Aesthetica Issue 84

Aesthetica

THE ART & CULTURE MAGAZINE

www.aestheticamagazine.com

Issue 84 August / September 2018

INSPIRING MINIMALISM

NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION

INTRICATE CUSTOMISATION

Pushing the boundaries of material culture and sustainable production

Emerging fashion labels address the impact of rapid consumption

The pastel buildings of North Korea offer an intriguing view of socialism

Computer-aided design contributes to functional and responsive architecture

UK £5.95 Europe €11.95 USA $15.49

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

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Welcome Editor’s Note

On the Cover Sally Ann and Emily May Gunawan return to Aesthetica with a shoot inspired by the Australian landscape. Playful and contemplative, the compositions combine elements from both fashion and design, using geometric styling and natural elements. www.sallyemily.com (p. 118).

Cover Image: Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May. Styling by Amy Wanderlove. Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai. Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY. Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

Sustainability is the key concept of our time. It’s hard to imagine the world 500 years ago; it’s even more difficult to imagine it 1,000 years from now. What will it look like? This is an impossible question to answer, but forms an important part of the human story. As a species, we are capable of so much, and the desire to improve our impact on the planet is there; large fast-food behemoths are finally taking action to ban plastic straws. Perhaps we are starting to take a step in the right direction? It gives me great joy. As a society, we have had decades of mass polluting and over-consumption, but now we are waking up to the consequences of our actions. Real change is happening at last.

Inside this issue we look at Why Materials Matter and Manufacturing Architecture, which both examine consumer models and how products need to have a longer life span than a single use. It’s fundamental to note that both designers and architects are responding with ingenious solutions. It’s this type of technology and innovation that will transform the way we live. We also take a bird’s eye view into North Korean architecture through Oliver Wainwright’s photography. Considering the current diplomatic situation between North Korea and South Korea, alongside the USA, it’s a timely glimpse at a place that has been closed to outside influences. London Fashion Week is one of the world’s top events for discovering the latest trends, but for us, it’s about exploring how practitioners are making an impact.

In photography, we look at spaces and humanity’s interaction with them. There are five artists included: James Casebere, Kevin Krautgartner, Romain Veillon, Brooke DiDonato and Esther Hovers. We have also undertaken our annual collaboration with London College of Communication, foregrounding the next generation of talent. Juno Calypso and Emma Hartvig are amongst those who have previously come through this initiative. Sally Ann and Emily May Gunawan have created a new series for us, which considers points of departure between land and sea. Finally, Thomas Wrede gives us the Last Words. Enjoy!

Cherie Federico

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contents

Art 16 Regular Sections Included within this issue is the launch of Japan House London, Hamburg’s 2018 photography Triennial and Olafur Eliasson’s first building.

24 Spatial Recognition James Casebere devises table-top arrangements, offering constructed sets and deceptive images that focus on the elements of colour and light.

38 National Construction Oliver Wainwright provides an intriguing glimpse into North Korea’s pastel interiors and fantastical structures – from offices to swimming pools.

44 Surreal Interactions Brooke DiDonato’s uncanny worlds are driven by human emotions; each page presents a different scenario where nature seems to be rewritten.

54 Urban Algorithms Esther Hovers’ False Positives series utilises data from intelligent surveillance cameras to assess what qualifies as suspicious human behaviour.

64 Changing Perspectives Considering the breadth of materials available in today’s world, Seetal Solanki investigates the past, present and future of international design.

70 Visions of the City Stripping buildings back to simplistic lines and forms, Kevin Krautgartner draws upon the rise in architectural tourism and aesthetic minimalism.

80 Intricate Customisation The possibilities of computer-aided design and numerical control are foregrounded in Dana K. Gulling’s research, mapping architectural futures.

86 Moments of Isolation Supporting emerging talents in the industry, this edition of Aesthetica marks the fifth instalment of Next Generation, in partnership with LCC.

98 Inspiring Minimalism Emerging brands Gayeon Lee and Matter Matters produce garments that are made to last, using art as inspiration and individuality as an incentive.

104 Historic Inspiration Romain Veillon’s photographs inhabit a world of testimony and nostalgia, documenting buildings that have been abandoned by lost populations.

118 Points of Departure Sally Ann and Emily May Gunawan’s cover shoot uses the landscape as a compositional tool; blue skies and open seas create dynamic backdrops.

Exhibitions

Film

Music

130 Gallery Reviews Featured within this issue: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Fondazione Prada, Hayward Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield, Camera Work and ICP.

135 Youthful Narratives Desiree Akhavan gives a voice to American teens; her latest film is based on Emily M. Danforth’s novel The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

137 Digital Inspiration Youtube sensation Emma Blackery presents her first full-length album; Villains is a pop-fuelled debut that explores themes from the digital age.

Books

Artists’ Directory

Last Words

138 The Ideological Structure Architects’ houses are brought into the spolight in a compelling publication; notable figures include Jennifer Beningfield and Robert Konieczny.

152 Textural Imaginations The August / September selection includes artists working with various media and multidisciplinary practices, from sculpture and painting to design.

162 Thomas Wrede With a new show at Von der Heydt, WuppertalBarmen, Wrede draws a line between reality and artifice, engaging with alternative perceptions.

Aesthetica Magazine is trade marked worldwide. © Aesthetica Magazine Ltd 2018.

The Aesthetica Team Editor: Cherie Federico Assistant Editor: Kate Simpson Digital Assistant: Eleanor Sutherland Staff Writer: David Martin

Advertisement Enquiries Jeremy Appleyard (0044) (0)844 568 2001 advertising@aestheticamagazine.com

ISSN 1743-2715.

All work is copyrighted to the author or artist.

All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without permission from the publisher.

Advertising Coordinator: Jeremy Appleyard Marketing Coordinator: Hannah Skidmore Artists’ Directory Coordinator: Katherine Smira

Artists’ Directory Enquiries Katherine Smira (0044) (0)844 568 2001 directory@aestheticamagazine.com

Published by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley.

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Contributors: Agata Toromanoff, Tom Seymour, Laura May Todd, Stephanie Strasnick, Beth Webb, Charlotte R-A, Gunseli Yalcinkaya.

Reviewers: Olivia Hampton, Louis Soulard, Selina Oakes, Sara Jaspan, Sarah Jilani, Matt Swain, Kyle Bryony, Paul Risker, James Mottram, Grace Caffyn, Tony Earnshaw, Carolina Mostert.

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The Langen Foundation. Copyright Langen Foundation, photo Tomas Riehle. A Group Show of Works from the Burger Collection Hong Kong, How To See [What Isn’t There] at Langen Foundation, Germany, 9 September 2018 - 17 March 2019.

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Conceptual Oppositions HOW TO SEE [WHAT ISN’T THERE] The show is structured into five sections: Reaching for “The pieces evoke the The Burger Collection in Hong Kong is a private selection with a global reach, ideally placed to bring together east- Emptiness, Archaeology in Reverse, A Presence Made of most fundamental ern and western perspectives on one of the most funda- Absence, Something Out of Nothing, and Self-Portrait of metaphysical question: mental dichotomies of existence – the opposition between Me and You. Within these, the chosen artists include Doug how the concept what is present and what is absent. These intangible notions Aitken, Fiona Banner, Angus Fairhurst, Urs Fischer, Zhang of nothing can include liminal states such as dematerialisation and the Huan and Huang Rui, as well as emerging talents such as exist. With all their paradox of making an absence feel like a physical pres- Iván Argote, Mohamed Bourouissa, Marguerite Humeau, scope for scientific, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Pamela Rosenkranz and Ho Sin Tung. philosophical ence – all conceptual and technical challenges for art.

Works drawing upon these areas evoke strong emotional The 45 selected pieces illustrate the depth of the theme and theological responses, with connotations of memory – of erased his- and the many approaches possible to such a fundamental interpretation.” tories and intangible forces. Furthermore, looking at the opposition. They range across diverse disciplines, including sense of loss, the pieces evoke the most fundamental met- sculpture, installation, painting, photography, video, VR aphysical question: how the concept of nothing can exist. and performance. Collection Founder Monique Burger With all their scope for scientific, philosophical and theo- says: “As we have not set up a physical space to showcase logical interpretation, such artworks are complex in nature our collection, we occasionally give curators carte blanche to exhibit. The contextualisation of artworks by these and echo acts of creation and the spaces inbetween.

How To See [What Isn’t There] is a group exhibition at different figures offers a fresh look at what we are doing.”

This is further established through the viewpoint of ExhibiLangen Foundation comprising 32 artists from the collection, exploring this profound territory, presented in tion Curator Gianni Jetzer: “The artists in this exhibition are a museum that is itself a work of art. Designed by Tadao innovative in activating the intangible in their work, often Ando, a Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, the venue has an operating with conceptual gestures, disappearance, emp- Langen Foundation, invisible history, felt in the absence of physical traces. The tiness, dematerialisation, and the simple, yet profound, Neuss, Germany minimalist building, made of glass and concrete, occupies framing of the void. The exhibition unveils some of these 9 September - 17 March what was the site of Raketenstation Hombroich, a former surprising perspectives by exploring the constant dialogue military ground that saw active service during the Cold War. taking place between the visible and invisible.” www.burgercollection.org

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A Manifestation of Possibility SOU FUJIMOTO: FUTURES OF THE FUTURE

Sou Fujimoto, L’Arbre Blanc.

The Japan House show is unique in that it not only features “Born in Hokkaido, A new cultural hub brings the latest developments in Japanese art, design and technology to the heart of London; current projects by Fujimoto but also looks at structural Fujimoto takes Japan House on Kensington High Street launches its pro- experiments and potential directions, asking the visitor to inspiration from gramme with a showcase for one of today’s most innova- share in imagining a variety of possible ideas and spaces for an early love of tive architectural figures. Hokkaido-born Sou Fujimoto (b. an ever-changing landscape. Fujimoto explains the notion exploring the natural 1971) will perhaps be best known to UK audiences for his of potential through the wider relevance of the exhibition’s landscape, with creation of the 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, title: “Creating architecture is like planting seeds. When we the idea of the in which an impressive structure used the most basic forms design, we pay close attention to the context of the site, forest and the and materials, taking on an ethereal and cloud-like quality. the requests of our clients and the cultural and historical cave becoming key A three-dimensional grid of white-painted steel and glass backgrounds of each local community. Our dialogues with preoccupations.” a variety of such factors inspire us to create actual places. resembled an architect’s drawing come to life.

Fujimoto takes inspiration from an early love of explor- In other words, it might be the kind of work to give forms ing the natural landscape, with the idea of the forest and to latent possibilities that remain hidden in the real society. the cave becoming key preoccupations and recurring fig- Therefore, if what we call ‘future’ is defined as a series of ures in his work. The structures are often open frameworks manifestation of possibilities, I would say that small propospermeated by natural spaces, reconfigurable around the als that stimulate them are ‘seeds of the future.’”

The show also considers Fujimoto’s fundamental concept user’s evolving and changing needs. Various renowned projects such as Final Wooden House and House N (both of “found architecture”, his belief that new possibilities are 2008) create overlapping domains that blur the distinction already all around us, embedded within the forms of evebetween inside and outside, and offer multi-level environ- ryday objects, awaiting discovery. He notes: “Architecture, I ments inspired as much by trees or climbing frames as by think, is something that is first found and then made. Just design convention. A graduate of the University of Tokyo, as our ancestors find their habitat in caves and woods, in Japan House, London he established his practice in 2000, with major institutional modern times we discover ours amongst the many things we Until 5 August commissions that include the Musashino Art University encounter in this immense built jungle. And it is a discovery like this that leads us to conceiving new projects.”

Museum and Library in Tokyo (2010). www.japanhouselondon.uk

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Siegfried Hansen, Hamburg, 2016.

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Reflections on the City TRIENNIAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY HAMBURG Breaking Point is the over-arching theme of this year’s Trien- graphical series, A Somebody (2002), addresses the abiding “The featured nial of Photography Hamburg, which draws together a vast fascination with rock stars who met early and tragic deaths. photographers range of practitioners and approaches. Amongst the many In these questioning images, Corbijn captures portraits of document how strands of events – encompassing 320 artists and 80 venues John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, set the metropolitan environment facilitates across the city – is a focus on street photography and a wider against the village where he grew up.

Another key solo show celebrates the Iranian-born artist chance meetings and investigation of contemporary urban life. The featured practitioners document how the metropolitan environment fa- Shirana Shahbazi, best-known for abstract work which is pro- interactions, yet can cilitates a multitude of chance meetings and interactions, yet duced with a highly contemporary aesthetic, yet without any also foster feelings can also foster feelings of isolation and alienation – loneli- form of digital intervention. What is both revealed and ques- of isolation and tioned is the role of the viewer and how the understanding of alienation – loneliness ness manifested in the midst of the crowds. manifested in the Artists include Hamburg’s own Siegfried Hansen, whose any image is framed by wider interpretations.

Overall, the Triennial explores many themes which clearly midst of the crowds.” interest is in the geometric compositions and colours that result from the random encounters of city life. Meanwhile, reference our turbulent times. The exhibition [HOME] works by icons of street photography such as Diane Arbus, extends the title, considering the broader notions within Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, William Klein and Martin Parr domestic spaces: belonging, displacement, migration and hang side-by-side with contemporary photographers like nomadism. Meanwhile, [DELETE] not only showcases the Maciej Dakowicz, Mohamed Bourouissa, Ahn Jun and Harri work of photojournalists but develops the genre through Pälviranta in the [SPACE] Street. Life. Photography show taking a wider examination of how media narratives are created, considering the images that do not get published or become place at the Deichtorhallen House of Photography.

Elsewhere, one of the major names featured is Anton Cor- part the official record, and how these decisions are made bijn, renowned for creating striking portraits of musicians and by editors. For the first time, a fringe event runs alongside helping to shape their wider public image. Such artists and the main programme, featuring 15 upcoming artists selected Various venues, Hamburg bands include Joy Division, Depeche Mode and Tom Waits. from more than 450 applicants. [OFF] TRIENNALE offers Until 30 September In Anton Corbijn: The Living and the Dead, however, the Dutch each of these chosen practitioners a location in which to photographer turns the lens on himself. One of the autobio- collaborate and create a site-specific solo show. www.phototriennale.de

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Making Global Connections WALL POWER: CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY Ross, for example, is driven by a preoccupation with the legacy of colonialism and its treatment of populations. Further to this, her practice is led by a sense of materiality, creating an overall aesthetic rather than a didactic, conceptual experience, reflecting the ambiguity felt by those who enjoy the economic fruits of the past whilst being aware of the real price that’s still being paid. Meanwhile, Deacon (b. 1957) creates sharp, satirical work, making use of dolls and other kitsch objects to illustrate how the dominant culture works to represent native people as being less than human.

Miur’s Blue Burqa in a Sunburnt Country series considers similar subjects. Poised amongst various brilliant blue landscapes, a shrouded figure is intended as a reminder of Australia’s continued debate on the burqa, alongside troubling anti-immigration policies. Miur notes, in a self-written feature in LensCulture: “The burqa’s journey in this series – whose title is borrowed from Australia’s best-known poem, Dorothea Mackellar’s My Country – surely offers more questions than answers, but ultimately it is intended as a series of hope.”

Reflective on what identity means in 21st century society, these works ruminate on nation and geography. Considering the photographs on view, Gael Newton, former Senior Curator of the National Gallery of Australia, comments: “Even when most provocative, they still seem ‘Australian’ to me in their offbeat subtlety and their wry puns and references.”

“Curated by the Michael Reid Gallery in Berlin, the Australian Embassy in Paris showcases 22 leading figures in contemporary photography, covering a broad spectrum of practical and conceptual approaches.”

Australian Embassy, Paris Until 12 November www.france.embassy.gov.au

Blue Burqa #4, © Fabian Muir 2014.

The Australian national identity is complex and conflicted, where anxieties of a colonial past and tensions between the dominant culture and indigenous people are still present.

The land is a continent of vast wildernesses and stunning landscapes which, with a unique quality of light, are steeped in different histories and mythologies. As such, it presents a range of compelling subjects to be explored through a thriving photographic culture. Curated by the Michael Reid Gallery in Berlin, the Australian Embassy in Paris showcases 22 leading figures in contemporary photography, covering a broad spectrum of practical and conceptual approaches, and presenting a compelling argument for the immediacy and power of the medium, especially in today’s globalised world.

The line-up features work from the last two decades or so, by a generation of practitioners who were born between the 1950s and 1980s. Represented are Bill Henson, Brook Andrew, Catherine Nelson, Christian Thompson, Deborah Paauwe, Destiny Deacon, Fabian Muir, Joan Ross, Joseph McGlennon, Luke Shadbolt, Marian Drew, Michael Riley, Narelle Autio, Nici Cumpston, Petrina Hicks, Polixeni Papapetrou, Rosemary Laing, Shaun Gladwell, Tamara Dean, Tony Albert, Tracey Moffatt and Trent Parke. As a collective, these figures demonstrate a range of potential approaches, which can be taken towards understanding the country’s history and the ways in which past injustice is still felt in the present.

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Sadie Clayton. Film still from studio in Dalston, May 2017. Courtesy the Adobe team and casual films.

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Multidisciplinary Presentation ING DISCERNING EYE 2018 The Discerning Eye was established in the UK in 1990 as an Magazine; Nick Ross, Radio and Television Presenter; John educational charity with the aim of encouraging a wider un- Benjamin Hickey, Actor; and Sadie Clayton, Artist. Clayton, derstanding and appreciation of the visual arts. Stimulating who joins the panel for the first time, is a multidisciplinary debate about the place and purpose for art in contemporary practitioner specialising in copper sculpture, who has exhibsociety, the organisation has been built around recognising ited at renowned institutions including the Royal College of Art, Tate and Art Basel Miami and worked with brands such contributions that can further cultural recognition.

