Aesthetica Issue 78 by Aesthetica Magazine

Aesthetica

THE ART & CULTURE MAGAZINE

www.aestheticamagazine.com

Issue 78 August / September 2017

ORGANIC REFORMATION

INVENTING THE FUTURE

REDEFINED POSSIBILITIES

Celebrating well-known visionaries through an investigation of design

Julia Körner utilises digital coding to reshape the concept of fashion

Juxtaposing past and present with the Chicago Architecture Biennial

Five emerging photographers look at the conceptualised notion of reality

UK £4.95 Europe €9.99 USA $13.49

DYNAMIC TECHNOLOGIES

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Welcome Editor’s Note

On the Cover French duo Paul et Martin – Paul Lombard and Martin Rautureau – specialise in photography and short film, working consistently for international fashion brands and established musicians. Stills from The French Lesson depict a summery, geometric aesthetic and provide an immaculate example of art direction. www.pauletmartin.com. (p118). Cover Image: Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheone’s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

Time is relative. In order to understand it we must have an anchor point, but the present is moving so fast, how do you capture it? Every day (multiple times) I tap a news app, and I am immediately inundated with information, yet I keep going back for more. I have an insatiable thirst for finding out the news. I constantly want to be “in the know”, and such an attitude is increasingly representative of the modern, collective state of mind. However, in this era of accelerating post-truth and digital manipulation, where fact converges with fiction and Love Island gets as much, if not more, coverage than an ice shelf half the size of Wales breaking, we must ask ourselves – what is going on? This issue starts with the Chicago Architecture Biennial and its theme of Make New History, a title that calls into question the relationship between the past and memory. With over 100 participants, this year’s event interrogates architecture’s place in present-day society. Unseen Amsterdam also opens this September, and as part of this year’s fair there is a showcase of new talent. We select three practitioners whose images are devoid of human presence, eliciting an eerie sense of isolation. Meanwhile, Julia Körner, a collaborator with the venerable Iris van Herpen, discusses fashion and technology, and the possibilities of 3D printing, with a specific focus on how nature influences the manmade world. Similarly looking to innovation, 50 design studios are brought to light in a new publication by Prestel which dissects sustainability and the trend to move away from fast production. In photography, we showcase the work of seven practitioners who use space, light and the body in innovative ways. From Marcus Palmqvist and Matthieu Belin to Maik Lip and Paul et Martin, the images capture an overall sense of movement. Our annual collaboration with London College of Communication also returns, bringing the best and the brightest to the fore through a range of styles and techniques. Finally, the last words go to Sylvain Biard, who reassesses the conceptual impact of place. Cherie Federico

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contents

Art 24 Redefined Possibilities The ING Unseen Talent Award looks at notions of reliability and digital manipulation through an exciting list of emerging European photographers.

30 Intimate Perspective As part of a yearly annual collaboration with LCC, Aesthetica showcases an exciting list of graduates that document the nuances of human nature.

44 Kinetic Disposition Jonathan Knowles’s Complex Simplicity offers new ventures into still life compositions, capturing the fluidity of liquids as a measurable phenomenon.

54 Inventing the Future The second edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Make New History, looks to the past as a precursor for the future of urbanised design.

60 Ethereal Composition Ben Zank revels in the unconscious; utilising the semantics of straight lines, and various characters nestle within the clutches of suburban locations.

72 Organic Reformation With multi-disciplinary experience in the fields of fashion, architecture and design, Julia Körner utilises patterns from complex marine life.

78 Formal Consideration Matthieu Belin contrasts natural and manmade worlds through cinematic images that call upon light and structure as tools for contemplation.

90 Dynamic Technologies Prestel’s 50 Designers provides an extensive list of names who have contributed to the ecosystem of innovation through everyday domestic solutions.

96 Active Subversion Marcus Palmqvist uses outdoor concrete as a platform from which to perform; ledges and walls become springboards for bold, gestural figures.

108 Symbiotic Landscapes Taking a graphic approach to modern cities, Maik Lipp isolates the beauty of architectural elements, taken from larger, overpopulated topographies.

