environments. Forms

Michael Simpson Unnamed (Confessional) (2015) Oil paint on canvas, 282 × 160 cm

Bruno’s fatal clash with the Catholic Church exemplifies the cruelty too often found in religious history, an enduring theme in Simpson’s work. Other series take as their subject architectural motifs associated with organised religion: pulpits or the Islamic minbar, confessional boxes and leper squints (holes in medieval church walls built to allow sufferers of leprosy and other “undesirables” to listen to a sermon without sitting amongst the congregation).

float, apparently suspended in space; elsewhere light, shadow and perspective root objects to the ground. Similarly, the precisely wrought illusion in some works gives way to a much looser rendering of the image in others. The use of larger than life-size scale of many of these works engenders a strong physical engagement; a sense that we could literally step into these exact yet indeterminate spaces. Simpson calls attention to the mechanics of painting, the deceptive force of the constructed image.

Michael Simpson Leper Squint (26) (2015) Oil paint on canvas, 214 × 138 cm

Exhibition Tour

Talk and Tour

Led by Helen Legg, Spike Island Director Saturday 30 January, 2pm Free, no need to book Helen Legg discusses Michael Simpson’s work, reflecting on her visits to his studio and the process of shaping the exhibition.

Dexter Dalwood Thursday 10 March, 6.30pm £5/£3 (free for Associates) Booking advised Bristol born artist and Professor at Bath School of Art and Design, Dexter Dalwood leads a tour of Michael Simpson’s exhibition Flat Surface Painting, drawing out Simpson’s use of space and the mechanics at work in his painting.

In Conversation Michael Simpson and Lizzie Lloyd Tuesday 23 February, 6pm £5/£3 (free for Associates) Booking advised Michael Simpson talks with writer and translator Lizzie Lloyd about his approach to painting, from the primary influence of early Flemish art to his steadfast belief in the mechanics of painting as a means by which to give form to an idea.

Volunteer led tours, no need to book Every last Tuesday of the month at 1pm

Exhibitions

Ruaidhri Ryan Belt Craft Studios 16 January to 27 March 2016 Preview: Friday 15 January, 6–9pm

Ruaidhri Ryan Belt Craft Studios (2014) Production still, courtesy the artist

Ruaidhri Ryan’s (born 1988, lives and works in London) semi-staged documentary follows a crew of technicians setting up props in a film studio. The camera casually observes the action, falling in and out of focus as the crew carefully construct the kind of tracking shots one might expect to find in an advertisement. Belt Craft Studios refers to the shoot location — a north London studio used in hundreds of

commercials, promos and music videos, permanently furnished with vintage paraphernalia. The environment and the objects within it are used to simulate a seductive sense of authenticity. Belt Craft Studios, like much of Ryan’s work, considers the fetish of a supposed authenticity, which has intensified in parallel with our technological capacity to revise, reshape and perfect almost everything.

Events

Ben Rivers There Is A Happy Land Further Awaay (2015) Film still

Film Screening Ben Rivers Tuesday 1 March, 6.30pm £5/£3 (free for Associates), booking advised Ben Rivers’ work captures human interactions with remote landscapes and far off places, often referencing cinematic genres and iconography. This programme of films features the recent There Is a Happy Land Further Awaay [sic] (2015) and Things (2014), alongside two shorter early works, The Coming Race (2007) and A World Rattled of Habit (2008). This screening is presented as part of the ICA Moving Image Network. Screening duration 55 minutes.

Camera Buff: Artists’ Films in Progress Tuesday 15 March, 6.30pm Free, booking advised Go behind the lens with young artists Nicholas Popham and Ben Tupper as they share the making of their new films as part of Camera Buff – Spike Island’s online commissioning strand of experimental films for 16–24 year olds based in the South West of England. Popham uses film-making as a way to expand sculpture and performance, while Tupper’s work manifests itself primarily through found and made objects that are presented alongside video installations. Hear how they are developing their initial proposals into shorts ready for online broadcast. Camera Buff is part of the Random Acts South West Network Hub led by Calling the Shots. Over the course of three years, 72 short films will be produced. Application rounds for Camera Buff run twice a year until 2018.