Since establishing itself as a platform for experimentation as Nixon and Alcantara. She notes: “Having launched my and innovation, the charity’s main output is an annual exhi- own brand fusing fashion, art and technology I feel honbition at The Mall Galleries, London, in November, compris- oured to be part of the selection panel for the 2018 edition ing an imaginative presentation of publicly submitted works of ING Discerning Eye. I’ve always integrated art into my and independent selections. Sponsored by ING Wholesale pieces, and now I’m making the transition into becoming a Banking, the show is centred around tenacity and diversity creator, a maker and an innovator – not just a designer. As of expression, celebrating the identities of both artists and such, I’m interested in a cross pollination of disciplines; I’m excited to be selecting works from all kinds of practitioners curators, and the dialogues that are made between them.

Inviting six judges to be part of the process – two artists, – painters, sculptors, stylists, illustrators and embroiderers – two critics and two curators – the competition calls upon dif- fusing together an explosion of creativity.”

This year’s competition is currently open for entries, proferent areas of expertise to ensure a breadth of cultural and creative opinion. Each of these pioneering figures makes a viding an accessible and all-encompassing opportunity for selection based on their knowledge and experience from works by lesser-known artists to be hung alongside internadifferent sectors, and is asked to curate a distinctive and tionally recognised names. UK-based practitioners are invitindividual presentation of works, with at least 25 per cent ed to submit up to six works in any media and across either two or three dimensions. ING Discerning Eye promotes ditaken from the national open submission.

For 2018, the judges include Bridget McCrum, Artist; versity across its creative platforms, and as such, is open to Frances Hedges, Associate Editor for Harper’s Bazaar and material experimentation, as well as innovative approaches Town and Country; Cherie Federico, Editor of Aesthetica to concept, form, subject matter and narrative.

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“Sponsored by ING Wholesale Banking, the show is centred around tenacity and diversity of expression, celebrating the identities of both artists and curators, and the dialogues that are made between them.”

Pre-registration is open until 28 August.

The exhibition runs 15-25 November at Mall Galleries, London. thediscerningeye. artopps.co.uk

A Shift in Approach OLAFUR ELIASSON: FJORDENHUS place of work – commissioned by investment firm KIRK KA- “Rising out of the PITAL A/S, it is the company’s new headquarters. The ground water of the harbour, floor level, featuring Eliasson’s artworks, is open to the public, Fjordenhus (Fjord whilst offices occupy the upper floors. Visitors can access the House) is the first ground floor via a footbridge or stroll along the jetty which building to have been has been designed by the landscape architect Günther Vogt. designed entirely The building’s public, double-height entrance level is dedi- by the architectural cated to the relation of the building to the water, drawing at- team at the studio tention to the plane where the structure plunges beneath the founded by the muchsurface, its curved edges framing glimpses of the surround- acclaimed artist.” ing shores and harbour. The building is permeated by the waters of the harbour, and its two aqueous zones are visible via viewing platforms. Both the architectural spaces and Eliasson’s artworks engage in dialogue with the surface of the fjord.

Eliasson has long been fascinated with perception, movement, embodied experience and the self. This is a grand statement of his belief that art is one way of turning thinking into doing.

The completion of Fjordenhus marks the shift of the studio’s activities in the field of experimental architecture to a new international office, Studio Other Spaces (SOS), which was first founded by Eliasson and his long-time collaborator, architect Sebastian Behmann, in Berlin in 2014. Studio Other Spaces Vejle, Denmark will be the primary vehicle for large-scale interdisciplinary and Now Open to the Public experimental works of a similar scope. Projects are currently in development around the world, from Paris to Addis Ababa. www.olafureliasson.net

Olafur Eliasson, Fjordhvirvel, 2018. Stainless steel, coloured glass (blue, green), LEDs, 468cm x 700cm x 700 cm.

Fjordenhus, Vejle, Denmark. Image: Anders Sune Berg, 2018, Kirk Kapital. © 2018 Olafur Eliasson.

The idea of the “Gesamtkunstwerk” or “total work of art” has proved an influential one both in aesthetic theory and in diverse branches of artistic practice, notably architecture. In the hands of Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967), a striking contemporary interpretation of this concept can now be seen on the waterfront of the Jutland town of Vejle, a growing economic hub in Denmark. Throughout his career, the Icelandic / Danish artist has created immersive environments and striking interventions in public spaces, founded on manipulating fundamental elements such as the relationships between light, space and water.

These characteristics, and a growing involvement in innovative architectural projects, combine in a new career landmark.

Rising out of the water of the harbour, Fjordenhus (Fjord House) is the first building to have been designed entirely by the architectural team at the studio founded by the muchacclaimed artist. It incorporates site-specific works that reflect the structure’s relationship to the surrounding water of Vejle Fjord and also features Eliasson’s bespoke furniture and lighting designs. All the shapes are derived from circles and ellipses; formed by four intersecting cylinders, the project rises to a height of 28 metres. Rounded negative volumes have been carved from the facades built of custom-glazed brick to create an intriguing spatial language of complex curved, circular and elliptical forms, torqueing walls and parabolic arches.

Fjordenhus is not only a compelling work of art but also a

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1. Chen Wei, In the Waves #4, 2013. Archival inkjet print, 150cm x 187.5cm. Image: Courtesy of Chen Wei Studio. 2. Trix & Robert Haussmann, Ionic column stump, Function Follows Forms, 1978. Modell, Zabrowsky Modellbau, Dumeng Raffaine. Photo: Fred Waldvogel. Courtesy Trix & Robert Haussmann. 3. Wim Wenders, Sydney, 1984. © Wim Wenders, courtesy of the artist. 4. Daniel Boudinet, Roads and roundabouts, 1977. Ministère de la Culture / Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine / Dist. RMN-GP © Donation Daniel Boudinet. 5. Sean Scully, Boxes of Air, 2015 © The artist, courtesy Sean Scully.

10 to See RECOMMENDED EXHIBITIONS THIS SEASON

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Gwangju Biennale

Biennale Hall, Gwangju, South Korea 7 September - 11 November

www.gwangjubiennale.org Asia’s leading contemporary art biennale, Gwangju takes Imagined Borders as its 2018 theme. With 153 artists from 41 countries, a series of seven exhibitions addresses the political, cultural, physical and emotional underpinnings of borders in today’s global community and considers issues around displacement and migration. A collective of 11 international curators has devised the thematic exhibitions.

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nottinghamcontemporary.org This intriguing Swiss design duo has created innovative work across architecture, product design, installation, furniture and textiles for more than 50 years, blending influences that range from popular culture to the 16th century, with subversive and playful wit. This joint retrospective, entitled The Log-O-Rithmic Slide Rule, is presented alongside a debut solo show by Pia Camil.

www.co-berlin.org From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Polaroids served as a visual notebook for acclaimed German film director Wim Wenders (b. 1945), and also as a place to experiment with composition, as well as a photographic road movie featuring travels around the globe and behind-thescenes shots of life on the film set. Instant Stories presents around 240 Polaroids from the director’s archive, the only chance to see them in his home country.

www.jeudepaume.org Le temps de la couleur reconsiders the work of Daniel Boudinet (1945-1990), a key figure in the photographic renaissance of the 1970s. With a particular focus on the urban environment and its architecture, notably at night, Boudinet reinvents the use of colour, with long exposures creating seductive and slightly surreal spaces. His night photographs of the city are complemented by scenes of gardens and nature.

Trix & Robert Haussmann

Nottingham Contemporary Until 7 October

Wim Wenders

C/O Berlin Until 23 September

Daniel Boudinet

Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours Until 28 October

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Sean Scully

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield 29 September - 6 January

www.ysp.org.uk Inside Outside is the largest-ever presentation of sculptures in the UK by Irish-born Sean Scully (b.

1945). Exploring concepts of landscape and abstraction alongside human experience, it unites the sculptures with important recent paintings on aluminium and linen, together with works on paper. At YSP, Scully creates resolutely contemporary paintings and sculptures responding to the park’s landscape.

6. Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009.) Couple Walking, 1979. Gelatin silver print on paper, 11 inch x 14 inch (27.9cm x 35.6cm.) Courtesy of Sherry DeCarava and the DeCarava Archives. © 2017 Estate of Roy DeCarava. All Rights Reserved. 7. Stills de Fordlandia, 2014. Video Full HD, 29:42 min. Credit: Julien Devaux. Courtesy Peter Kilchmann Galerie and Galeria Nara Roesler. 8. Hanabi 5, 2001. © Rinko Kawauchi.

Han Nefkens H+F Collection / Huis Marseille. Courtesy ROSEGALLERY. 9. Appartement aan de Ruhrorterstrasse, Keulen (ca. 1929). © Werner Mantz / Museum Ludwig. 10. Susie Ganch, Untitled (detail), 2010. Steel, enameled copper and panel. 36 inches x 24 inches x 12 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Sienna Patti Contemporary. Photo by Taylor Dabney.

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Soul of a Nation

Brooklyn Museum 14 September - 3 February

www.brooklynmuseum.org Subtitled Art in the Age of Black Power, this exhibition showcase African American artists as they responded to the revolutionary thought and action of a period that transformed society. All the work collected was created between 1963 and 1983, feeding into and reflecting upon activism. More than 60 artists are featured, including Emma Amos, Frank Bowling, Sam Gilliam, Barkley L. Hendricks, Betye Saar, Alma Thomas, Jack Whitten and William T. Williams.

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www.biennial.com To mark its tenth edition and 20th anniversary, the Liverpool Biennial takes its direction from a 1788 line of poetry by Freidrich Schiller: “Beautiful world, where are you?” To the curators, this not only evokes a sense of lamentation at social, political and environmental turmoil, but also an invitation to rethink the present collectively.

Amongst more than 40 artists from 22 countries is an exclusive video installation from Agnès Varda.

www.huismarseille.nl Seven very different contemporary Japanese photographers – Naoya Hatakeyama, Syoin Kajii, Rinko Kawauchi, Toshiko Okanoue, Yuki Onodera, Chino Otsuka and Nao Tsuda – find common ground in a shared aesthetic sensibility, based on a feeling of serenity and a fine attention to detail. Yet this also offers a firm ground for wild and unsettling flights of imagination and imagery.

Liverpool Biennial

Various Locations Until 28 October

A Beautiful Moment

Huis Marseille, Amsterdam Until 2 September

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Werner Mantz

Nederlands Fotomuseum Until 2 September

nederlandsfotomuseum.nl Best-known as one of the great architectural photographers of the 1920s, Werner Mantz (1901-1983) was also an accomplished portrait artist. This lesscirculated side body of work, notably including images of children, is presented alongside compelling structural images in Nederlands Fotomuseum’s Architectures and People.

Ultimately, the show offers a greater insight into the depth of Mantz’s practice.

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Heavy Metal

NMWA, Washington DC Until 16 September

www.nmwa.org The fifth instalment of NMWA’s Women to Watch series showcases contemporary artists working in metal, disrupting the masculine preconceptions surrounding the practice of metalwork.

The artists featured investigate the expressive possibilities of metal through a wide variety of objects, including sculpture, jewellery and conceptual forms. The show also engages with the fluidity between “fine” art, design and craft categories.

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art

Spatial Recognition James Casebere

For almost 40 years, James Casebere (b. 1953) has devised both simple and complex table-top models, creating thought-provoking and visually deceptive photographs that have accrued international acclaim. Through fellowships and museum collections at the likes of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the artist has been instrumental in the critique of media culture. Recent works have moved into investigating the possibilities of composition, referencing modernist structures that encourage both meditation and reflection. Casebere notes: “There was a time when I decided to leave the anthropomorphising to others. My earliest work did this by putting an object at the centre of the image, be it a fan or a chair. But soon after, I decided to remove the object in the hopes of the viewer taking its place. In the end, I realised that what mattered was the space, the light, the colour and texture.” www.jamescasebere.com.

James Casebere, Flooded Courtyard with Tree, 2017. © James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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James Casebere, Library, 2017. Š James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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James Casebere, Shallow Pool, 2017. Š James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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James Casebere, Living Room, 2017. Š James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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James Casebere, Yellow Overhang with Patio, 2016. Š James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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James Casebere, Foyer, 2017. Š James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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James Casebere, Empty Studio, 2017. Š James Casebere, courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York.

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art

National Construction Inside North Korea PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE COUNTRY’S INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR STRUCTURES PROVIDE THOUGHT-PROVOKING INSIGHTS INTO A SOCIETY BUILT UPON FAIRYLAND AESTHETICS.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, once declared: “Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland.” Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright gained access to the country in July 2015, and has just published a new photography book, Inside North Korea, with Taschen. He read about that quotation whilst in the insular “hermit kingdom”, and has since created a compelling publication, which began with an online blog posting images from the trip. “At first it sounds like meaningless propaganda,” he tells Aesthetica.

“But I realised there might be something genuine behind it.

The interiors and aesthetics of the new buildings did have this childlike, fantastical, kindergarten look to them. It made me think it could be part of a state-sponsored ideology – a way of infantilising the populous. It seemed to be a kind of sugar-coated architectural tranquilliser.”

Photography has a strange and singular ability to reflect the world as it is and, simultaneously, communicate our attempts at pretence and illusion. There’s a simple yet startling image, one that acts potentially as both an instant adjoiner to Kim Jong-un’s hopes for such a fairytale land, and to many of the western clichés of a totally impoverished and automated North Korean life. In the style of the Hong Kong-based German architecture photographer Michael Wolf, Wainwright documented in careful geometric unity the windows and balconies of a Pyongyang residential block.

Through the windows, we get a peek into roughly 60 apartments, and therefore a tiny insight into hundreds of lives.

One observation is immediate. Houseplants are a big deal in Pyongyang, as they are in London. Terracotta pots are

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placed on many of the balconies. Through the glass windows, we can see flowers and plants evident in the living spaces of Kim Jong-un’s residents. Some balconies overflow with plants, flowers cascading over the lip of the balcony. Other flats demonstrate a precise orientation of plants in relationship to each other. Others have just a single pot, whilst others are completely empty of any floral life. The images suggest that some residents take great pride and invest deeply in such humble plants, and in how they look to the outside world. Other residents have different aesthetic considerations.

It speaks, one might think, of keeping up appearances, of a community living broadly compatible lives – a collective which, whilst in many ways similar, also exists within small gradations of difference. It brings to mind the quotation from the North Korean defector Lee Hyeon-seo, now an activist living in South Korea: “North Korea is not the dictator’s country; it’s the 25 million citizens’ and they are suffering under the dictator.” That same dissident, of course, has other things to say of the country of her birth: “In communism, we never had any freedom – of movement, of speech, of press. We didn’t even make own decisions for our lives, our future. We were human robots,” she once stated.

Other details in the image raise questions. A small number of flats have solar panels on their balconies – a sign of a wealth discrepancy, or a social hierarchy. Only one apartment’s family dries their washing in public view. Whilst a couple of antennae poke from the roof, in what looks like a carefully designed – and therefore officially sanctioned – architectural decision, there are no satellite dishes randomly

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Courtesy of Taschen © Oliver Wainwright.

“Architecture, interiors and the formation of space within a built environment, we realise, are all key aspects of how Kim Jong-un and his dynsasty have been able to exact such total control, obedience and devotion.”

Previous Page: Courtesy of Taschen © Oliver Wainwright.

Left: Courtesy of Taschen © Oliver Wainwright.

attached to many of the flats, as you would see across the west. Each flat is painted in a uniform mint green, which, whilst striking to behold, also points to the sense of the collective that defines so much of life in this isolated country.

In North Korea, the concept of “Juche” holds tremendous sway. Juche (pronounced ju-chay) is the national state ideology of self-reliance – “a kind of Marxism–Leninism with a hint of Confucianism” – developed by Kim Il-sung. Pyongyang was almost entirely razed to the ground by the American bombing campaign during the Korean War and was rebuilt from scratch from 1953 onwards. This rebuilding project was conceived by the country’s founding father, the Eternal President Kim Il-sung, as “a great garden of Juche architecture.”

The dictator said: “Juche means that all the problems of the revolution and of building construction must be solved independently, and mostly without outside help according to the country’s abilities.” As Wainwright describes, the flowers in the homes of these Pyongyang citizens hold a deeply nationalistic significance, which adheres to Juche. Are we looking at small statements of individuality, or small expressions of patriotism, of floral devotions to their Great Leader?

Wainwright notes: “Even when their statues or portraits are not visible, the presence of the leaders is ensured throughout the city in the form of their two namesake flowers, the Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia.” The former is a violet orchid, which was first presented to Kim Il-sung in 1965 by Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno; the latter is a bright scarlet begonia, first given as a gift by a Japanese botanist in 1988.

These floral signifiers are found all over Pyongyang, spilling from the balconies of patriotic citizens, adorning gigantic billboards at the top of apartment towers and emblazoned

on roadside hoardings. Grown on a vast scale in army-run breeding centres, the flowers are brought out by the thousands of pots for national events, their longevity ensured by a chemical agent developed after years of research, according to the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), which lengthens the blooming period by a week in summer and by 20 days in winter. The state mouthpiece often runs stories about selfless citizens who kept their flowers warm throughout the winter during the disastrous years of famine.