118 Energetic Arrangement Stills from Paul et Martin’s The French Lesson are at once fresh and geometric, offering a polished vision for artistic direction and fashion editorial.

130 Exhibition Reviews Featured in this issue: South London Gallery, Jeu de Paume, Whitechapel Gallery, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Guggenheim Bilbao and Spike Island.

Film 134 Reflecting Social Dialogues Sally Potter’s latest release, The Party, reinterprets comedy through the lens of idealism and lavish narratives that reflect international events.

Music 135 Biography as Influence England is Mine translates the controversial story of Morrissey onto the screen, a complex task that proves in no way a challenge for Mark Gill.

138 Refabricated Vision The Bourgeois delves into dark satire, reassessing the idea of the American dream and widespread adversity through tongue-in-cheek, cathartic rock.

Performance

Last Words

139 Reconciliating Themes The new record from Slavic-American Zola Jesus translates childhood memories of Wisconsin’s rural forestry into grand, gothic electronica. .

142 Charting Collectivism Michael Asante and Kenrick Sandy, founders of Boy Blue Entertainment, take hip hop to EIF with their all-inclusive production Blak Whyte Gray.

162 Sylvain Biard A new photographic series, SHiMA, speaks to the physical frontiers between cultures, representing the gap between ancient towns and new lifestyles.

Aesthetica Magazine is trade marked worldwide. © Aesthetica Magazine Ltd 2017.

The Aesthetica Team: Editor: Cherie Federico Editorial Assistant: Kate Simpson Digital Assistant: Niamh Meehan Staff Writer: David Martin

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

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Published by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley. Aesthetica Magazine PO Box 371, York, YO23 1WL, UK (0044) (0)844 568 2001 Newstrade Distribution: Warners Group Publications plc. Gallery & Specialist Distribution: Central Books.

Production Director: Dale Donley Designer: Laura Tordoff Administrator: Cassandra Weston Marketing Administration Assistant: Sophie Lake Festival Assistant: Eleanor Turner Interns: Lolita Gendler, Camilla Lanata, Emma Goff-Leggett, Molly Hazelwood Contributors: Bryony Byrne, Niamh Coghlan, Colin Herd, Anna Feintuck, James Mottram, Charlotte R.A., Beth Webb.

Printed by Warners Midlands plc. Reviewers: Matilda Bathurst, Ruby Beesley, Kyle Bryony, Grace Caffyn, Tony Earnshaw, Ned Carter Miles, Selina Oakes, Regina Papachlimitzou, Paul Risker, Matt Swain.

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Francisco Artigas and Fernando Luna, Residence in El Pedregal de San Angel , Mexico City, 1966. Photograph by Fernando Luna. © Fernando Luna, Mexico City.

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Transaction and Transformation FOUND IN TRANSLATION: DESIGN IN CALIFORNIA AND MEXICO, 1915–1985 With boundaries between the US and Mexico the subject of are strongly rooted in a sense of place. The concept that gives “For centuries, people much political polemic in the present climate, it is timely the exhibition its title is the seemingly paradoxical idea that have moved back that the Los Angeles County Museum of Art should make each has developed its identity through its “translations” of and forth, drawn by the cultural dialogue between the two nations the focus of the other, in a process of appropriation and re-appropriation. social and economic a major exhibition. Found in Translation: Design in California The late 19th century saw a wave of fascination with Mexican ties, bringing with and Mexico, 1915–1985 tells a story of a deep-rooted culture and design sweep California This vogue peaked in them objects, styles historical connection prior to and independently of man- the 1920s and 1930s with an embrace of Mexican folk art and images whose made borders, through more than 250 objects including and murals. In turn, the 1930s and 1940s California Spanish meanings were shared furniture, metalwork, ceramics, costume, textiles, paintings, Colonial styles became popular in Mexico. Post-war Mexico as well as altered sculpture, architectural drawings, photographs and film, by looked to California as a model of modernity, aspiring to the through this process.” over 200 artists, architects, designers and craftspeople. highways and high-rises that embodied the American Dream. For centuries, people have moved back and forth, drawn Featured design treasures include a Hand Chair by by social and economic ties, bringing with them objects, Pedro Friedeberg, ceramics by Felix Tissot, and enamels by styles and images whose meanings were shared as well as Miguel Pineda. Also examined are reciprocal relationships altered as part of this process. Political conflict has always in architecture; the likes of Richard Neutra helped bring been present, especially during the Mexican-American War Mexican modernism back to California and later California’s (1846-1848) and the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). The John Lautner and Mexico’s Ricardo Legorreta were to receive histories of California and Mexico, however, are inextricably cross-border commissions during the 1970s and 1980s. entangled. Both belonged to Spain before 1821, and from The 1915-1985 timescale also permits a direct comparison that date until 1848, California was in fact a part of Mexico. between the visual language, graphic design and branding LACMA’s exhibition is arranged under four themes: Spanish of the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 and the Los Angeles Colonial Inspiration, Pre-Hispanic Revivals (art referring back Olympics in 1984. The exhibition concludes with an LACMA, Los Angeles to the ancient Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec civilisations), examination of the issues surrounding growth and urban 17 September - 1 April Folk Art and Craft Traditions, and Modernism. All highlight sprawl, as well as new voices of dissent, all attesting to the how, in both California and Mexico, design and architecture richness of an ever-evolving dialogue across borders. www.lacma.org