Talk

Dan Fox Pretentiousness: Why it Matters Thursday 11 February, 6.30pm £5/£3 (free for Associates), booking advised What is pretentiousness? Why are we afraid of it? And more controversially: why is it vital to a thriving culture? Writer and editor Dan Fox argues that it has always been an essential lubricant in the development of the arts, from the most wildly successful pop music and fashion through to the most recondite avenues of literature and the visual arts. Fox advocates critical imagination and open-mindedness over knee-jerk accusations of elitism or simple fear of the new and the different. In this talk, he introduces his new book — a timely defence of pretentiousness as a necessity for innovation and diversity in our culture — which draws on his experiences growing up and working at the more radical edges of the arts as co-editor of frieze and as a musician.

Film Screening Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind In the Future, They Ate From the Finest Porcelain Tuesday 8 March, 6.30pm (includes Q&A with the artists) £5/£3 (free for Associates), booking advised In the Future, They Ate From the Finest Porcelain resides in the cross-section between science-fiction, archaeology and Middle Eastern politics. Combining live action, computer generated imagery and historical photographs the film explores the role of myth in history, fact and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain suggested to belong to an entirely fictional civilisation. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their vanishing lands. Produced by Spike Film and Video.

Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind In the Future, They Ate From the Finest Porcelain (2015) Film still, courtesy Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai and Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid

Talks

Tamarin Norwood Tuesday 19 January, 6pm £5/£3 (free for Associates), booking advised Artist and writer Tamarin Norwood introduces her year long residency at Spike Island. Presenting recent half-blind drawings, subtitled videos and sculptural constructions, she describes her research into the point of contact between pencil and page, and outlines plans to develop this research towards animation and 3D print technologies (see p. 12).

Michael Beutler UWE/Art in the City Talk Wednesday 10 February, 6.30–8pm Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA £6/£4 concessions Free for UWE staff and students with ID Call Arnolfini 0117 917 2300 or visit www.arnolfini.org.uk to book German artist Michael Beutler discusses his practice and forthcoming Spike Island exhibition (16 April to 19 June 2016). Beutler works in situ and always uses industrial materials, which he repurposes and reinterprets in large-scale installations with the help of hand-built tools. The way he works involves a great number of collaborators, who play a fundamental role in his making process. The social structure of the team typically acts as a catalyst for the development of the exhibition as a whole (see p. 12). Michael Beutler Elefant und Schwein im 3D-Wandteppichstall (2010/2012) Private Collection, Cologne

Studios

Julian Claxton The Mysterious Blue Rider (2015) Photograph by J. Watkins

Behind the Scenes Studio Visits

Test Space

Free, booking advised Chat with artists based at Spike Island, explore their studios and view works-inprogress during these informal encounters. Each artist gives a brief introduction to their practice followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion.

Test Space is programmed by studio holders based at Spike Island and offers artists a chance to exhibit new works and test ideas. Artists from within the Spike Island community and beyond are included. Please ask at reception for access. Free entry. Further projects and events will be announced online at topfloortestspace.wordpress.com.

Saturday 13 February, 2pm Julian Claxton discusses his new work and his approach to using social media as a proxy for the gallery or public realm. Sarah Wilton shares recent ceramic works that explore abstract forms of communication, material meaning and design.

Katy Connor, Zero Landscape 16 January to 7 February (Preview: Friday 15 January, 6–9pm) Katy Connor presents sculptural objects and print works that consider the body’s spatial positioning through both medical and geo-locational technologies. Anne Deeming 20 February to 6 March (Preview: Friday 19 February, 6–9pm) Anne Deeming explores the emotive power of everyday objects.

Literature

Novel Writers £5/£3 concessions, booking advised Each month we invite a debut novelist to read from and talk about their work in an informal setting. Extracts are available in advance but prior knowledge of the texts is not essential. These sessions are a great way to discover new writing talent and great books. In partnership with Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Joanna Walsh Vertigo

Brian Catling The Vorrh Thursday 28 January, 6.30pm Next to the colonial town of Essenwald sits the Vorrh, a vast — perhaps endless — forest. It is a place of demons and angels, of warriors and priests. Sentient and magical, the Vorrh bends time and wipes memory. Legend has it that the Garden of Eden still exists at its heart. Now, a renegade English soldier aims to be the first human to traverse its expanse. ‘There are not many books that rearrange the molecules of your being, turning your eyes inside out. The Vorrh, this saturnine post-traumatic testament, is one of them. A work of genius.’ — Iain Sinclair