It’s almost impossible to imagine what it must be like to be raised in a country in which urban planning is adhered to with a near-religious sense of fervency, and in which a studied deference to the decisions made by the state is an unquestioned part of day-to-day life. Wainwright’s photographs help us on that journey – and make us realise a few things too: primarily, that Pyongyang is actually a beautiful city – spacious, pastoral and full of flair. “Isolated from outside influence for so long, and therefore free from the usual urban pressures of commercial speculation and inward migration, Pyongyang is one of the few places in the world where the original intentions remain intact,” Wainwright states. “The location is still governed and shaped by the same ideology it was first built to revere. Visiting the principal sites is therefore less like discovering the historic artefacts of a post-Soviet city than like time-travelling to a realm where the system is still in full force – where the founding fathers are very much present.”

Architecture, interiors and the formation of space within a built environment, we realise, are all key aspects of how Kim Jong-un and his dynasty have been able to exact such total control, obedience and devotion from a populous of roughly 26 million people. It is through these means that

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Courtesy of Taschen © Oliver Wainwright.

they project their sense of power and national aspirations to cultural forms” have impeded. Indeed, to pay homage to Right: of Taschen the country’s people and the world at large. The very way in other ideologies is to sign one’s own death certificate. Yet the ©Courtesy Oliver Wainwright. which Pyongyang has been designed and built, says Wain- country, on civic, unofficial and secretive levels, is beginning wright, is “a precisely choreographed world where an ideal- to open up to the outside world via a fledgling capitalistic economy, operated by the rising class of “donju”, or “masters ised image of power and order is played out.”

Wainwright travelled with Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based of money” – also known as “red capitalists” – who operate company that has been taking groups of foreigners into black market enterprises that are tacitly tolerated.

“Donju invest in construction projects, establish partnerNorth Korea since 1993. Wainwright met its founder, the UK-born Nick Bonner, at the Venice Architecture Biennale ships with struggling state-owned factories and bankroll imin 2014, where he had curated an exhibition of paintings by ports from China to supply retailers in the country’s growing architects, imagining what the future of tourism might look number of markets – from which the state is also profiting,” like in their isolated country, and making Pyongyang appear Wainwright explains. According to Lee Byung-ho, a former like a city straight out of a science fiction film. Speaking to director of South Korea’s intelligence service, at least 40 perAesthetica, Wainwright says: “They were like scenes from cent of the North Korean population is now engaged in some Thunderbirds. Bonner told me that these scenes weren’t too form of private enterprise. In March 2017, in an effort to colfar from what they were actually building in Pyongyang now.” lect more tax, the authorities reportedly ordered people sellMuch has been written of cultural identity’s profound links ing goods from their homes to move into formal marketplacto architectural space. For example, in Living in a hybrid es. Wainwright reports that a cell-phone service launched in world, published in Design and Society by the Design Council 2008 now has more than three million subscribers, whilst (1984), the author notes: “The proper and most useful defini- imported solar panels have become a middle-class status tion of cultural identity will arise out of a fuller understand- symbol. Apartments are no longer just assigned by working ing of the creative processes of cultural interaction, not out group, but traded on the black market, creating an appetite of some kind of pre-selection of the supposedly ‘purer’ ele- for domestic goods and aspirational furnishings, fuelled by ments of regional culture. It is extremely doubtful that any the desire to ape the modern interiors of homes they have culture still exists which has not, at one time or another, been seen on South Korean TV shows, illicitly shared on USB sticks. Words North Korea seems poised on the edge of change – particu- Tom Seymour exposed to ‘alien’ genes and culture forms. But what has emerged, when we look at specific historical regions such as larly in light of Kim Jong-un’s recent summit with President Malaysia, is not some mere substitution of local culture forms Trump, and his meeting on the border with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. It’s possible that the images, which Inside North Korea is for imported forms, but a new and original product.”

North Korea is one of the few hermetic cultures left in the Wainwright captured in his camera in 2015, will be remem- published by TASCHEN. developed world – one where very few “alien genes and bered as the urban landscape at its isolationist peak. www.taschen.com

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art

Surreal Interactions Brooke DiDonato

New York-based Brooke DiDonato (b. 1990) is well-known for creating rich, palpable images that document a new kind of reality. All of her characters are at a point of conflict; whether engulfed by a cloud, dangling from a window or being pulled aside by wildlife, the figures are taken from the realms of the everyday and moved into a state of flux. Tinged by Surrealism, the uncanny portraits interact with their surroundings in a number of unanticipated and curious ways. Further to this, DiDonato demonstrates an established understanding of fine art photography through subtle and evocative choices of colour. The works blend form and narrative flawlessly and coherently – pale green clothes melt into desert shrubbery, and terracotta trousers match with the tiles on an empty roof. The series acts as a treasure trove of human emotion: anticipation, desolation and struggle. www.brookedidonato.com.

Brooke DiDonato, Partly Cloudy, from the As Usual series, 2017.

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Brooke DiDonato, Over and Out, from the As Usual series, 2017.

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Brooke DiDonato, Untitled, from the As Usual series, 2017.

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Brooke DiDonato, Point of Intersection, from the As Usual series, 2017.

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Brooke DiDonato, Grass Is Always Greener, from the As Usual series, 2017.

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art

Urban Algorithms Esther Hovers

False Positives is an investigative series from Dutch artist Esther Hovers (b. 1991).

Using patterns and data from intelligent surveillance systems, the images have been crafted around the detection of criminal behaviour in the outside world. Centred around eight different physical “anomalies” that are flagged by the cameras – such as clusters of people or slowed movements – the photographs focus on body language as a means of interpreting intent. Hovers’ wider practice looks at how power and control are exercised through city planning and public spaces. Her work bridges the gap between personal and private worlds, investigating where the lines become blurred through predetermined political and architectural systems. Hovers has been featured in galleries and festivals worldwide, including Foam, Amsterdam; C/O Berlin; and Circulation(s), Paris. False Positives is published by Fw:Books. www.estherhovers.com.

Esther Hovers, False Positives, Overview A, Timeframe: 04 min 26. © 2015 - 2016 Esther Hovers.

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Esther Hovers, False Positives, Overview E Timeframe: 0 min 04. Š 2015 - 2016 Esther Hovers.

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Esther Hovers, White – La Défense. © 2014 Esther Hovers.

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Esther Hovers, False Positives, Overview G, Timeframe: 05 min 07. Š 2015 - 2016 Esther Hovers.

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Esther Hovers, False Positives, Overview H, Timeframe: 02 min 13. Š 2015 - 2016 Esther Hovers.

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Esther Hovers, False Positives, Overview J, Timeframe: 06 min 09. Š 2015 - 2016 Esther Hovers.

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art

Changing Perspectives Why Materials Matter CONSIDERING THE BROAD SCALE OF MATERIALS AVAILABLE TODAY, A COLLECTION OF INNOVATIVE PROJECTS DELVES INTO THE WIDER POTENTIAL OF 21ST CENTURY PRODUCTION.

“Everything is made from something,” Mark Miodownik MBE (b. 1969) famously states in Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials That Shape Our Manmade World. Miodownik – listed in The Times’ inaugural list of the 100 most influential scientists in the UK – is Professor of Materials and Society at University College in London, and has collaborated with interactive events at Tate Modern, Hayward Gallery and Wellcome Collection. In his forwardthinking publication he notes that, without basic elements such as concrete, glass, metal or textiles, we would be left with nothing. Taking the point further, he notes that each era brings forth a new material that significantly defines the time and becomes integral to its progress.

This can be seen through the likes of steel in the Victorian period, or the production of the first skyscraper – which, in turn, created an unprecedented way of living in the city..

Built in 1884-1885 and designed by William Le Baron Jenney, the 10-storey construction of the Home Insurance Building in Chicago paved the way for a new commercial style, using steel to carry the weight of the structure. In the 21st century, however, nanochip technology is influencing everything around us – from smartphones to the buildings with swipe technology. The rise of miniature electronic devices is truly being integrated into society, most notably with the Amazon Go Store that was launched earlier this year in Seattle. Using apps, sensors and swipe technology, the shop requires no human interaction.

With thousands of unique substances listed across the globe, Seetal Solanki’s book Why Materials Matter looks to

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answer the question: “What does it mean to live in a material world?” Published by Prestel, the text, which is introduced

by Miodownik’s ideology, creates an impressive collection of projects blurring the distinctions between design, fine art, science and pushing the boundaries of material culture.

Given the disquieting scale of both consumption and pollution on today’s planet, a reassessment of how to use objects to our advantage – ethically and responsibly – is fundamental to the research that underlies the publication.

Solanki is a conservationist, art director, university tutor and designer who also established the London-based practice Ma-tt-er in 2015, which reflects many of the research principles explored within the text. She notes: “I founded the design studio as a place where materials designers can feel understood.” Solanki realised that a lack of understanding about these roles had begun to affect all industries: “I was unable to call myself, for example, a fashion designer or an architect, which are much more widely-understood professions. And yet in the course of my career I had to liaise with just about every department and discipline within those fields: production, manufacturing, sampling, sourcing, research, design, colour, trims, finishes, concept development and so on.”

With over 12 years’ experience working with textiles – for an impressive list of figures including Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan, United Visual Artists and Levi’s – Solanki’s main objective is to explore the past, present and future of materials, gathering an extensive library of substances that is sorted by property rather than type. In

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Marjan van Aubel, Current Table. Photo Credit: Wai Ming Ng.

“These seemingly mundane fragments and blobs of metal, plastic, ceramic and glass are the stuff from which our entire civilisation is constructed. Yet, perplexingly, whilst they do so much for us, we rarely pause to marvel at them.”

Previous Page: Marjan van Aubel, Current Table 2.0.

Photo Credit: Mitch Payne.

Left: Sabine Marcelis, Filter Lights @ Baars & Bloemhoff @ Salone del Mobile 2017.

Image: © Ronald Smits, 2017.

doing so, the research is about opening up dialogues not an extensive and impressive diversity of substances, and just about innovation, but about the relevance of history concentrates on a wider bank of case studies that range in and a wider timeline of production techniques on the planet. scope from ancient societies up to today.

As such, the impressive presentation has been divided To reference Miodownik, the studies are reconsidering eradefining methods and their potential for the contemporary into three fascinating sections. Everyday features mundane, moment. Solanki says: “It’s crucial to think about the subject often overlooked substances to demonstrate how they can from a more responsible and sustainable point of view as be transformed, like pine needles into textiles or ancient opposed to just being centred on newness, which doesn’t grain flax into biodegradable chairs. Within this, cork, timber, always provide the best option. It’s thinking about what has stone and paper are called upon, as well as food. SILO, a zero-waste restaurant in Brighton is a perfect model. The come before, where we are now and where we’re going.”

In line with the Ma-tt-er mission, Solanki is celebrating company in question buys its produce whole from the these ideas with global audiences as part of a launch at the growers and producers and, as a result, makes use of very London Design Festival this autumn. Liz Corbin, a doctoral little packaging. The additional plastic it does receive is then researcher at London’s Institute of Making and a tutor at the shredded, melted and reformed in a mould and transformed Royal College of Art, who contributed the foreword, also into plates, which are then used to serve food. Going even foregrounds the fact that we are never without materials, and further, any food waste is fed into an anaerobic digester that as such, the conversations are much larger. “These seemingly generates up to 60 kilograms of compost in 24 hours.

The second part, Sciences, focuses on novel materials mundane fragments and blobs of metal, plastic, ceramic and glass are the stuff from which our entire civilisation is created through technical, biological or chemical processes. constructed. Yet, perplexingly, whilst they do so much for us, Charting everything from DNA to rubber and foam, this we rarely pause to marvel at them.” The overview of cutting- section taps into the needs of the planet and what can be edge examples which has been chosen for the volume is a done to meet them responsibly. Notable projects include perfect opportunity not only to discover the hidden wonders synthetically produced spider silk and leather-like fabrics, of historical methods or futuristic possibilities, but also which are created from bacteria produced by coconut water. to create new behaviours in the way that audiences – and The substance isn’t harmful to the environment if thrown away, and also includes no animal bi-products. designers – perceive the physicality of the modern world.

Expansive – the final section – investigates less obvious It’s important to note that visionaries from a variety of industries are looking to address environmental damage, yet fundamental elements like air, light and water. Whilst and this isn’t the first text to reference it. However, the “light is not something most of us immediately recognise featured projects take sustainability as an integral aspect as a material,” Solanki states, some of the most amazing of design as opposed to a bonus feature. The text employs concepts in the book utilise it in its own right, addressing

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Sabine Marcelis, Filter Lights @ Baars & Bloemhoff @ Salone del Mobile 2017. Image: © Ronald Smits, 2017.

the ways it is perceived and experienced. This is something that has often been investigated in visual arts – through the likes of James Turrell’s Skyspaces and Olafur Eliasson’s various public projects – but in this case, light is considered for its impact on wellbeing. Rotterdam-based Sabine Marcelis, who runs a studio for installation and object design, manipulates light paths to affect surrounding spaces. VOIE, for example, is a collection of cast-polyester-resin pieces in various shapes and wide spectrum of colours, which are lit through. The resin’s properties allow the light to diffuse in many ways, thus creating extraordinary visual effects, which enhance the various hues. It seems to confirm the designer’s statement, which reads: “Forever in search of magical moments within manufacturing processes to create unexpected experiences.” Not only can the final result be adjusted to the needs of the space, but also Marcelis’ designs work to co-create it, as light circulates across the space and is subsequently reflected in multiple directions.

Similarly, innovative Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel, who is currently based in London, has mastered the art of transforming furniture and objects into sources of energy by implementing solar panels into their structures. By teaming up with scientists and engineers, van Aubel creates extreme energy efficiency through intelligent design.

In 2017, van Aubel was one of the three winners of the Swarovski Designers of the Future awards and co-designed an installation for Design Miami/Basel in the same year.

The competition’s goal was to promote crystal as a material.

An innovative approach transformed precious stones into a beautiful provider of renewable energy. In the Cyanometer (a series of three pendants) solar cells are integrated within

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crystal elements. Whilst the energy that would be generated Right: Marjan van Aubel, Current Table 2.0. in the cells in the daytime could be used as a source of light Photo Credit: Mitch Payne. after dawn, its intensity can vary depending on how much has been stored. That is why it takes the name from the 1789 device – whose invention is attributed to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure and Alexander von Humboldt – designed to measure the apparent “blueness” of the changing sky.

Aubel’s other projects include the Current Table, which has an in-built solar panel surface. Made of dye-sensitised solar cells, it generates electricity to recharge numerous devices through integrated USB ports located on the side of the table. As in photosynthesis in plants, the technique makes use of the properties of colour to create energy. Last but not least, like all Aubel’s other projects, this ingenious technical solution is not stripped of its elegant appeal. The solar panel sits on a wooden base with sophisticated triangular legs.

Functional, aesthetic and adaptive, this large number of potential ideas – carefully curated by Solanki – presents not only a great resource for designers, but also an excellent guide for the wider public, whose buying habits can longer be archived as standalone, individual purchases.

The research presented in Why Materials Matter offers an optimistic overview, looking backwards and tracking Words our movements thus far, in order to continue forwards. Agata Toromanoff As Corbin concludes: “The 21st century has left us with a Kate Simpson design heritage – and burden – whereby industrial societies are consuming and polluting the planet at an exponential rate. The makers in this book are working to address these Why Materials Matter is challenges. The question that readers are left with is how published 6 September this holistic approach to an appreciation for materials can by Prestel. transcend the pages and find a place in their own daily lives.” www.prestel.com

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art

Visions of the City Kevin Krautgartner

After graduating from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund, Kevin Krautgartner (b. 1988) has been based in Wuppertal, where he works as a photographer and image editor. His personal works – displayed in the following pages – focus on geometric elements from the evolving landscape, revelling in bold structures set against an immaculate skyline. Fixed, cropped and focused, the resulting photographs offer subjective and orderly representations of buildings from the modern world. Symbols of optimism, work, leisure or, indeed, compelling art forms in their own right, the constructions sit within an arena of contemporary growth – at the centre of architectural tourism. Vivid colours and straight lines are integral to a refreshing portfolio; the images become part of a new visual language circling around urban jungles. www.kevinkrautgartner.com | @kevin_krautgartner.

Kevin Krautgartner, from the series Reduced to the Max. Courtesy of the artist.

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Kevin Krautgartner, from the series Reduced to the Max. Courtesy of the artist.

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Kevin Krautgartner, from the series Reduced to the Max. Courtesy of the artist.

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Kevin Krautgartner, from the series Reduced to the Max. Courtesy of the artist.

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Kevin Krautgartner, from the series Reduced to the Max. Courtesy of the artist.

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art

Intricate Customisation Manufacturing Architecture COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGNS BREAK THE MATERIAL-MAKING MOULD, STEERING THE CREATION OF INCREASINGLY RESPONSIBLE, ADAPTABLE AND SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE.

“We are at a point in time where we as architects are really considering how things are made and how that’s going to impact their design,” says Dana K. Gulling, Associate Professor of Architecture at North Carolina State University’s College of Design, and a leading scholar in the study of new building systems. “It is no longer the architect as standalone hero or authority figure. There is now a back and forth – there is learning from others and a desire to be nuanced in our thinking about how elements are created.”

This re-reimagining of the archetypal design workflow and investigation into practitioners’ involvement in the material–design and production process is the focus of Gulling’s extensive research, which is brought together in Manufacturing Architecture – published by Laurence King. Gulling’s wide-ranging studies celebrate textures and forms through craftsmanship, illustrating the benefits of achieving individuality through digitally aided repetitive manufacturing. “It’s a way to get the customisation you want on a per-project basis without having to pay all of the costs associated with it – whether economic or environmental,” she explains.

A graduate of Yale University’s Master of Architecture programme and former faculty member of both the University of New Mexico and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Gulling has long focused on the intersection of construction and manufacturing methods, building materials and sustainable constructions. A licensed architect, she supports the notion of all-encompassing practices that invite firms to involve themselves not only in the overarching structure–design process as they do presently, but also in the

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conception and development of the more granular details: materials, assemblies and fabrication methods.