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Exploring the Liminal City JAMIE HAWKESWORTH fascination with the particular, the strange and the beautiful “Nuanced and in everyday life. Getting out into the world has offered a break empathetic images with the conventions of commercial fashion campaigns. It is from everyday life an approach that emphasises relevance and lived experience and spontaneous and rather than theory, based firmly upon the tradition of street authentic interactions photography, and one which transfers directly to his fashion with subjects are at practice, where he often recruits people from the streets the heart of his work, instead of using professional models. which derives from Though a member of the generation who are “digital natives”, the subtle and elegiac Hawkesworth, who is now based in London, chooses to shoot British documentary on film and develop pictures traditionally in a darkroom, tradition.” whilst mainly using only daylight. He has undertaken editorial commissions for The New York Times Style Magazine, Vogue US/UK/Paris, W, and WSJ Magazine, amongst many others, with the most notable examples are for J. W. Anderson, Loewe and Miu Miu’s 2015 campaign, for which Hawkesworth travelled alone on the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia. This first major solo museum exhibition navigates through all the rooms of Amsterdam’s Huis Marseille, guiding the viewer in a playful and elegant exploration of photography, moving from Russia and Columbia to selections by key influences such as William Christenberry and John Smith, Huis Marseille which are on loan specifically for this show. Coinciding 9 September - 3 December with the exhibition, Hawkesworth will present his first book, Preston Bus Station, which is published by Dashwood. www.huismarseille.nl

Congo 4, 2016 © Jamie Hawkesworth

Jamie Hawkesworth’s career as a rising star of both documentary and fashion photography found its unlikely start on a reconstructed crime scene in Preston, UK. Nuanced and empathetic images from everyday life and spontaneous and authentic interactions with subjects are at the heart of his work, which originates from the subtle and elegiac British documentary tradition. In his portraits, individuals simultaneously reveal and conceal themselves, creating a disquieting sense of ambiguity. His unique approach derives from a refusal to see a distinction between the various fields of his practice, and an insistence that all the work produced essentially forms part of the same individual vision. Born in Suffolk in 1987, Hawkesworth discovered his vocation by chance whilst studying Forensic Science at university in Lancashire. When using a camera to re-create a crime scene, he realised his future lay elsewhere, and switched to photography. His surroundings and their inhabitants became the first subject: he shot portraits of local teenagers, and gravitated to the brutalist concrete structure of a bus station and the people passing through it, for collaborative and individual work under the titles Preston Is My Paris and Preston Bus Station. Hawkesworth was influenced by the likes of Nigel Shafran and Jem Southam, and it was this body of work that secured him representation with the MAP Agency. His practice has continued to develop out of a curiosity and

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Brooklyn Gang, USA, New York City, 1959. © Bruce Davidson / Magnum Photos.