Thursday 31 March, 6.30pm This is a woman as a mother, daughter, wife, spectator, lover, mistress. Observer and commentator. Actor and reactor. As every new woman emerges and every new story is told, each with a sharper, more deadpan, more aching simplicity, the calm surfaces of Joanna Walsh’s Vertigo shatter, pulling us deep into the panic that underlies everyday life. ‘Joanna Walsh’s haunting and unforgettable stories enact a literal vertigo — the feeling that if I fall I will fall not toward the earth but into space — by probing the spaces between things. Vertigo is an original and breathtaking book.’ — Chris Kraus

Brian Catling, photograph by David Tolley

Activities

Image courtesy Puppet Place

I am Making Art Free, booking advised These monthly activity sessions are led by artists and take place in the Spike Island Café. Visitors of all ages and abilities can try out new techniques and approaches to making art, from drawing and painting to collage, sculpture and animation and are invited to drop in any time during the session. Painted object Saturday 6 February, 12-4pm Explore the stories and textures inherent in objects in this workshop led by Vic Coombs and transform found materials through paint, tape and veneers. Bring along a found object of your choice. (All other materials provided.) Paper Shadows Saturday 5 March, 12–4pm Tear, snip, crease and fold your way through this workshop designed to bring paper to life. Cori Bona, an experienced puppeteer and maker, shares ideas in crafting paper designs and exploring manipulation through shadows.

Baby Art Hour Friday 22 January, 10–11am Friday 19 February, 10–11am Friday 18 March, 10–11am £3 for the first child in a family group, £1 for any additional children. All materials provided, booking essential Led by Éilis Kirby, these monthly sessions in Spike Island Café are for under fives and their carers. Play with colour, shape, texture and easy ways to create, using simple methods and materials you can usually find at home. The gallery opens early at 11am so you can look around the current exhibitions after the session.

Residencies

Tamarin Norwood Artist and writer Tamarin Norwood works with text, video and sculptural installation to examine gesture and pictorial figuration in drawing and writing. Throughout 2016 Norwood is in residence at Spike Island, working with a network of researchers and practitioners including an animator, a 3D print engineer, a choreographer and a sign language translator to explore the acts of drawing and writing in relation to time and threedimensional space. She hosts a series of public conversations, presentations and live experiments as she develops a new body of work (see p. 8). Follow the residency at www.pointlinetime.net

Tamarin Norwood installing what the point is: the end of the line (2015) Photograph by Peter Kidd

Coming soon Michael Beutler 16 April to 19 June 2016 Preview 15 April, 6–9pm For his first solo exhibition in a UK public art gallery, German artist Michael Beutler conceives a site-specific installation which draws upon Spike Island’s architecture and broader social context, responding to the building’s current use as a gallery and artists’ studio complex, and to its historic use as a tea packing factory. Beutler is interested in industrial production processes, serialisation, modularity, standardised collective fantasies of architecture and design, makeshift constructions, recycling, DIY, prototyping and other alternative forms of architecture. To manufacture his own works, the artist creates hand-built tools or art making devices, which he often shows alongside his installations (see p. 8).

McArthur’s Warehouse, Artspace’s first home (1980s)

Artspace’s 40th Anniversary Archival display and film 30 April to 19 June 2016 Preview 29 April, 6–9pm 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of Artspace Bristol Ltd. (or Artspace), which later became Spike Island. Artspace was founded in the mid-1970s by a group of painters, sculptors and printmakers who sought out and administered affordable studio spaces for artists in Bristol. For this display, photographs, letters and posters from the Artspace archive (now housed at the Bristol Record Office) are presented alongside a new film produced to celebrate this pioneering artists’ collective.

OPEN STUDIOS 29 April to 2 May 2016 The popular Spike Island Open Studios sees artists throw open their doors for you to explore their working environment and learn what they do. Taking place over Spring bank holiday weekend, it includes a variety of exhibitions, performances, installations, interventions and film screenings throughout the building. Spike Print Studio, Spike Associates and Spike Design host events, activities and tours, while delicious food and drink is served by the best of Bristol’s street food suppliers and Spike Island Café.