Gulling proposes that the reason many firms do not participate in the conversation around material fabrication is because they have limited knowledge of how repetitive processes truly operate. With this illustrated how-to manual, the case studies address this oversight and set the stage for reactive innovation through computer-aided projects, and a dialogue between architecture, technology, craft and design.

Computer-numeric controlled machines (CNC) – which translate manmade designs into graphic co-ordinates for mechanistic cutters – have been readily available to most students for the past decade, however, relatively few creators possess an in-depth knowledge on how to utilise these mechanisms to generate custom components. These mills translate designs into co-ordinates, acting as a coded blueprint for cutters. Having created the very first text of its kind, Gulling’s work serves as an Architectural Customisation 101 course for practitioners as well as enthusiasts, offering readers both a step-by-step guide to some of the most common manufacturing processes for standard structural components and a window into the ways in which small-scale physical elements that are experienced on a human level – those with which users can readily see, touch and interact – are produced. When it comes to contemporary structures, “it’s no longer just about the overall massing, shape, or form of a building,” says Gulling. “It’s actually about the smaller details coming together. It’s time to stop thinking about just one process, or just one machine.” Through re-conceptualising

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Image: Scagliola Brakkee © Neutelings Riedijk Architects.

“Gulling makes the case that CNC equipment should be used to generate a mould that can be re-purposed for many aspects of a specific construction, rather than retained for one-off use.”

Previous Page: The Rietveld Academy of Art. Benthem Crouwel Architects.

Image: © Jannes Linders Left: © Christian Richters

the relationship between a building and its materials, Gulling predicts that a deeper, more visceral connection can be established between architects and their work. “When you’re making components that can go on just any building,” remarks the scholar, “it doesn’t have the same satisfaction as making something unique for something specific.”

Segmented into four distinct chapters, Manufacturing Architecture touches on 20 varying branches of the industry’s most popular CNC-enabled processes. These complex procedures range from concrete centrifugal casting – a means of transforming round moulds into hollow, linear forms through, as its name suggests, centrifugal force – to spinning, the means by which a sheet of metal is pressed against a mandrel to give the material a new, asymmetrical shape.

The former method is exemplified by the white, cast concrete columns of the Forum Eckenberg Academy in Adelsheim, Germany. Created by Ecker Architekten and completed in 2013, the futuristic Forum serves as the epicentre of the campus and houses its assembly hall and library, along with a café, lounge and multipurpose room.

Ecker’s airy concrete-and-glass creation is a contemporary response to the surrounding mid-century modern campus constructions, many of which date back to the 1960s. The latter technique, spinning (also known as tuning or spin forming), is a mode adopted by Neutelings Riedijk Architects for the Culture House Eemhuis in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. To execute the radiant exterior of this sprawling cultural complex – one part of Bolles + Wilson’s massive overhaul of the Amersfoort city centre – the Dutch firm produced 24,000 spun aluminium components that add a luminous sheen to the surface of the structure, whilst also concealing

and protecting certain utilities and mechanical apparatuses.

This text also foregrounds the ways in which computeraided manufacturing (CAM) technologies can help to form solids. One such method is referred to as pressing – taking a soft medium like glass or clay and compressing it into a die in an effort to reshape it. This technique yields good surface quality and is an expedient choice for producing intricate details. Benthem Crouwel elevated the art of glass pressing for its 2004 addition to Amsterdam’s Gerrit Reitveld Academy, a Fine Arts and Design university that offers both graduatelevel and undergraduate degree programmes. The Dutch firm called upon a manufacturer that had previously worked almost exclusively in the production of beer tankards and ashtrays to create a custom-made Czech-glass tile for the project’s façade. This prototype was then reproduced, using the pressing technique, 16,000 times.

For those unsure of the many benefits of incorporating CNC elements into the production process, Gulling says she too once had her doubts. “I was really suspicious of the fact that people were so in love with the technology and mass prototyping. Yes, it’s really interesting, but what application does it actually have to architectural practice?” Through more than a decade of research, Gulling has satisfied her doubts by amassing approximately 200 case studies that illustrate the advantages of integrating coding elements.

Through a collection of real-world examples, Gulling makes the case that CNC equipment should be used to generate a mould that can be repurposed for many aspects of a specific construction, rather than retained for one-off use.

With this approach, a practitioner can bank on reducing the project costs, labour hours and quantity of waste. “The

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Image: © Jannes Linders.

energy that’s used to create a single mould and the energy place and history into the building. Inspired by Frank Lloyd that’s used to make the materials for that mould becomes Wright’s series of four textile houses that are each adorned amortised over the number of units produced,” she explains. with ornately carved concrete blocks, the Netherlands-based Foster + Partners adopted this tactic for the Walbrook head- firm enlisted SVK – a Belgian precast concrete producer – to quarters, built in 2010, in London. To construct the office create a suite of square cassette tiles to ornament the extebuilding’s now-iconic exoskeleton, the Stirling Prize-winning rior of the colossal construction. This manufacturer won the outfit collaborated with the manufacturer Fiber-Tech Group project bid despite having never produced any architectural GmBH, which used a single custom mould to create multiple products before (previously, the company had specialised lengths of fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) louvers. The Wal- in pressing glass to make ashtrays). Surprisingly, SVK was brook building bears a total of 7.78 miles of louvers on its able to apply the same innovative process used in the glass exterior. A similar strategy was employed by the Oslo-based pressing to fabricate these textured tiles.

Not unlike the above KAAN Architecten case study, Niall studio Snøhetta for its 2016 expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in California. The façade of that pro- McLaughlin Architects embraced CAM technology whilst ject comprises 700 uniquely formed fiberglass reinforced artfully infusing history, mythology, symbolism and ornapolymer panels, whose curved form is influenced in part by mentation into the concept behind a 2012 Olympic Village the waters of San Francisco Bay. “I like this idea of making housing complex in London. McLaughlin, who was sub-conone thing once and using it repeatedly and being smart tracted by Glenn Howells Architects to work on the exterior about how we’re doing it. It adds another layer of thought to for a single building, looked to the Parthenon for inspiration. a project,” Gulling continues. “We need to be both question- Together with his team, the practitioner took laser scans of the Elgin Marbles – which were originally installed under ing and broadening our understanding of what’s out there.”

Similar to the fears associated with many recent techno- the cornice of the ancient Greek temple – from the British logical developments, Gulling acknowledges the valid con- Museum and transformed them into reliefs with the help of cern that the more computer-aided elements practitioners Techrete rubber moulds. These casts significantly cut down incorporate into their plans, the more sterile, uniform and on production time whilst impeccably preserving nearly uninspired the work may appear. However, she strongly every fine detail of the original equestrian Marbles.

Rather than excluding human elements, this technology – emphasises the notion that CAM applications can minimise construction cost and waste without sacrificing creativity if applied shrewdly – can pave the way for more thoughtful and originality. As illustrated through KAAN Architecten’s constructions whilst inspiring collaborations. Computer-aidconcrete crematorium in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, the use of ed manufacturing is opening a door for synergy, not polarity. computer-aided components still leaves ample room for the “To me, the idea that a CNC-produced mould could be used conception and production of bespoke elements by local ar- by an artisan to blow glass – that is gorgeous,” Gulling states. tisans and craftspeople who can infuse a distinctive sense of “Let’s not ask the machines to do everything.”

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Right: Image: © Nigel Young Foster + Partners

Words Stephanie Strasnick

Manufacturing Architecture is published by Laurence King. www.laurenceking.com

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Moments of Isolation Next Generation 2018

Continuing an ongoing support of emerging talent, this edition of Aesthetica marks the fifth anniversary of Next Generation, an annual collaboration with London College of Communication that celebrates the work of recent graduates.

The following pages highlight those shaping the industry through considered compositions and balanced series. Connected by their intimate subject matter – open doorways, shafts of light, underwater bodies and deserted landscapes – the images provide an arena for wider reflection, offering a glimpse into worlds passing by. Desolation and serenity pervade natural settings, whilst interior and exterior spaces collide. Expanding its culture of photographic education, this autumn LCC will collaborate with The Photographers’ Gallery, London, on the delivery of a new ten-week public programme on photography and curation. www.arts.ac.uk/lcc.

Ágnes Wonke-Tóth, from the series Hide and See, 2018.

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Left: Alice Zoo, View from the Ladies Pond, 2016. From the series Swimmers. Courtesy of the artist. Right: Alice Zoo, Untitled, 2017. From the series Swimmers. Courtesy of the artist.

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Left & Right: ร gnes Wonke-Tรณth, from the series Hide and See, 2018.

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Left: Fiona Filipidis, Untitled, 2016. From the series Happy is England. Š Fiona Filipidis. Right: Madeleine Rose, from the series I like you more when you’re not here, 2017.

Llangrannog Beach in Ceredigion.

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Left: Alice Zoo, At dawn, 2016. From the series Swimmers.

Courtesy of the artist. Right: Fiona Filipidis, Untitled, 2016.

From the series Happy is England. Š Fiona Filipidis.

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Left: Maria Elisa Moreira, taken from the Motherland series.

Shot in March 2018 in Oliveira de Frades, Portugal.

Right: Fiona Filipidis, Lochan Lairig Cheile, 2013.

From the series Grandad. Š Fiona Filipidis.

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Inspiring Minimalism London Fashion Week EMERGING BRANDS GAYEON LEE AND MATTER MATTERS ADDRESS THE RISING LEVELS OF CONSUMPTION WITH BESPOKE, LONGLASTING GARMENTS INSPIRED BY WIDER CULTURE.

Today, emerging fashion designers have much more to behind to pursue designing full time. But it wasn’t a totally reckon with than their predecessors. In an age of rapid-fire fresh start: Leung came equipped with a creative eye and references, lightning-quick trend cycles and often unsavoury design methods which were borrowed from a background fast fashion practices that allow consumers to remodel their in the visual arts and a strong understanding of art history. wardrobes each season for a fraction of what it once cost, the “I take the same approach to fashion as to art,” she explains, competition is steep. Under these fast-moving circumstances, drawing on the sources that influenced her in her graphic how are up-and-coming practitioners expected to create last- work. “All of my pieces have an underlying structure of ing impressions on their audiences as well as making gar- primary shapes.” Leung cites Art Deco, Bauhaus, the postmodern aesthetics of 1980s Memphis Group and the ments that have a chance of standing the test of time?

For two young visionaries, Flora Leung of Matter Matters dreamy, supersaturated paintings of David Hockney as the and Gayeon Lee of her eponymous line – both of whom points of reference which she looks towards. “Art and bright present collections at the 2018 London Fashion Week colours are fundamental sources of inspiration,” she notes.

Designer Showrooms – cross-pollinating between disciplines “Memphis used bright shocking motifs, which made the has become the key to making their mark, drawing deep products look remarkable, whilst David Hockney’s paintings on influences from the wider art world. Given that the captured humorous moments in daily life with pleasing renowned fashion week has played a role in the rise to colours. I’ve always thought of these two together; I love public prominence of some of the best-known labels of the mixing inspirations to create something with wit.”

Indeed, strong echoes of Hockney’s vibrant tones and present scene – including Paul Smith, JW Anderson and Stella McCartney – this year’s proceedings promise to be no Memphis-style surface decoration are front and centre in different in their intent, providing a lasting platform for those the collection. Joyously bright shades, sleek graphic prints and clever, irreverent illustrations adorn garments that shaping the industry and highlighting young innovators.

Armed with an arsenal of art world references and a range from dresses, minimal tank tops, pleated skirts, wide sophisticated cache of influences, young talents are looking leg trousers to knitwear. A confetti-style print that calls to beyond the often self-referential confines of the fashion mind Nathalie Du Pasquier’s iconic 1980s-era patterns is industry to create something completely new. Hong Kong- sprinkled over a butter yellow sleeveless dress, whilst blocky based Flora Leung is one of these, and she launched Matter 3D shapes pepper loose sack dresses and elongated tees, Matters in 2012 as an offshoot of her degree show at the elsewhere squiggly lines and a series of words – who, which, London College of Fashion. Having previously worked was, where – wind around slip dresses and skirts. Accessories, as a graphic designer and art director, she left her career too, are a major focus for Matter Matters. Their signature

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Photographer: Packard Stevens. Model: Maria Almenta @Elite H&M: Carly Lim. Art Direction: Chris Hopkins. Courtesy of Gayeon Lee.

“Armed with an arsenal of art world references and a sophisticated cache of influences, young talents are looking beyond the often selfreferential confines of the fashion industry to create something completely new.”

Previous Page: Flora Leung / MATTER MATTERS STUDIO Left: Flora Leung / MATTER MATTERS STUDIO

geometric leather handbags with sculpted resin details are produced in energetic palettes: alongside designs such as trapezoidal cross-body bags with orb-shaped clasps and chunky plastic feet, half-moon clutches with contrasting coloured wrist straps and richly pigmented bucket bags which also feature interchangeable straps. “I think handbags are always one of the most significant accessories in a woman’s wardrobe,” says Leung of their growing line. “They should always stand the test of time whilst style changes.”

South Korean womenswear designer Gayeon Lee has a similar approach when it comes to seeking out influences. “I always take inspiration from art,” she states as she explains the collection, which blends masterful tailoring, patchwork elements, sharp pleating and buoyant volumes on a series of dresses, skirts and blouses. “It could simply be the shape and colour of an artwork,” she continues, “but also the story behind it.” In the past, she has looked to 20th century artists Eduardo Chillida and Albert Eugene Gallatin for inspiration. Their influence is easily recognisable in a collage-like, almost cubist use of colour and form that recalls Gallatin’s abstract paintings. Meanwhile, an architectural treatment and understanding of proportion and weight clearly visible in the garments seems to find its precedents in Chillida’s sensuous but monumental sculptures.

Prior to setting up shop in her hometown of Seoul, Lee cut her teeth at the MA womenswear course at Central Saint Martins in London under the direction of the acclaimed Professor Louise Wilson. In interviews, she credits Wilson with her drive to expand, telling the South China Morning Post in a 2016 interview: “Louise pushed me to the edge and taught me not fall back on my culture. She wanted me to explore

other places that I hadn’t been.” That advice propelled Lee to some excellent spots. By her 2013 graduation, she had already provided garments to Lady Gaga and secured a design post at Marc Jacobs in New York. In 2015, whilst still at Marc Jacobs, Lee launched a first collection, and to date has produced six successful seasons under her own name.

“My only rule is to make something fun, that looks remarkable but remains timeless,” says Matter Matters’ Leung of the ethos behind the young brand. Creating a collection that moves easily through seasons and trends whilst remaining steadfast in an assured and individual aesthetic is not only a practice that builds a loyal customer base, it remains a somewhat radical act in an industry that has been overrun by underhanded practices. “I always wonder what keeps a garment relevant for five to ten years without becoming boring,” says Leung of her research process, which looks to the vintage market as well as the art world to decode what stands a chance of staying fresh for years to come. “I really don’t want to have a label that creates waste and loses its value after a single season,” she continues. “I want to make the kind of art objects that people won’t forget after they see them.” The calculated decision to forgo chasing the trend cycle is central to both Leung’s and Lee’s practices. “I always wonder why designers feel the need to rack their brains to come up with new collections so quickly,” says Leung of the choice to stay true to a single style across seasons and collections. “Instead, we should pay a bit more effort and create something timeless that will run for years.”

But timelessness is tough in an ecosystem that constantly demands something new. In an industry where brand interaction is increasingly mediated by social media, the ability

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Photographer: Packard Stevens. Model: Maria Almenta @Elite H&M: Carly Lim. Art Direction: Chris Hopkins. Courtesy of Gayeon Lee.

to stand out from the crowd is the difference between life Saint Laurent’s 1965 Mondrian collection, in which he paid and death for any young brand. Building online engage- homage to the Dutch minimalist by producing shift dresses ment and then translating that into actual real-world sales in colour-blocked grids, followed up in 1981 with a couture has become an increasingly tricky science as competition collection of evening gowns covered in prints inspired by on social platforms for the attention of consumers contin- Matisse’s cutout collages. In 2012 Rodarte’s ethereal frocks ues to grow exponentially and the window of opportunity were given the post-impressionist treatment, scattered with for reaching buyers shrinks in consequence. “You have two Vincent van Gogh’s swirling stars and big-faced sunflowers to three seconds for audiences to notice your brand and and just last year Jeff Koons collaborated with Louis Vuitton decide to check out your products,” says Leung of the chal- on a line of purses which were plastered with the paintings lenges that face emerging designers in trying to connect of the great masters. Because who doesn’t want a Mona Lisa with potential consumers in these fleeting attention spans. backpack, or a Manet carryall for spring?

However, it works both ways – relevance is a symbiotic “People are impatient and easily distracted. We want them to creature. “In a way, fashion has created a higher demand recognise and remember the brand.”

But how does an emerging label ensure that their prod- for art,” explains Leung of the trend which is increasingly ucts will be noticed above all others, without hitching a ride collapsing the two disciplines into one another. “Museums on whichever gathering wave of a new trend that’s splash- now display garments with as much consideration as they ing across Instagram with every screen refresh? “Art and do other works.” Perhaps one the best-known examples of fashion are about expression,” Leung explains. “However, this is the Costume Institute at The Met, hosting a yearly art is thought of as timeless and important whilst fashion is Vogue magazine-sponsored exhibition and accompanying understood to be fickle and frivolous. That’s why the label media firestorm Met Gala. Indeed, this is also true of other Matter Matters takes inspiration from Memphis, Bauhaus sell-out shows like Iris Van Herpen’s Transforming Fashion, and the colours of Hockney. We’re taking modern classics which toured galleries such as The High Museum of Art, Atlanta (November 2015 to May 2016), as well as Viktor and creating something fun and new.”