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Documenting Humanity BRUCE DAVIDSON A master of the social documentary image, Magnum photographer Bruce Davidson (b. 1933) is best known for chronicling the civil rights movement in the United States throughout the turbulent 1960s, as well as the lives of poverty-stricken African Americans and young gang members in New York. Through an unswerving focus on individual lives, he creates a sense of the common dignity of human beings throughout monumental shifts in history. The Rotterdam exhibition includes more than 200 of his photographs, including work from the famous series Brooklyn Gang, East 100th Street and Time of Change: Civil Rights Movement. Born in Illinois, Davidson developed a passion for photography early and pursued the subject at university before being drafted into the US Army. He was quickly assigned to a photographic role and, whilst he was stationed in Paris, first encountered Henri Cartier-Bresson, who would later become a colleague at the Magnum agency. An early major work saw the then 25-year-old photographer embed himself with a teenage street gang, the Jokers, and their violent life to produce Brooklyn Gang in 1959 – one of the first in-depth records of post-war rebellious youth culture. “My way of working,” he later said, “is to enter an unknown world, explore it over a period of time, and learn from it.” The Dwarf, undertaken around the same time, saw him adopt the same methodology to portray the world of a travelling circus.

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From 1961 to 1965, Davidson produced one of his most “Through an famous bodies of work as he chronicled the events of the Civil unswerving focus Rights Movement, in both the North and the South. Placing on individual lives, himself in the centre of sometimes dangerous confrontations he creates a sense to get close to his subjects and share their experiences, he of the common took part in marches and demonstrations from the Freedom dignity of human Rides to the Black Panthers, including the March on beings throughout Washington in 1963, and photographed Dr Martin Luther monumental King. He later said that his first trip to the South opened his shifts in history.” eyes to oppression which as a white photographer he had not previously understood. To support the project, Davidson was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962. His next project – published in 1970 as East 100th Street – a two-year documentation of a poverty-stricken block in East Harlem which was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art – is perhaps his most famous. He would revisit the area in 1998 to document its transformation over the intervening decades. Davidson continued to explore new angles on New York with works like the colour series Subway, which captured the lively underworld of the city’s transport system during the 1970s and influenced many contemporaries. The Rotterdam Nederlands Fotomuseum, exhibition has been made possible by a collaboration be- Rotterdam tween the Magnum Photos agency, the Fundación MAPFRE 16 September - 7 January in Madrid and the Centro Italiano per la Fotografia in Turin, with the support of the Terra Foundation for American Art. nederlands.fotomuseum.nl

Fearless in Face of Mortality PETER HUJAR: SPEED OF LIFE echoed by the title of his only book, Portraits in Life and Death “He believed it was (1976), for which Susan Sontag wrote the introduction. the portraitist’s Hujar focused on character, experience and the mental state task to elicit the of his subjects, who were encountered in intimate settings. sitter’s singularity. Whilst his contemporary Mapplethorpe had a sharp commer- His subjects are cial instinct, many witnesses describe Hujar as a difficult man, extraordinary and critic and friend Vince Aletti reported that “he could never and eye-catching sell himself.” However, in spite of his resistance to the commer- characters with cial world and his regular quarrels with galleries, Hujar spent whom he felt a his life fighting for wider public recognition of his art. personal affinity.” Establishing relationships with his subjects was part of Hujar’s success, and owing to this strength the interaction between sitter and photographer was profoundly intimate. He believed it was the portraitist’s task to elicit the sitter’s singularity. His subjects are extraordinary and eye-catching characters with whom he felt a personal affinity. “My work comes out of my life. The people I photograph are not freaks or curiosities to me. I like people who dare … I photograph those who push themselves to any extreme – that´s what interests me – and people who cling to the freedom to be themselves.” Apart from making portraits of neighbours and friends, Hujar pursued both nature and landscape photography as well. After Fotomuseum den Haag leaving The Hague, Peter Hujar – Speed of Life will move on Until 15 October to the city which inspired the work, with a show at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York from January to late May 2018. fotomuseumdenhaag.nl

Peter Hujar, St. Patrick’s Kathedraal, Paaszondag / St Patrick’s, Easter Sunday, 1976. Gelatin silver print, The Morgan Library & Museum, The Peter Hujar Collection. Acquired thanks to The Charina Endowment Fund, 2013. 108:1.92. © The Peter Hujar Archive, LLC. Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York en Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.