Calendar

January Friday 15 6–9pm Exhibition Previews: Michael Simpson, Flat Surface Painting Ruaidhri Ryan, Belt Craft Studios Test Space: Katy Connor Tuesday 19 6pm Artist’s Talk: Tamarin Norwood Friday 22 10–11am Baby Art Hour Thursday 28 6.30pm Novel Writers: Brian Catling Saturday 30 2pm Exhibition Tour

p. 2 p. 5 p. 9 p. 8 p. 11 p. 10 p. 4

February Saturday 6 12–4pm I am Making Art Thursday 11 6.30pm Talk: Dan Fox Saturday 13 2pm Behind the Scenes Studio Visits Friday 19 10–11am Baby Art Hour 6–9pm Test Space: Anne Deeming Tuesday 23 6pm In Conversation: Michael Simpson and Lizzie Lloyd

p. 11 p. 7 p. 9 p. 11 p. 9 p. 4

March Tuesday 1 6.30pm Film Screening: Ben Rivers Saturday 5 12–4pm I am Making Art Tuesday 8 6.30pm Film Screening: Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind Thursday 10 6.30pm Talk and Tour: Dexter Dalwood Tuesday 15 6.30pm Camera Buff: Artists’ Films in Progress Friday 18 10–11am Baby Art Hour Thursday 31 6.30pm Novel Writers: Joanna Walsh

p. 6 p. 11 p. 7 p. 4 p. 6 p. 11 p. 10

Book for events online at www.spikeisland.org.uk, call 0117 929 2266 or visit reception.

Equipment hire and production Spike Film and Video provides exhibition, production and post-production services to artists and the arts sector. Our large stock of professional AV exhibition equipment is available to hire and we can provide post production services for your projects. www.spikeisland.org.uk/spikefilm-and-video

Spike Design This affordable shared workspace offers a creative and dynamic environment for newly established design practices, providing advice and support to help small businesses grow. www.spikedesign.org.uk

Thank you

Support us

Donate Spike Island is a registered charity (no.1003505) working to nurture artistic talent and bring artists and audiences together. Your gift, via our website or at one of our donations boxes, supports free entry to exhibitions, educational activities, subsidised studios and artists’ development.

Volunteer Join our dynamic team of volunteers and make a significant contribution to the work we do, while gaining valuable work experience within the arts. Apply online at www.spikeisland.org.uk/opportunities

Spike Island is a registered charity (no. 1003505). Spike Island gratefully acknowledges support from Arts Council England and Bristol City Council. We wish to thank Patrons of New Art Bristol for their support: Jerry Cowhig MBE, Professor Alex Gilkison, Mike Jackson, Lance Moir, Esther O’Callaghan OBE, Zoe Sear, Craig White, Iwan Wirth and those who wish to remain anonymous. Michael Simpson wishes to thank Dexter Dalwood, Jack Hey, David Risley, and his four children Abigail, Daniel, Jacob and Samuel.

Cover images: Michael Simpson Leper Squint (25) (2015) Oil paint on canvas, 229 × 107 cm All images of Michael Simpson works courtesy the artist and David Risley Gallery Ruaidhri Ryan Belt Craft Studios (2014) Production still, courtesy the artist

This programme is available in large print. Ask at reception, email admin@spikeisland.org.uk or call 0117 929 2266.

Spike Island

Visitor Information

Spike Island is an international centre for the development of contemporary art and design. A vibrant hub for production, presentation and debate, it invites audiences to engage directly with creative practices through participation and discussion.

Gallery open Tuesday to Sunday, 12–5pm (during exhibitions only). Admission to the gallery is free. Prices for events vary, please see individual listings for details.

133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UX Tel. 0117 929 2266 www.spikeisland.org.uk admin@spikeisland.org.uk

Spike Island aims to be a fully accessible building. There are three Blue Badge parking spaces outside the main entrance.

Café open Monday to Friday, 8.30am–5pm, Saturday and Sunday, 12–5pm.

Booking Information Book for events online at www.spikeisland.org.uk, call 0117 929 2266 or visit Reception.

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