For emerging practitioners, these symbols are a clever & Rolf: Fashion Artists, which took over NGV Melbourne way to ensure their collections are recognised and that like- (October 2016 to February 2017).

“Fashion is a possessive art,” says Lee. “It’s deeply conminded consumers begin following their work. Of course, this isn’t reinventing the wheel. Fashion and art have always been nected to our daily lives. It’s an expression of yourself and willing partners. Ever since Elsa Schiaparelli trotted dresses your best tool to show who you are.” For designers looking which were whimsically decorated in Salvador Dali’s lobster to solidify a brand aesthetic and build up a recognisable illustrations down the runway in the 1930s, designers have collection, aligning themselves with the art world is another fervently mined that world for references. There was Yves way of defining themselves, one reference at a time.

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Right: Flora Leung / MATTER MATTERS STUDIO

Words Laura May Todd

London Fashion Week runs 14-18 September. londonfashionweek.co.uk mattermatters.bigcartel.com www.gayeonlee.com

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Historic Inspiration Romain Veillon

Influenced by humanity’s fascination with the transient nature of the everyday – from vegetation to surrounding buildings – Romain Veillon’s (b. 1983) photographs inhabit a world of testimony and nostalgia, revelling in the remnants left behind. The featured series is instilled with a sense of archaic history, igniting the imagination through reminders of the past and the lingering presence of unknown narratives. Shot in Kolmanskop, Namibia – which was once at the centre of trade through its abundant diamond deposits – the pictures document what has been left behind after inhabitants moved on to a richer plot of land. Veillon notes: “I wanted to pay a tribute to this particular place, underlining the strength of nature and the ephemerality of human constructions – symbolised here by the progress of sand and dunes through what remains of the town.

The silted doors are icons for the inevitable passing of time.” www.romainveillon.com.

Copyright © Romain Veillon 2018.

All rights reserved.

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Copyright Š Romain Veillon 2018. All rights reserved.

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Copyright Š Romain Veillon 2018. All rights reserved.

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Copyright Š Romain Veillon 2018. All rights reserved.

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Copyright Š Romain Veillon 2018. All rights reserved.

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Copyright Š Romain Veillon 2018. All rights reserved.

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Copyright Š Romain Veillon 2018. All rights reserved.

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Points of Departure Sally / Emily

Sisters Sally Ann (b. 1994) and Emily May Gunawan (b. 1991) return to Aesthetica with a shoot inspired by the Australian landscape. Having travelled extensively throughout Asia, Europe and the USA – completing various editorials for the likes of ELLE Homme and Marie Claire – the duo position themselves between continents to engage with both eastern and western worlds. Currently based in Sydney, the pair visited the Hornby Lighthouse, and were influenced by the bold, dynamic colours of the structure and the brilliant blue skyline. Built in 1858, the iconic red and white striped building looks over the Pacific Ocean and provides the basis for a series of images foregrounding the sea and the land as compositional tools. Playful and contemplative, the photographs combine elements of fashion and design, using geometric styling and mirrored props to accentuate the rich palette of the area. www.sallyemily.com.

Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com).

Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_).

Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com). Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com). Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Location: Coogee Beach, Sydney.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com). Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com). Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com). Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Location: Coogee Beach, Sydney.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Location: Coogee Beach, Sydney.

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Photography by Sally Ann & Emily May (@sally_emily) (www.sallyemily.com). Styling by Amy Wanderlove (@amywanderlove) (www.amywanderlove.com). Hair & Make Up by Dempsey Rai @dempseyrai_makeup (www.dempseyrai.com). Model: Merry Mae @ Chadwick Sydney / The Society NY (@merrymae_). Location: Hornby Lighthouse, Sydney, Australia.

exhibition reviews

1 Made in Berlin VARIOUS ARTISTS

A selection of 100 black-and-white and colour photographs, ranging from the irreverent to the surreal to the downright cheeky, line the walls of the German gallery Camera Work this summer. Shot by more than 20 different artists, the collective otherworldliness of these images hints at the common thread that connects every piece in this exhibition: each was shot in the urban landscape of Berlin.

Diverse in both tone and subject matter, this wide-reaching presentation features fashion photography, architectural imagery and portraiture, and in doing so shares the stories of the generations of counter-culture crusaders, thinkers, writers and creatives who have lived, worked, studied or sojourned in Berlin. Practitioners represented in this show include Anton Corbijn, Jim Rakete, David LaChapelle and Martin Schoeller.

Amongst the standout pieces in this collection is the selection of black-and-white shots from Olaf Heine, one of

the country’s most sought-after portraitists. A dapper Max Raabe perched atop a gutter and a striking film still-inspired snap of the Australian musician Nick Cave are amongst the Hannover-born artist’s contributions to this presentation.

A compelling contrast to Heine’s work comes in the form of a selection of vivid colour compositions by Frankfurt-born Ellen von Unwerth, best known for her provocative feminine portraits that are equal parts subversive and erotic. Reimagining Fauvist paintings for a 21st century audience, these compelling (and at times garish) stills offer highly stylised glimpses into the city’s famous nightclub scene.

This presentation of diverse, humorous and at times chimerical pictorial postcards from Berlin leads viewers to the conclusion that not only were these works taken in Berlin, but their creators were in some ways moved, transformed, or, as the title alludes, made by this legendary city as well.

Words Stephanie Strasnick

Camera Work, Berlin 26 May - 25 August www.camerawork.de

2 Crashing LEE BUL

The Hayward shines in the afternoon sun: enshrined in steelstrung crystals, as its austere exterior undergoes a deceptive makeover. As ever, South Korean artist Lee Bul (b. 1964) challenges idealism by enveloping subjects in a desirable material – a twist that reveals humankind’s grotesque fragilities. Within, audiences are thrown into Civitas Solis II ’s (2014) dystopian glamour: the silken qualities of shattered mirrors and black sequins forge a fantastical boutique of what could be part of an Alexander McQueen collection.

Soon, this veneer gives way to the morbidity of hybrid limbs: a tower of soft anthropomorphic forms sits beneath dismembered cyborgs which hang, lifeless, from the ceiling.

A time-lapse of Majestic Splendor’ s sequin-drenched fish (1991-2018) plays alongside six early performances: these are raw, fetishised rebellions against the marginalisation of women and the search for unattainable perfection.

If anything, Majestic Splendor’s combustion ahead of the

show’s opening is a testament to the veracity with which Bul selects materials that emulate a recurring theme of the failure of society’s ideals. It’s also a reminder of the artist’s unorthodox practice – one which is increasingly refined in the later works, where technology and synthetics take precedence over the natural elements of the compositions.

The elaborate, model-metropolis, Mon grand récit (2005) signals a shift from the body’s centrality towards utopian design. Though playful, these pieces continue to encapsulate the fatal flaws of idealism. Upstairs, Bul’s zeppelin replica revels in the airship’s ingenuity, but masks its catatonic demise beneath the spectacle of its size and sheen.

The inky, black waters of Heaven and Earth (2007) also conceal the darker truth of Park Jong-chul’s torture during South Korea’s period of military dictatorship. Much like the artist, Crashing flits between agendas and disciplines: the overriding constant is Bul’s assertion of ruinous beauty.

Words Selina Oakes

Hayward Gallery, London 1 June - 19 August www.southbankcentre.co.uk

3 The Touch That Made You TORBJØRN RØDLAND

A sense of unease pervades the photography of Torbjørn Rødland (b. 1970). An octopus’s tentacles slithering out of a shirt sleeve and around a wrist. A topless man with his stomach on show, covered in wine stains with a tie wrapped around his head, lifted from his seat by the torsos of two women. Pink, painted toenails lathered up in soap tiptoeing across a tile floor. Described in the exhibition notes as “portraits, still lifes and landscapes which defamiliarise the realm of the everyday,” the Norwegian photographer’s latest show – which originated at London’s Serpentine Gallery and is now on display at Milan’s Fondazione Prada Osservatorio – is a broad survey of over 40 photographs from the last two decades. In addition to these thought-provoking and intimate images, the exhibition includes a series of the artist’s short films: I am Linkola (2007), The Exorcism of Mother Theresa (2004) and Heart All This & Dogg (2004).

The gallery, set in the rafters of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

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II next to the city’s Gothic Duomo, looks out over the piecemeal rooftops of central Milan through panoramic floorto-ceiling windows. But rather than welcoming the skyline into the exhibition, the curators have hermetically sealed the framed images inside rooms which have been built up within the space. It’s a curatorial decision that makes sense.

Rødland’s images don’t live comfortably in stark daylight or reality. They reference and reiterate tropes from digital lives – advertising, movie stills and even porn.

However, this is far from a diminishing factor. Both in form and content, the compositions are reflexive and ironic, throwing a bright, garish, unreal spotlight onto the types of images that swim alongside us every day. By employing conventional commercial studio photography techniques – staged sets, backlighting – on subject matter that hints at our deepest, darkest search terms, Rødland condenses their meaning to the point at which they tip into the surreal.

Words Laura May Todd

Fondazione Prada, Milan 5 April - 20 August www.fondazioneprada.org

1a. © Thomas Billhardt, BLICK AUF DEN ALEXANDERPLATZ VON DER STALINALLEE AUS, BERLIN, 1976. Courtesy of CAMERA WORK. 1b. © Ralph Mecke, BERGHAIN. Courtesy of CAMERA WORK. 2. Installation view of Lee Bul, Via Negativa II, 2014 at Hayward Gallery, 2018 (interior detail). © Lee Bul 2018. Photo: Mark Blowerk. 3. Torbjørn Rødland, Comb Over, 2015-2016. Chromogenic print on Kodak Endura paper mounted on dibond. 60cm x 76cm. Private collection.

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4a. Trevor Paglen, Prototype for a Nonfunctional Satellite (Design 4; Build 4), 2013, mixed media. View of an installation test at a hangar in Nevada. Courtesy of the artist; Metro Pictures, New York; Altman Siegel, San Francisco. Image courtesy of the artist and Nevada Museum of Art. © and photo by Trevor Paglen. 4b. Trevor Paglen, Dead Satellite with Nuclear Reactor, Eastern Arizona (Cosmos 469), 2011, C-print. Smithsonian American Art Museum; Gift of Mike Wilkins and Sheila Duignan. Image courtesy of the artist; Metro Pictures, New York; Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco. © 2011, Trevor Paglen. Photo by: Gene Young. 5. Jacqueline Hassink, Nordvågen 2, 79°00’19.2”N 12°01’47.6”E, Blomstrandbreen, Svalbard, Norway, Summer, 18 August, 2016. Edition of 10. Chromogenic print. ©Jacqueline Hassink/Courtesy of Benrubi Gallery, NYC. 6. Viviane Sassen, M, 2012. C-print, 60cm x 40cm. Edition of 5 + 2AP.

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4 Sites Unseen TREVOR PAGLEN

Trevor Paglen (b. 1974) has made it a mission to highlight CIA prison sites, spy satellites and military installations designed to evade the public eye. “It’s a project to learn how to see,” he explained as SAAM, Washington DC, opened a major retrospective, its largest for a single artist. Rather than exposing secrets, Paglen focuses on the apparatus behind secrecy.

After leaked files revealed the US National Security Agency’s global surveillance programme, Paglen documented undersea cables and landing sites to show the structure behind the internet, and thus intelligence gathering. In one of the diptychs, NSA-Tapped Fiber Optic Cable Landing Site, Mastic Beach, New York, United States (2015), a nautical chart indicating the location of the cables is juxtaposed with a picture of the shorelines where the cables land and can easily be tapped. Vacationers sunbathing or frolicking are completely oblivious to what lies beneath.

Whilst this exercise may seem more academic or journalis-

tic than aesthetic in nature, Paglen’s work is rooted in the art of image-making. This approach allows him to find beauty in a spy satellite, creating a long-exposure photograph which, with its vibrant red and orange hues, bears an uncanny resemblance to a Kenneth Noland target painting, for 2010’s STSS-1 and Two Unidentified Spacecraft Over Carson City (Space Tracking and Surveillance System, USA 205). “For me, the most successful images have several kinds of paradoxes built upon themselves,” he explains.

Paglen’s multidisciplinary practice also branches into sculpture – this autumn, he’s launching a new work into space that will be visible from the ground with the naked eye.

He was also amongst a group of artists who installed works at the site of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2015, hidden from the public until the area is cleared. For some of his latest work, Paglen looks at how artificial intelligence sees the world. As it turns out, it’s “quantified and rational.”

Words Olivia Hampton

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC 21 June - 6 January www.americanart.si.edu

5 Unwired

JACQUELINE HASSINK

Dutch-born, New York-based photographer Jacqueline Hassink (b. 1966) developed the concept for the Unwired series (2011-2017) following a lonesome trip to rural Japan, which she described as both “confusing and liberating.” The series, presented at Benrubi Gallery under an eponymous title, is a research-based project that seeks to document the so-called “white spots” around the world – these are places that offer no Wifi or cell phone reception.

A rather limited selection of eight pieces, taken in isolated parts of Japan, Norway and Iceland, is presented in the exhibition. Hassink’s large-scale, low-horizon photographs depict vast natural landscapes that show no sign of human intervention. Together, they form a visually cohesive ensemble and a study in bright blues and greens.

The series was shot using analogue film which, like these white spots themselves, is doomed to vanish over time.

Hassink’s photographs of Svalbard, Norway, a former coal-mining town high in the Arctic, lead the viewer to consider the link between economic stature and digital integration – or the lack thereof. In Gymnastic Hall, Swimming Hall (2016) and Room with Drawing 1 (2016), which were shot in the town’s abandoned school, relics of human presence carry the burden of economic impoverishment.

In artificially created white spots, like the digital-free hotel retreat in Baden-Baden, Germany, the absence of connectivity is actively sought after. Photographs of the retreat, unfortunately not on view here, add a compelling perspective to the evolving notions of hyper-connectivity.

Ultimately, Hassink’s project appeals to a fundamental human need for inner peace. As a project, Unwired is a welcome reminder that places still exist that lie beyond the realm of digital connectivity – for better or for worse.

Words Louis Soulard

Benrubi Gallery, New York 1 June - 17 August www.benrubigallery.com

6 Hot Mirror VIVIANE SASSEN

Though perhaps most widely known for her iconic fashion photography – creating high-end campaigns for brands like Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton – it’s Viviane Sassen’s (b.

1972) personal projects that have welcomed international attention and acclaim over the last decade.

Sassen’s unique vision is defined by a trademark lexicon of heat-infused colour, boldly abstracted shapes, stark shadows and uncanny juxtapositions. The Dutch artist attributes this to formative childhood years in Kenya (where she first realised “the extent to which the waking world and dream world collide”) and an early interest in Surrealism.

As is often the case at The Hepworth, however, it’s not just the work but the inspired approach to curation that makes this 10-year retrospective so unmissable. Organised in tandem with the gallery’s other major summer exhibition, Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, Hot Mirror ripples with

the remarkably sculptural, playful resonances between these two fashion-straddling female photographers.

In the gallery space, a lyrical style of hanging – conceived in collaboration with the curators, Sassen and her partner Hugo – actively embraces spontaneity, free association and subconscious impulse. Numerous pieces from different collections (including her acclaimed UMBRA series) are drawn together to create “image poems.”

A spirit of collage echoes in the work too; the show features some of the artist’s newest experiments with the popular Surrealist strategy, along with other forms of post-production manipulation. The experience culminates in Totem (2014) – an immersive mirror installation which places the viewer at the heart of an infinite landscape of reflected compositions – bringing an upheaval of reality to ultimate fruition. This is a heady, intoxicating show, not to be missed.

Words Sara Jaspan

The Hepworth Wakefield 22 June - 7 October www.hepworthwakefield.org

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Still from Columbus. Dir. Kogonada.

film

Designed Storytelling COLUMBUS

“The film’s interiors are in turn made up of remarkable detail, down to the alignment of post-its on an office wall, and cinematographer Elisha Christian perfectly complements Kogonada’s precise eye for minimal beauty in vast open spaces.”

Words Beth Webb

Network Distributing www.networkonair.com

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Columbus, the feature debut from writer-director Kogonada, complements Kogonada’s precise eye for minimal beauty.

Cho, who is known for his background in comedy and is deeply romantic. Not in the ambiguous relationship between its two excellent leads, performed by John Cho and action films, delivers a refined, sincere performance as Jin, Haley Lu Richardson, but in the loving treatment of the whose complicated relationship with his father has left him town’s celebrated architecture. This is the work of an admirer. embittered and confused. It’s a career-defining role that he In an approach reminiscent of Edward Yang’s gentle drama wears as well as he does Jin’s immaculately tailored clothes.

Richardson is right up there with him, matching Cho’s perYi Yi, Kogonada positions his narrative outside the foreground, with the buildings and their interiors instead taking formance with self-deprecating wonder. Casey has remained centre stage. A drunken confession is filmed in the reflection in Columbus, a town built on “meth and modernism”, to stay of a bedroom mirror; two colleagues chat in the far corner close with her mother Maria, who is a recovering drug addict.

The pair have the sort of connection that is built from hitting of a library, framed beneath its handsome concrete ceiling.

Instead of distracting from the story – in which Jin (Cho), a rock bottom, and the casting for both (Maria is played by prestigious scholar’s son, returns home and befriends Rich- Michelle Forbs) is harmonious to the point of perfection.

Columbus, with its expert take on art and interpretation, at ardson’s library worker Casey – the space is used to develop the connections between his key characters whilst drawing on times teeters on the edge of pretentiousness. Thankfully Kogonada’s script knows when to be self-aware. “Does that the perceived personalities of the architecture around them.

Some of the context behind the designs is explained by make you think that you’re better than everyone else?” Jin Casey, who has an energetic appreciation of her local sur- asks when Casey proudly shows him her primitive cell phone.

Cho and Richardson’s stoic delivery also keeps the tone roundings, but it is often left to interpretation. The structures develop in character as Columbus unfolds to the point where in check, while bringing an air of authenticity to a tentative they carry the scene. When Jin’s father takes a further turn for new friendship. Their subtle chemistry brings warmth to this the worse, it feels as though they are quietly waiting in antici- meticulously crafted film. Columbus may be a vast picture pation of his fate. The film’s interiors are in turn made up of to behold all at once, but every moment is presented with remarkable detail, down to the alignment of post-its on an joyful dedication and precision. Kogonada is a promising office wall, and cinematographer Elisha Christian perfectly new auteur who is well worth the investment of your time.

Youthful Narratives THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST

we’d have a dance party. It was blessed; we’d eat breakfast “The film was shooting together in addition to lunch. We’d get close with people.” in America whilst Akhavan admits that the best dancer was Sasha Lane, a President Trump was rising talent who played the enchanting lead in Andrea coming to power. As Arnold’s American Honey, another siren call for teenagers footage of American shunned by society. In The Miseducation of Cameron Post, teens with tear-stained Lane plays Jane, a deadpan resident who is shown via flash- cheeks flooded the back rolling joints from a frighteningly young age, who cuts news, Akhavan and through the sentiments of God’s Promise without betray- her team were on ing her stony demeanour. Jane is just one example of an location at God’s extraordinary ensemble cast, which comes as fully formed Promise in Montana.” as Moretz’s Cameron, each in different states of acceptance and denial, each with their own reasons to be there, and each played with blazing authenticity by the film’s secondary cast.

“Whilst I was reading the book, Erin was my favourite,” Akhavan notes, referring to Cameron’s sporty, eager roommate who is played in the film by Emily Skeggs. “It was Erin I related to. I was such a wannabe. She’s just trying so hard, in all the wrong ways.” What emanates from this film in spite of its troubling subject matter, whilst America entered an equal- Words ly troubling new era, is its warmth and optimism, qualities Beth Webb which can be attributed to Akhavan’s increasingly evolved approach to filmmaking. “Just have just the slightest bit of faith,” is the gentle self-advice she lives by now, a mantra Vertigo Releasing that has guided her into a graceful and assured second film. www.vertigoreleasing.com

Still from The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Courtesy of Vertigo Releasing.

Writer-director Desiree Akhavan is a voice for the suppressed and mispresented youth of America. Her new film, which is based in part on Emily M. Danforth’s acclaimed novel, rests on the troubled lives of a group of rejected, queer teenagers, but the message that it communicates goes even further.

Akhavan, whose directorial debut Appropriate Behavior saw a young Persian bisexual woman (played by herself) grapple with her identity, is keen for audiences to understand the harmful environments in which all young people grow up: “As a teenager you feel like you have a sickness no matter what it is,” she says. “You get brainwashed by the kids at school, by magazines, by your culture. At the age of 11 you start to gather all this shame, no matter what that shame may be. This felt like the perfect metaphor for what it is to be a teen.”

The film was shooting in America whilst President Trump was coming to power. As footage of American teens with tearstained cheeks flooded the news, Akhavan and her team were filming on location at God’s Promise, a small summer camp in Montana. On the Sundance press circuit, Akhavan recalls her forlorn crew assembling to shoot one of the film’s most vigorous scenes, which sees Chloë Grace Moretz belt out 4 Non Blondes’ song What’s Up atop a kitchen counter, on the day of Trump’s concession speech. “People were heartbroken,” she confirms, “but it bound us together. We’d shoot for six days a week, but each Saturday night before our day off

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Image: The Joy Formidable.

music

Symbolic Expression THE JOY FORMIDABLE

“‘We threw ourselves into this beautiful vivacious collage of experimentation, real meets unreal, and started caring more about the things that are worth your time.’

That energy – laserfocused, steady with intent – is rife here.”

Words Charlotte R-A

www.thejoyformidable.com

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When it came to writing their fourth album – AAARTH – Welsh lines drive the pace, leaving Bryan free to pinwheel across trio The Joy Formidable faced what we might surmise to be the fretboard, shooting off lightning-bright lead guitar licks an existential precipice, of steep proportions. “With life not and crunching low-end riffs. Reprieves in volume are few always being that kind, you can either go down a really dark here – Absence, for example, is the only truly gentle affair to hole or you can smear yourself with colour and reverie and be found, Bryan’s voice a low reverie over the simple piano try to forget,” the band’s vocalist / guitarist Rhiannon “Ritzy” scales – and that’s a good thing, because TJF are at their best when they bring the noise. Witness the dreamy, thundering Bryan explains. “That’s what we did with AAARTH.” The record follows 2016’s Hitch, a record that underwhelmed riffage that drives Dance of The Lotus, and the wild St Vincentcritics. “Fire still comes easy to The Joy Formidable, but Hitch esque pinballing licks on The Better Me – a feat of cumulative, is the first time they’ve seemed at a loss for how to use it,” face-shredding distortion, and the album’s clear standout.

“We’ve definitely made a colourful, mystical collage with this lamented Pitchfork. It was a fair appraisal of the band’s third album, a cumbersome 12-track affair stuffed with songs that record, partly because of our surroundings,” explains Bryan. averaged six minutes apiece. This new expedition is a much AARTH was recorded on-the-go, in the band’s mobile recordshorter, sharper thing: precision-controlled rock chaos from ing studio, and owes just as much to the “otherworldly rainbow the get-go, from the esoteric glower of its opening number Y canyons of the Utah-Arizona border” as it does to the rolling hills of the trio’s home country. “Those multicoloured sunsets Bluen Eira to the pugilistic math-y rock of Go Loving.

“We threw ourselves into this beautiful vivacious collage of and the primeval elements of nature in the southwest – it’s emexperimentation, real meets unreal, and started caring more boldened our imaginations in the songwriting and the producabout the things that are worth your time,” Bryan says. That tion. I love stories and seeing symbolism and meaning change energy – laser-focused, steady with intent – is rife, from the with different cultures and interpretations. I see it in my lyrics, snaking, Eastern promise Cicada (Land On Your Back), to the a lot of the imagery plays on being ambivalent because I’m hammering, reverb-washed prog of All In All, a wild and grand often expressing a lot of things at once. That’s true of the title; it falls somewhere between a scream, an exaltation, a play on unspooling of squalling guitars and storming feedback.

AAARTH is undeniably mammoth, vast and wild enough to words, and then this motif of the bear (“arth” in Welsh) that spirtrip off but never at the cost of direction. Bone-rattling drum- itually represents strength, wisdom and healing.”

Digital Inspiration EMMA BLACKERY

like who I am and want to follow me on my journey.”

“Online strife is a Online strife is a central theme on Villains. Blackery’s central theme on lyrics run thick and heavy with references to online frene- Villains. Blackery’s mies, feuds and machinations played out over Twitter and lyrics run thick SMS. “My last five EPs have all been centred around the and heavy with idea of love, or lust, and it wasn’t where I was at [when writ- references to online ing the album],” explains Blackery. “There are fake people frenemies, feuds everywhere, particularly in the lines of business I’m in, both and machinations on YouTube and in the music industry. People use you. You played out over end up not knowing who to trust. I was in a bad place with Twitter and SMS.” people trashing me publicly online, not actually being the good friends I thought they were, and it caused me to snap and delete all social media for a couple of weeks, which in social media terms, is like a lifetime. I just wanted no part of it.”

And yet the entirety of Villains is a dialogue in that vein, lyrics couched in shots fired in the style of online parlance – more Look What You Made Me Do than Shake It Off. Paranoia, alienation and bitterness resound, right up until the album’s end when Blackery owns her part in all the drama. Was it important to her to show that journey? “Writing this album was Words never about what was ‘important to show’ to others. The entire Charlotte R-A record was just written during a journey of self-discovery and I knew I wouldn’t be able to move forward until I got these feelings out of my system. Once I stopped being so angry at www.soundcloud.com/ everyone, I was able to see that a lot of the fault was my own.” emmablackery

Image: © Fraser Taylor.

Creative control is important to Emma Blackery. It’s a lesson the Essex-born artist and YouTube personality learned the hard way: “I’ve released one EP in the past that featured songs I didn’t have a large hand in writing, and you could tell.” Villains, Blackery’s full-length pop debut, redresses the balance. “I wrote all of the songs myself. I came up with all the melodies, the chords, the lyrics, everything.”

The album, produced by Toby Scott (Little Mix, Girls Aloud, The Saturdays), bears all the hallmarks of someone who’s studied pop’s millennial pantheon: Goulding, Lorde, Swift.

It’s the latter behemoth of slick blonde ambition on which Blackery hopes to model her career. Like Swift, Blackery learned to play the guitar as a pre-teen, studying UK pop punk scamps Busted and McFly – influences that would give way to American imports: Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Blink-182 and Paramore. “Anything you could imagine on a rock-based music channel, I was into,” says Blackery.

“I joined my first pop-punk band in my late teens. I’d probably say Yellowcard and Four Year Strong were our big influences.” Five DIY EPs (including the aforementioned creative dud) followed, along with a nascent YouTube career.

“My job for the past six years has been building a channel alongside my music. I’ve made advice videos, comedy sketches, commentaries, informational political videos – connecting with millions of people around the world who

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Swartberg House, Prince Albert, South Africa (Jennifer Benningfield). Simple blocks of brick faced in rough plaster play off the beauty of the landscape. Image credit: Richard Davies, courtesy Openstudio Architects.

books

The Ideological Structure ARCHITECTS’ HOUSES

“The vast range of buildings featured in this thoughtful publication are not only responses to the surrounding environments but also reflections of the people who built them.”

Words Gunseli Yalcinkaya

www.thamesandhudson.com

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Architects’ Houses by Los Angeles-based writer Michael Webb foregrounds 30 of the design world’s most prominent figures, including Norman Foster, Todd Williams and Billie Tsien.

With a special focus on the houses that designers have built for themselves, Webb explores a variety of creative processes, whilst interweaving history over the last 200 years, from Charles and Ray Eames’ first post-war Case Study House to Frank Lloyd Wright’s modernist home, Taliesin.

Webb’s question, “how can a house enrich lives and its natural surroundings?” is looked at through the lens of both functionality and aesthetics. Drawing on a multitude of texts, sketches and plans, he examines the importance of practicality and restriction. The home of Polish architect Robert Konieczny, for instance, is situated on a sloping meadow in the hills of Brenna, southern Poland, and, as such, is exposed to mudslides. To overcome this, Konieczny raised the structure on three wedges. “Konieczny realised that the solution was not to challenge nature but to go with the flow,” says Webb.

In contrast, South African architect Jennifer Beningfield’s Swartberg House is described as a “tabula rasa that allowed almost unlimited creative freedom.” Composed of several white volumes that are covered in a rough stucco surface, the project plays against its surroundings whilst casting shadows to protect against sunlight. “The house has realised all of Beningfield’s goals whilst also addressing the practical

concerns of her husband, who, having worked in the office of Foster + Partners, played the role of the critic,” Webb explains.

The home as a manifesto is another central theme. “Houses can be a statement of principles and a practical demonstration of architectural talent,” Webb begins. “They can be radical manifestos or prototypes.” He points out Chile-based practice Pezo von Ellrichshausen’s geometric façades as an example of this. Much like the studio’s broader work, the Cien residence builds upwards, rejecting conventional notions of comfort. “They’ve built two rough-edged concrete towers for themselves, one in the city of Concepcion, Chile, another on the Pacific coast, and both are frugal exercises in spatial geometry and materiality,” Webb says.

Elsewhere, Antón García-Abril’s monumental Steinhaus pays homage to a love of the mountainous landscape from Abril’s childhood. Composed of three steel pods, the sharply faceted construction appears like an extension of the mountains and the rock faces surrounding it. Webb notes: “Whether the house was the source of his growth as an architect, or only a metaphor for that process, it is likely to be seen as his monument.”

The vast range of buildings featured in this publication are not only responses to the surrounding environments but also reflections of the people who built them. On Webb’s reading, the house is a mirror that reflects all these notions: the personal, the practical, the ideological and the aesthetic.

The Developing Metropolis CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2009, Renzo Piano (© Dave Jordano).

Abrams and Chronicle’s third edition of Chicago Architecture the notion down to its essence: a marriage between the archi- “Widely known as and Design by Jay Pridmore and George A. Larson gives a tecture and the building – that is “between poetry and prose”. the birthplace of the historical account of one of America’s most interesting cities This is interpreted by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and the skyscraper, Chicago through the lens of the architects who shaped it, including Prairie School, with an opening of interior spaces with few di- is examined through Daniel Burnham, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der vided sections and lots of natural light. The unconventional its historical, social Rohe and Frank Gehry. With a foreword by Helmut Jahn and Robie House carries these ideas into fruition: a complex ge- and technological contexts, piecing photographs by Hedrich Blessing, the publication docu- ometry allows for a sociable, open plan, spacious interior.

Seemingly at philosophical odds is the Art Deco movement. together various ments the influential metropolis through its intriguing build“[The buildings] were traditional in appearance but driven by movements and ings, from the 19th century through to the present day.

Widely known as the birthplace of the skyscraper, Chicago values that were modern, if not avant-garde,” explains Prid- their stylistic is examined through its historical, social and technological more. The Reed House (1931) by David Adler for instance, developments.” contexts, piecing together various movements and their sty- updates traditional designs with contemporary elements.

Moving forward into the 20th century, new technologies listic developments. The publication begins with Daniel Burnham and his infamous Plan of Chicago (1909) – which, co- produced a sense of freedom, seen in, for example, Mies van authored by Edward H. Bennett, documented the city’s trans- der Rohe’s work, which “required not only an understanding formation from the Great Fire in 1871 – and works its way of materials and function but also an almost spiritual comup to contemporary projects such as Renzo Piano’s Modern mand of the way people perceive space,” Pridmore notes.

Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago (2009). Throughout this An example of this in action is the Kluczynski Federal journey, however, lies a singular thread. Building upon John Building (1974) – a 42-floor skyscraper which harnessed the Ruskin’s theories of organic architecture, each featured pro- landscape for its spatial and formal potential. Today, skyject is included for its overall sensation within the landscape, scrapers have become icons of speed and efficiency, offering Words something that has developed naturally with humanity’s the optimal example of how structures have evolved, almost Gunseli Yalcinkaya needs. “Its life was an outgrowth of its form,” Pridmore notes. anthropomorphically. Throughout this thought-provoking Whilst this concept manifests, for the most part, as the text, Pridmore is constantly searching for a distinctly Ameriquest for an inherently American design, Pridmore breaks can type of architecture – a task which he certainly achieves. abramsandchronicle.co.uk

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film reviews

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The Ciambra JONAS CARPIGNANO

Jonas Carpignano’s The Ciambra is a continuation of sorts from feature debut Mediterranea (2015), a startling study of the refugee crisis which follows two friends who make a startling journey across the sea, only to experience hostility on the other side. Employing the same low-key observational camerawork which makes him a direct descendant of the Italian school of neo-realism, Carpignano also re-trains the lens on young Pio Amato, one of the supporting players featured in Mediterranea.

Blurring the line between reality and fiction, with actors largely playing characters close to their own lives, The Ciambra follows the adolescent Pio’s adventures amidst his sprawling family. Living in a poverty-stricken Romini community in Calabria, in the coastal town of Gioia Tauro, now 14-year-old Pio’s friendships and encounters are keenly felt, albeit through a loose-limbed narrative.

Whilst the film’s executive producer, Martin Scorsese,

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has frequently studied criminally inclined blue-collar characters, Carpignano’s compelling approach is more anthropological. With his father and older brother imprisoned, Pio becomes the family’s chief filcher, under the eye of domineering mother Iolanda. Prejudice against these people on the margins is all too frequent.

At two hours, the film is rather too long to sustain this freewheeling style, and it takes time for any plot to come into focus, as Pio’s criminal activities suddenly bring serious consequences. But really this is a coming-of-age tale, from innocence to experience, fleshing out Pio’s friendship with Ayiva (Koudous Seihon), the Burkina Faso migrant first encountered in Mediterranea.

Driven by Carpignano’s ability to extract naturalistic performances from his cast, particularly the sprightly Pio, The Ciambra also benefits from Tim Curtin’s véritéstyle camerawork. This is a real rough diamond of a film.

Words James Mottram

Peccadillo Pictures www.peccapics.com

Sweet Country WARWICK THORNTON

Warwick Thornton’s western is an unsettling meditation on violence and justice, with a title that strikes an unsubtle note of irony. In the outback of the Northern Territory – Australia in the late 1920s – Aboriginal farmhand Sam (Hamilton Morris) works for the local preacher (Sam Neill). When he is sent to help new neighbour Harry (Ewen Leslie) – a bitter war veteran – the hostility culminates in a fatal shootout that forces Sam to flee with his wife. As Sergeant Fletcher (Bryan Brown) pursues the pair, the isolated community are forced to confront the legitimacy of their understanding of justice and morality.

As a piece of moral drama, Sweet Country is a haunting experience, underpinned by Sam’s surprising act of respect and compassion towards lawman Fletcher that goes unreciprocated. The feeling of tragic disappointment this evokes exposes the hope or belief in the goodness of man present within us. The feature paints an in-

triguing dichotomy of moral versus immoral characters, and the indifference of man to shaping the world around them through the goodness of their actions. The harsh landscape is a fitting reflection of these tainted souls.

Offering a grittier feel in contrast to the myth-building of the American western, even in the anti-romantic visions of Sergio Leone, the outback is a reinvigorating force on the aesthetic feel of the genre. Thornton creates an intimate bond between the audience and the characters, and knows when to position viewers as neutral observers for maximum effect. As voyeurs, the audience actively project their feelings and ideas onto a world torn between the extremes of morality and immorality, and that which lies between: indifference. Yet if this onscreen world is based on past true events, it stings with a disconcerting reminder of our contemporary struggles with the anxieties of racism, inequality and prejudicial injustice.

Words Paul Risker

Thunderbird Releasing www.thunderbirdreleasing.com

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Mansfield 66-67 P. DAVID EBERSOLE AND TODD HUGHES

One of the commentators in the mixed ensemble of filmmakers, drag queens and academics who together discuss the enigma of Jayne Mansfield rightly points out that most people who think they knew her really just didn’t. Thus, the on-screen image of such a revered and desirable figure – the former Playboy Playmate who came to epitomise the Hollywood “blonde bombshell” and whose image remains iconic despite the relatively brief duration of her film career – is partnered with the grisly circumstances that surrounded her demise: infamously decapitated in a horror car smash.

It’s a seemingly eternal equation: décolletage plus dramatic death inevitably equals an enduring cultural appeal. And indeed, this film does it justice.

This, then, is the legend of the platinum blonde who, seemingly through choice, set herself up as a cutprice Marilyn Monroe, only to find the mantle she had

taken on to be a restrictive one. Dead at just 34, she was reaching a sharp edge as the 1960s evolved into a freer, more chaotic time. Mansfield 66-67 picks over the tawdry final months of the star’s life when her addiction to attention was spiralling out of control. Movies were giving way to tacky personal appearances, whilst her visual allure was quickly fading, alcohol was taking hold of her life, and she was even meddling with devil worship, courtesy of self-styled Satanist Anton LaVey. Talking heads (including John Waters, cult actress Mary Woronov and 1980s popster Marilyn) deconstruct Mansfield’s legacy whilst key moments in her life are reconstructed via animation and live performance. Ultimately though, this portrait fails, perhaps intentionally, to illuminate a woman who was far more complex than perhaps even she recognised within herself. A half-century after she left us, she remains as a figure of intrigue.

Words Tony Earnshaw

Peccadillo Pictures www.peccapics.com

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music reviews

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I Have A Doctor On Board ADDIE BRIK

Hailing from Savannah Georgia, writer, singer and producer Addie Brik started writing poetry in her teens which led her to the prestigious Naropa Institute where she was mentored by Allen Ginsberg and famed CBS journalist, John Steinbeck Jr. A diverse set of influences include Bach, Joni Mitchell, Serge Gainsbourg, Missy Elliott and Dostoyevsky whilst collaborations include work with Wendy and Lisa and The Sugarhill Gang.

Currently residing in Scotland, Brik is heavily influenced by the surrounding natural landscape; it has played a key role in shaping I Have A Doctor On Board. Recorded in Glasgow and written in a small room overlooking the Firth of Clyde at home in Troon, the album is based around a series of interviews with an inventor and a lifeboat captain in Scotland and features themes of freedom, curiosity and community. Intricate songs that started out as rough sketches reflect upon the

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Words Matt Swain

Itza www.addiebrik.co.uk

Hunter ANNA CALVI

Anna Calvi wouldn’t strike you as an artist weighed down by conformity, but her latest album tackles just that. Sonically, Calvi has made rebellious, boundarypushing pop on her own, but alongside collaborators like David Byrne, Hunter sees the singer-guitarist push other boundaries: the cultural binaries that cage us in.

As the second-wave feminist mantra goes, the personal is political. And on this, Calvi’s third record, she is at her most honest yet. We hear of real experiences living in and transcending a culture that confines us to narrowed versions of our most authentic selves. On Hunter it feels like Calvi’s political message is just as important as the way in which it is delivered by the music.

On Don’t Beat The Girl Out Of My Boy she croons above pounding toms and searing guitar riffs about the pressures our culture’s framework of masculinity puts on young boys. It’s a powerful moment that culminates

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march of technology and whether the end result will be evolution or extinction. These observational lyrics set a scene of melancholy balanced out by hope.

The album veers from the starkness of Nothing Too Much to the opulently lush and melodic Here Comes The Lover. Harmonically, the sound often sits somewhere between mid-1980s and mid-1990s tropes, melding a range of influences amongst old and new in much the same way that Laura Marling channels Joni Mitchell.

The mysteriously titled Cape Flyaway beguiles, recalling fairytales and creating a meandering, mystical journey whilst the coastal theme is again at the fore on Coffin Ships, which is almost a modern-day sea shanty. At times unsettling in its fragility, the album succeeds through a veneer of stylistic artifice coupled with the raw emotion.

It is hard to ignore the Kate Bush comparisons, but the album stands as an intriguing work in its own right.

in a hair-raising scream from the singer. Elsewhere, it’s equally raw and punk rock, helped along by production from Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Grinderman). For instance, Alpha is a self-assured account of sexual awakening that’s steeped in disco clicks and purring guitar.

But beyond the frustrations, which are laid out so viscerally, there is also a sense of hope. Calvi hints at a utopia of true acceptance and inner peace. Here lie the album’s quieter moments. On Swimming Pool and Eden a Kate Bush-like vibrato is mixed with cinematic gusts of strings. It’s soothing, smoothing down the rougher, edges that dominated the sound earlier in the album.

At their core, these 10 songs are a complex and intimate account of sexual politics in 2018. And the frankness and direct nature of Hunter has produced Calvi’s most exhilarating work to date. This is a record that refuses to be boxed in, and it’s all the better for it.

Words Grace Caffyn

Domino Records www.annacalvi.com

Mulberry Violence TREVOR POWERS

Formerly known as Youth Lagoon, after some serious soul-searching Trevor Powers dropped the moniker and has proudly come into his own on this lo-fi, multilayered jittering masterpiece of rich layers and fascinating soundscapes. From the emotive opener XTC Idol, every second of this record shows Powers’ mind-boggling attention to detail. Lead single Playwright is nothing short of a therapeutic, molten liquid-covered audible massage, with every ridiculous sound placed clinically, showing Powers’ great mastery with the art of musical space.

The frankly remarkable Plaster Saint is a gloriously painful piano-laden journey. Tinted with almost indiscernible lyrics, the sheer beauty of the instrumentation comes into focus, battling melodies and rhythms out against industrial bleeps and clicks. It sounds like it wouldn’t work, but the result is nothing short of idyllic.

The screaming distorted sounds bellow as they pan, in a

fiercely rousing cacophony. It is a record that demands extensive re-listening and hits you to your core a little deeper each time. Film It All feels every bit as retro as bouncy 808s & Heartbreak-era Kanye as it does Cinematic Orchestra, whilst Squelch is a soundtrack to an unhinged mind, one both troubled and introspective.

Obvious comparisons to James Blake can be made, but Powers’ music feels somehow more complex on songs such as Ache, which splices playful bass and drum programming alongside emotional chords and electric guitar hidden in the mix. It’s an entirely complex, enjoyable entity full of twists and turns, with perfectly balanced experimental design and intense musicality, nuanced and bombarding, unravelling deeply like a magic eye picture. This is an album that demands your deep focus and attention, but the image it creates is truly rewarding when your vision adjusts accordingly.

Words Kyle Bryony

Baby Halo www.trevorpowe.rs

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book reviews

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Yours Truly AI WEIWEI

“We have to see humanity as one.” Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) is one of the world’s most recognised contemporary voices.

Across sculpture, photography, installation and film, the artist and activist consistently engages with social and political issues, questioning injustice and advocating for human rights. Following a childhood in exile in the Gobi Desert and an 81-day incommunicado detention by the Chinese state in 2011, Weiwei’s key contributions within the industry are strikingly poignant and far-reaching.

Abrams & Chronicle’s publication takes the 2014 @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz exhibition as its starting point.

The show transformed the former island prison off San Francisco into an arena for artistic and social exchange, offering a series of revealing and affecting artworks that shed light on the experiences of prisoners of conscience.

Yours Truly was one such piece. Inviting visitors to write postcards to those identified throughout the presentation,

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Words Eleanor Sutherland

Abrams & Chronicle www.abramsandchronicle.co.uk

Promoting Fashion BARBARA GRAHAM AND CALINE ANOUTI

Have you ever wondered why a brand can sound different on social media than via email? Likely not – yet it may have influenced whether you decided to buy from that particular company. However, if you work in fashion, this is intrinsic. Visually appealing and accessible, Promoting Fashion covers brand tone and plenty more besides, providing detailed and up-to-date information on a fast-evolving industry. Without compromising on clarity, its scope includes chapters on e-commerce, integrated marketing, offline retail, social media and analytics.

Although this sounds like textbook territory, its layout and attractive design has a balance of beauty and utility.

Taking the reader through the creation of a strong brand identity, the book illustrates how successful marketing communications are a “pick ’n mix” of complementary but different tools. Whereas celebrity endorsements or viral fashion videos may hit the press, without an

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it resulted in more than 90,000 contributions. Each one demonstrates the human capacity for empathy, offering the recipients hope and solidarity in their isolated world.

As Weiwei notes: “To someone jailed or living in exile, a postcard can be an essential form of communication.”

The publication provides insightful and emotive essays by the artist and by Amnesty International USA, whilst revealing the experiences of five prisoners through their interviews, letters and biographies. Each case study reveals their beliefs and perspectives, alongside the challenges they have faced as a consequence, highlighting a pervasive sense of separation and alienation. Illustrated by a meaningful selection of the postcards written and sent during the exhibition, the profiles and accompanying messages reveal a personal and deeply human element. These powerful contributions demonstrate how connectivity and compassion can be agents for change.

integrated approach from advertising to trade shows, failure can come hard and fast. The addition of Q&As with professionals, from the CMO of Topshop to a trend analyst at trendwatching.com, provides a helpful insider view into an industry that's constantly changing.

In the ever more transparent environment of social media, brands have myriad ways to interact with their consumer, but Graham and Anouti steer clear of overemphasising this channel. Their stress on commerce yields helpful advice about how retailers can consider the consumer’s journey carefully through landing and shopping pages, apps and customer services. Their take on the future of offline retail, however, is surprising: they believe the human touch will need to be marketed within an industry that's the hardest to remain relevant. It seems unlikely that fashion, of all industries, could ever forgo the pleasure of tactility, and this publication confirms it.

Words Sarah Jilani

Laurence King www.laurenceking.com

Women Photographers BORIS FRIEDEWALD

In the introduction to his book, Boris Friedewald writes that his aim is “to present the variety and diversity of women who took and take photographs.” To achieve this, he delves into the work of 55 artists, framing them through personal contexts, such as the endeavours of Julia Margaret Cameron with a camera that was given to her by her daughter, or to the developing profession of blockbuster artist Cindy Sherman – a figure who has continually evolved along with new technologies, now posting various selfies on Instagram with distorted filters.

The book celebrates the craft and aesthetics of selected individuals from various walks of life. From Sally Mann and Vivian Maier to Ellen von Unwerth and Viviane Sassen, Women Photographers is a testament to those visionaries who have changed the industry with their keen eye and unyielding practise, across a broad range of styles and disciplines. This is an essential text that high-

lights these influential figures from the contemporary art world – recognising its own limits in the historical record, but also its merits as an archive of talent. “A range that unquestionably reveals a number of gaps – as any selection made from a large number inevitably must. They are women whose works unsettle, provoke, touch and delight their viewers. That is what they are famous for.”

What is, perhaps, most eye-opening about the publication is that it instils readers with the complexity of these pioneering figures and how they perceived themselves, not just their contributions. As Friedewald continues: “The term ‘woman photographer’ is often not precise enough.

For highly individual reasons. Zanele Muholi, for example, sees herself as a visual activist. Claude Cahun saw herself as being beyond femininity, masculinity or androgyny. Ultimately, the reasons why women begin to take photographs are as individual as their gazes.”

Words Kate Simpson

Prestel www.prestel.com

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artists’ directory

DONGHWAN KO Holding a doctorate degree in Fine Art, Donghwan Ko lives and works between London and Seoul, exploring notions of home and the spaces inbetween. Investigating the boundaries of privacy and intimacy, the works are complex, offering temporary depictions of domesticity. www.donghwanko.com | Instagram: @donghwanko

DAVID DAUB David Daub’s photographs document moments of vulnerability. Daub’s work has been published and exhibited internationally, and he regularly shoots for magazines, musicians and advertising agencies; he has collaborated with the likes of Apple, Nike and Adidas.

www.daviddaub.com

Instagram: @iheartdaviddaub

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VENIVINCE | www.venivince.com

VENIVINCE is a collaboration between Kalliopi Venieri (ballerina, choreographer and sculptor) and Vincent Guy (theatre director, actor and photographer). Creating new forms of expression in a variety of mediums, they look forward to exhibiting at ArtPrize 10 in Grand Rapids, USA, 19 September - 7 October.

XIAOJIE LIU Based in Minneapolis, Xiaojie Liu is a Chinese illustrator influenced by national identity and contrasting cultures.

Recording memories and intimate moments, the images address changing states and emotions towards existing and living in an ethnic autonomous prefecture in China.

www.xiaojieliu.com

REGGY (TONG) LIU Death of a Species Part 2: Lamb's Leg, 2018. Elm, beeswax with steel bracket wall hanging.

GEORGE KITCHING

Having studied sculpture and furniture design, George Kitching now combines an artistic background with his commercial work as a tree surgeon. His latest series, Death of a Species, examines the spread of disease in trees via transportation and importation. Kitching repurposes the diseased wood, transforming its aesthetic through saws, chisels, sanding tools and oil.

Instagram: @mongeham_logs

Reggy (Tong) Liu is a Chinese emerging artist based in London. Her oil paintings and screenprints are about “Masquerade,” an issue combining art with neuropsychology – achieved through multidisciplinary practices. Through her studies in London, her work combines western and eastern cultural elements within a globalisation condition. Her interactive experimental performances immerse the audience in an internal self journey and intangible experience.

www.reggyliu.com | Instagram: @reggy.liu

FIWART Fiwart is a student at the University of the Arts London.

Specialising in performance, sculpture and installation, the experiential pieces grapple with the darker sides of humanity – death, loss and desperation – to untangle the negative connotations in the everyday.

Shown here is a still from the film Where To. Fiwart notes: “For each choice we make in life, we are left alone to deal with the consequences, whether they are positive or negative. I hope that, at the turning point of the maze along the road of life, one should still have the courage to make a decision and not experience the bitterness of regret.”

Instagram: @fiwartfiwart

Kern No. 292, 2018. Oil on canvas, 110cm x 160cm.

HEIKEDINE GÜNTHER Representational of a core, an atom or a nucleus, Heikedine Günther’s ambiguous Kern paintings and prints engage with individual perspectives and philosophies.

Interested in the power of interpretation, the Switzerlandbased artist offers abstract renders of universal symbols.

www.heikedineguenther.com

For submission enquiries regarding the Artists’ Directory, contact Katherine Smira on (0044) (0)844 568 2001 or directory@aestheticamagazine.com

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amanda krantz

annamarie dzendrowskyj

Amanda Krantz is a Melbourne-based painter whose process is underpinned by a playful exploration of paint materials, creating psychedelic worlds of the hidden and alien varieties that play with our perception and evoke a sense of nostalgic fantasy. Her work can be found in collections worldwide and includes commissioned work for The RitzCarlton and Royal Caribbean. I www.amandakrantz.com

Award-winning artist Annamarie Dzendrowskyj examines different ways of seeing and being, foregrounding moments of ambiguity and The Uncanny.

Evoking a sense of tension between figuration and abstraction, her suggestive pieces are filled with painterly contrasts, depicting an intriguing netherworld. Dzendrowskyj’s work is held in public and private collections. www.annamariedzendrowskyj.com I Instagram: @annamarie_dzendrowskyj

chris meigh-andrews

dieneke tiekstra

Chris Meigh-Andrews’ screen-based video and sculptural moving image and sound installations have been exhibited internationally since the mid-1970s and he has held numerous artists’ residencies in the UK, Poland and Canada. His site-specific and commissioned installations seek to establish a dynamic and fluid relationship between human technology and the “natural world.” www.meigh-andrews.com

Dieneke Tiekstra is a sculptural artist and co-founder of the Netherlands art gallery Rueb & Tiekstra. Her works challenge viewers, seeking a balance between abstraction and figurative forms, rebuilding textures from the everyday. The Bits and Pieces series is created using puzzle pieces with a modelling sculpture technique on carton. www.galerierueb-tiekstra.nl

francesca borgo

ikenna mirembe

Italy-based Francesca Borgo guides the viewer into imaginative and abstract landscapes which explore the struggle of contemporary individuals, torn by social pressures to conform or perform, giving up their deeper identity. Inner comfort and peace are the leitmotif of her latest collection of digital paintings. www.fraborart.com | fraborart@gmail.com

Influenced by the study of melanin, Ikenna Mirembe is a UK-based illustrator, designer and photographer looking to capture the complexities of human skin. Each illustration draws upon the ridges and valleys within the complexion – some of which are overlooked – delving into the aesthetic and biological details of the human body. www.ikenaa.com I Instagram and Twitter: @ikenaa

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Surfacing, 2018.

jojo taylor Jojo Taylor’s multidisciplinary approach is based around performance, sound, song and film. A key aspect of her research explores altered states of consciousness. Inspired by events such as out-of-body experiences and hallucinatory states, Taylor’s work offers a fragmented narrative, somewhere between dream and reality. www.jojotaylorart.wordpress.com www.vimeo.com/user49281517 I www.soundcloud.com/user-999931973

The Beauty and the Beast , 2018. Oil on canvas, 80cm x 100cm.

john hall John Hall specialises in paintings, drawing and prints. Holding a BA in Painting from Edinburgh College of Art, Hall transposes pastel colour schemes into abstract settings, where surreal views from windows and doorways act as a blueprint for untold narratives. The painting shown here is entitled Florida Alien. www.johnhallpainting.wordpress.com | Instagram: @pinesforpines

Margaretha Gubernale Margaretha Gubernale’s sought-after pictures walk a tightrope: on the one hand she paints abstract thoughts and on the other, she uses natural forms.

Her inspirations include nature, anthroposophy and philosophy. She notes: “In each painting, I try to focus the symbolic parable as clearly as possible.”

Gubernale was born in Zug, Switzerland, where she currently works and lives. www.margarethagubernale.org

On Top of the World. Acrylic on canvas, 26in x 17in.

leanne claxton Artist and print designer Leanne Claxton is based between the UK and Hong Kong. She began printing bold floral oil paintings onto luxury scarves as a way of making her artwork more accessible. Uniting art and fashion as one, each scarf intertwines drawing, painting, screenprinting and digital printing.

Claxton will be exhibiting at London Fashion Week in September. www.leanneclaxton.com I Instagram: @leanneclaxton

maria rabinky

max werner

The vivid illustrated maps created by Maria Rabinky have garnered admirers and customers from all over the world, and caught the attention of leading manufacturers of puzzles in the US and Europe. Drawing on her background in architecture, the US-based artist and illustrator produces reimagined urban landscapes which echo the style of traditional watercolours, whilst being created digitally. www.IllustratedMaps.com

Belgium-born artist Max Werner studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Slade School at UCL. His work depicts worlds familiar and unknown to us and, with his use of light, space and juxtaposition of forms, he creates strong enigmatic images in a world just a step away from reality.

Walking a fine line between realism and surrealism, he never fully steps into either. www.maxwernerart.com

For submission enquiries regarding the Artists’ Directory, contact Katherine Smira on (0044) (0)844 568 2001 or directory@aestheticamagazine.com

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Naoki Kawano Colour, texture and symbolism provide the basis for London-based, Japan-born artist Naoki Kawano. Using delicate materials and simplistic palettes, the works play with interlocking shapes, creating a subtle sense of balance. Kawano notes: “I am always keen to see the viewer’s emotional response when they are face-to-face with my work.” www.naokikawano.com

Panel 1, Wrest Park Gardens, July 2018.

naja utzon popov Naja Utzon Popov is a Danish sculptor, textile designer and ceramicist who has led a peripatetic lifestyle. Her childhood years in Denmark have been a major source of inspiration – as well as time spent in Australia and the UK – where she formed a diverse practice influenced by a multitude of cultures. Popov’s Oceania rug design for Carl Hansen & Søn has been selected as a finalist in the Architizer A+Awards. www.najautzonpopov.com

sally annett Sally Annett’s latest series forms two large-scale exhibitions in the UK; Systems of Philosophy – Wall(paper)s of Mind examines how cultural exchange is created in public and private spaces. The works are constructed from documents, prints and drawings, offering abstract and decorative surfaces. At Bletchley Park until 28 October and at October Gallery in London on 6 October. www.sallyannett.com I www.atelierdemelusine.com

We'll all be laughing about this soon, 2017. Lambda print on clear acrylic. Edition of 3. 455mm x 341mm.

Remains of the Silver Screen - Men Are Not Gods. Digital transfer print, gesso and salvaged plywood, 96cm x 122cm.

rob lenihan UK-based artist Rob Lenihan is influenced by his early work as a street artist, as well as time spent as a children’s illustrator and a love of toy collectibles. He is drawn to the tangibility and interactivity of collectible objects whilst exploring issues around mental health in young people. www.roblenihan.com I Instagram: @rob_lenihan_studio Twitter: @RobLenihanArt I Facebook: roblenihanstudio

steve oliver

zoe dorelli

Steve Oliver holds an MA in Fine Art from Manchester Metropolitan University and is a lecturer in the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford.

His work investigates the structures that make photography and video “work.”

All pieces are created on computers with material sourced from Internet searches, embracing cinema, literary fiction and technological simulation.

Oliver has exhibited throughout Europe and the USA. www.steveoliver.co.uk

Zoe Dorelli is a London-based artist and co-founder of contemporary art publisher Dark Matter Studio. Prints from her series Remains of the Silver Screen – featuring deserted early British film sets – were on view at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2017, reflecting her fascination with creating new narratives, characters and histories from the visual and cultural debris of the past. www.zoedorelli.co.uk I info@zoedorelli.co.uk

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abigail ekue

Alejandra Estrada

Born and raised in New York, Abigail Ekue is interested in the city and its various characters. As such, her work holds a mirror to clients and sitters, capturing nuances of human behaviour and the intimate everyday. In her nude portraits, Ekue promotes body positivity, addressing the male and female gaze, whilst creating intimate, deeply human moments of vulnerability. www.baremen.net www.abigailekue.com

Alejandra Estrada is an artist, fashion designer, art director and stylist based in Mexico City. Her art is a source of inspiration for her clothing brand ALYSTA, with prints of her paintings featuring on the fashion pieces. She has also exhibited oil-based paintings on canvas in London and Mexico City. www.alystaclothing.com Instagram: @alysta.clothing www.cargocollective.com/aliestrada

alexandra haley-chattaway

antonella cusimano

Alexandra Haley-Chattaway’s work explores harmonious spaces and how daily life is becoming increasingly idealised. Using square shapes as a universal language of understanding, her grids depict consumerism and showrooms.

Using domestic materials such as voile, her paintings leave the viewer with a data series formed from living experiences. www.alexxhaley.weebly.com Instagram: @alexxhaleyart

Influenced by interweaved forms and the flow of liquids and gases, Antonella Cusimano produces algorithmic patterns that draw upon natural structures. Multidimensional and ethereal, the overlapping textures make up a matrix of interrelating forms. Cusimano notes: “Every drawing is a self-organising structure that came about not by a preconceived plan, but rather by an automatic spontaneous gesture.” www.antonellacusimano.com

armando cabba

bea jareno

Montreal-born, Paris-based artist Armando Cabba draws inspiration from figuration and portraiture.

Using traditional methods, the self-portraits occupy a surreal space that examines emotional nuances and temporary identities.

Each piece is a personalised record of his state of mind. Cabba’s works are held in private collections across Europe and North America. www.armando-cabba.com Instagram: @armandocabba

Derived from travels throughout India and Africa, London-based jewellery designer Bea Jareno employs colour, texture and contrast to create a sense of balance and harmony within each handcrafted piece. Jareno uses ethically sourced metals, precious and semi-precious stones and beads. www.beajarenojewellery.com Instagram: @bea_jareno_jewellery info@beajarenojewellery.com +44 (0)7830 159 745

Solitary, 2017. Oil on canvas, 33cm x 41cm.

CHRISTOPHER PERRETT

Dimitra Bouritsa

UK-based artist and designer Christopher Perrett creates clock sculptures using wood from reclaimed or sustainable sources. Inspired by the fluid movements, shapes and forms found in nature, Perrett considers the influence of time on daily life. Traditional materials are balanced by the inclusion of modern quartz movements. www.cpwoodart.co.uk

Having studied architecture, sculpture and scenography, Greek artist Dimitra Bouritsa turned her hand to painting in 2015. Currently based at Athens School of Fine Arts, Bouritsa brings various elements into focus; bright, patterned prints combine with darker elements of mythology and childhood memories.

The work shown here is part of an installation entitled The Party. www.dimitrabouritsa.com Instagram: @dimitra_bouritsa

For submission enquiries regarding the Artists’ Directory, contact Katherine Smira on (0044) (0)844 568 2001 or directory@aestheticamagazine.com

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Ellis O’Connor

Emir Erkaya

Ellis O’Connor is an artist based on North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The dynamic energy in the paintings are a response to observed changes in the landscape: the movement and rhythms of the sea and the land, the merging of sea with air, ever-changing light – intangible elements from nature. www.ellisoconnor.com Instagram: @ellisoconnor

Based in Istanbul, visual artist Emir Erkaya’s works are primarily inspired by contemporary society and political events in Turkey.

Offering a duality between tradition and innovation, the politically charged pieces consider the notion of simultaneously belonging and being an outsider. Erkaya has exhibitied work throughout Turkey, Denmark and the UK. www.emirerkaya.com Instagram: @emirerkaya

german fernandez

gill miller

German Fernandez is a Peruvian artist and designer based in Dubai.

He explores the nature (and struggle) of communication, technology and self-knowledge through drawings, collages and paintings populated with pseudo-fantastical figures.

The acrylic on canvas piece shown here is entitled Dinner.

The light and colour of Southern California are an influential and iconic presence in visual culture.

Los Angeles-based Gill Miller takes an energetic and vibrant approach to this aesthetic in the series Urban Summer, Urban Winter. He considers a personal relationship with the environment and landscape, and how this has shifted perspectives on his art and life. www.gillmillerart.com

www.german-fernandez.com

haimi fenichel

Hu Yue

Contemporary Israeli sculptor Haimi Fenichel creates complex, refined works that are informed by the forms, styles and materials of early modernist architecture in Israel. Materials of national construction such as sand, concrete and terrazzo render metaphoric images of masculinity and strength, which, paradoxically, are expressed in delicate, poetic lines. www.haimifenichel.com

Hu Yue is a Chinese photographer and translator studying in London.

Interested in cultural assimilation and geopolitical issues, her practice focuses on landscapes and still lifes, which she creates on road trips to unfamiliar places. Her recent series captures political and societal uncertainties surrounding the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.

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From the Al-Hakim/The Wise series, Cairo, 2016.

Instagram: @hi_huyue hy19940714@126.com

ilona skladzien

judith cordeaux

Poland-born, UK-based Ilona Skladzien holds an MA in Fine Art from Arts University Bournemouth. Her work explores sociopolitical grey areas through a psychological lens. In the series Karpman’s Drama Triangle – which suggests that the roles of the victim, oppressor and rescuer are interchangable – Skladzien expands the possibilities of these ambiguous roles for the viewer. www.ilonaskladzien.com

Judith Cordeaux is a Sydney-born artist residing in New Zealand. Her current body of work explores and questions historic perceptions and expectations of women’s lives.

Familiar motifs – washing on a line, scars and stitches, hearts, houses, stars and rain – merge with archaic female fertility figures. Cordeaux has exhibited internationally. www.cordeaux.nz judith@cordeaux.nz

The Three Graces, 2018. Acrylic on board, 640mm x 640mm.

laÍs sambugaro

NAOMI YUKI

Laís Sambugaro is a Brazilian filmmaker and visual artist. Her work focuses on the human body: its forms, possibilities and shapes through dance, fashion, colours, lighting and movement. Always with a feminine perspective, she explores sexuality in its most natural forms, from eroticism to androgyny.

Tokyo-based Naomi Yuki draws from the essence of objects, projecting abstracted styles and emotions onto the canvas as multidimensional and deeply kinetic forms. She says: “I am trying to create animation on a static panel – I call it ‘Artwarp’.”

Yuki will be exhibiting work at The Other Art Fair Melbourne (stand 024), 2-5 August. www.ny-artwarp.com

www.vimeo.com/lasambugaro Instagram: @laiiiissss

paula rubio Ferrer

Rebecca Bramwell

Madrid-based Paula Rubio Ferrer creates digital effects for cinema, working throughout Europe.

Her personal work is inspired by the representation and observation of feelings and emotions from an existence connected with nature; it is accompanied by an organic and textured style that translates to oneiric environments. www.paularubioferrer.com Instagram: @paula.rubio.ferrer

Rebecca Bramwell carves a distinct aesthetic from geometric forms, block colours and surreal designs that reflect the subconscious. Part of an artistic family, and inspired by travel and academic texts, she notes: “As a child I loved the underlying patterns of life, described and delineated in science textbooks.” www.rebeccabramwell.co.uk Instagram: @rebecca_bramwell

sam stewart

seth maximen

UK-based Sam Stewart is known online by the artist name Ruin The Moment. His illustrations are deep-rooted in horror and metal music, taking the imagery further than their prospective genres. Introducing bright neons and pastels, the artworks break traditions and stereotypes of where they should be placed.

Instagram: @ruinthemoment Facebook: Ruinthemoment

Seth Maximen rejuvinates traditional materials through contemporary approaches. Using paint, screenprinting and etching, Maximen creates an uncanny feeling of unease, assessing how viewers process information through bold, abstracted forms.

The piece shown here is Untitled, a screenprint on paper.

Top: The Distance, 2018. Oil and Belgium linen 50cm x 70cm x 2 pieces. Bottom: Hill Mist, 2018.

Oil, acrylic and Belgium linen 52cm x 66cm.

www.sethmaximen.com

sheau ming song

Sigurborg Stefánsdóttir

Sheau Ming Song has a PhD from LICA at Lancaster University.

His artwork demonstrates the essential issues of two-dimensional representation, and documents the visual possibilities of painting materials. He has shown at Art Taipei 2015, Gwangju Biennale 2015 in South Korea, Art15 London, ART.FAIR Cologne 2014 and the-solo-project 2013 in Basel. www.sms1967.com

Sigurborg Stefánsdóttir’s practice encompasses painting, artists’ book illustration and textiles.

Based in Reykjavik, and having graduated from the Danish Design School, she plays with constructionist elements, building layers on top of topographical maps. Stefánsdóttir was a teacher at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and is currently a member of the SÍM artist union. www.sigurborgstefans.is

For submission enquiries regarding the Artists’ Directory, contact Katherine Smira on (0044) (0)844 568 2001 or directory@aestheticamagazine.com

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sunniva Batalden

sylvia lockhart

Having pursued studies in both visual media and journalism, 22-year-old Sunniva Batalden is inspired by the lines between documentary, fine art and real-estate imagery. Her latest series, Geometry, comprises a collection of reflections and surreal distortions of organic and manmade landscapes. www.sunniva-batalden. squarespace.com

Through abstract landscapes, Sylvia Lockhart explores humanity’s increasing detachment from nature. The images capture the natural world with all its contradictory traits: wild and turbulent, serene and meditative. In 2018, Lockhart won the Bronze Medal with the Royal Photographic Society’s Creative Group. From 1-19 August she exhibits with the Hampstead Photographic Society in Burgh House, London. www.sylvialockhartphotography.com Instagram: @sylvia_lockhart

Thomas W Kuppler

william reinsch

Thomas W Kuppler is a German artist with an MA in Photography from Central Saint Martins. His process of methodological experimentation, exploration and constant questioning of the media is driven by the need to deconstruct representational characters within photographs, as well as to expand the conventional limits of form and dichotomy between the visible and the invisible – between the real and imaginary. www.dadaxus.com | info@arttwk.com

Essex-based William Reinsch is a figurative painter whose work focuses on the idea of being nude both physically and psychologically as well as themes of anxiety, death and being lost.

Recent shows include The Nude Exhibition at the Candid Arts Trust in London as well as the Saatchi Gallery in 2017 and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2016. www.williamreinsch.co.uk Instagram: @williamreinsch

ylenia mino

yuria mizuta

Award-winning Italian-born fine artist Ylenia Mino lives and works in the USA. Numerous events this year have included Clio Art Fair, an exhibition at Gallery Sitka in Massachusetts and Art is Why I Get up in The Morning at Hellada Gallery in Los Angeles. She notes: “My desire as an artist is to provide pieces of sky that people can take home and enjoy the piece coming out of them.” www.yleniamino.com Instagram: @theartofyleniamino

Loss, pain and love are concepts that have inspired artists over the years.

Paris-based Yuria (Morso) Mizuta utlises her practice as a therapeutic type of expression. Building upon her experience as an Art Historian and Curator for Vitra and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Mizuta’s works search for the meaning of identity in today’s world. www.artistescontemporains.org/ membre/morsoyu Instagram: @yumiz5

Outdoor, 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 45cm x 45cm.

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yusuke sugiyama

yuto hasebe

Rather than as divisions or oppositions, Yusuke Sugiyama uses the concept of boundaries to explore the spaces in-between; somewhere between abstraction and embodiment, reality and memory, the self and the other and multilayered consciousness.

Japan-based Yuto Hasebe produces handmade musical instruments.

Deeply inspired by the relationship between nature and human life in the context of Japanese landscape and culture, he crafts each piece for musical performances. Deer Calling, shown here, highlights the spiritual iconography of deers as messengers – a vessel for sounds. Upcoming events include the Prague Quadrennial 2019. www.yutohasebe.weebly.com

https://yuuskesugiyam. myportfolio.com

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Thomas Wrede, detail of City on the Lake, 2018. 95cm x 135cm / 170cm x 240cm, series: Real Landscapes. Courtesy of the artist, Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf; Mike Karstens, Münster and Wagner + Partner, Berlin.

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Thomas Wrede Artist

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In Real Landscapes, I grapple with the boundaries between artifice and reality. In these large-scale colour photographs, the world is rendered as a sort of model kit, as a great stage on a reduced scale, somewhere between idyll and catastrophe. Small model houses and toys are placed in natural topographies, so that a puddle becomes a lake, and a pile of dirt becomes a mountain. My images look at the real and surreal, and the places inbetween, building upon photography as a medium that documents a specific moment in time. In an overview of my career, stories about our relationship with nature emerge – whether ironic or factual, amusing or dramatic. SCENERIES is at Von der Heydt-Kunsthalle, Wuppertal-Barmen until 26 August. www.von-der-heydt-kunsthalle.de | www.thomas-wrede.de.

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