American photographer Peter Hujar (1934-1987) started out in the 1950s as an assistant to commercial photographers but soon became a part of the group of underground artists, poets and musicians who formed the downtown New York art scene of the 1970s and 1980s, and a regular of the creative circles who gravitated around Andy Warhol’s The Factory. Peter Hujar: Speed of Life, presented by the Hague Museum of Photography in cooperation with the Morgan Library & Museum in New York and Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid, includes over 100 vintage photographs made by Hujar between the mid-1950s and his death. His work is often compared to that of his contemporary Robert Mapplethorpe, with Nan Goldin stating that he deserves a similar level of recognition. Hujar’s images, characteristically black and white portraits, are notable for the contrast between their meticulous composition and the flamboyant characters who people them, including transgender individuals such as Candy Darling, immortalised in Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side. One of the photographer’s most famous images is of Darling on her deathbed (she died from lymphoma, aged 29). Sexuality and death were topics that were fearlessly embraced throughout his career. As an openly gay man, these themes would only deepen as the AIDS pandemic hit the New York gay community, claiming many friends and eventually the photographer himself, aged 53. The themes reflected are

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Julien Lombardi, Dérive. (2010). Courtesy of the artist.

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Emotional Bonds of Nationhood BACKLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL: INDEPENDENCE THROUGH THE LENSES Finland’s Backlight Photo Festival marks its 30th anniversary a feeling of comfort and refuge, an emotional bond and the “The work considers and 100 years of independence with a touring exhibition idea of a place to which one is always able to return. the experience of of seven Finnish artists, which will visit venues in Hungary, In Juha Suonpää’s series Holy Melancholy, Santa Claus is independence and how Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Lithuania and Latvia. seen as an allegory for being Finnish, and through his famil- cultural traditions During September it can be seen at Organ Vida in Zagreb, iar image, stereotypes are deconstructed. Juuso Westerlund’s and memories can Croatia and M. Žilinskas Art Gallery in Kaunas, Lithuania. Jackpot is full of longing and gloom, and dreams waiting to influence ways of Finland became an independent state in the wake of the be fulfilled. Meanwhile, the virulent food aid bags of Sara seeing ourselves 1917 Russian Revolution, following a long history of having Hornig’s Our Daily Bread series contrast and challenge the and others, as well its own identity obscured by the political, cultural and linguis- public image of Finland with their air of submissive despair – as examining and tic domination of neighbours Sweden and Russia. Today, it is even in this modern welfare state people still go hungry. critiquing the ideas often a subject of fascination to many outsiders for its seemA culture that encourages freedom of expression enables a around nationalism.” ingly utopian combination of a Nordic welfare state with an polyphonic national identity. Yet, at the same time, open public advanced economy, leaving to world-leading standards of debate can paradoxically lead to a narrowing of the range of quality of life on metrics such as education and civil liberties. acceptable opinions and entrench new power structures. Both The work considers the experience of independence Harri Pälviranta’s With guns one can and Juha Arvid Helminen’s and how cultural traditions and memories can influence The Invisible Empire discuss violence and the ways in which fear ways of seeing ourselves and others, as well as examining of becoming an outsider can narrow self-determination. and critiquing the ideas around nationalism and national In Riitta Päiväläinen’s Imaginary Meetings, traces and hints identity – themes that resonate strongly in the countries the of previous events in a landscape leave the viewer striving exhibition is touring, with their own recent histories of being to construct narratives. Similarly, in 100 Hectares of Underon the fringe of the Soviet power bloc. The exhibition further standing Jaakko Kahilaniemi attempts to understand a tract addresses how national identity can both defend and conflict of forest and what nature can offer to urbanised people. Touring, various locations with individual freedom through generating new structures The tour will continue to the Latvian Museum of Photogra- Until November of power, conformity and acceptability. Yet, at the same time, phy in Riga (October), Photoport Bratislava (November), and independence and a sense of identity and belonging create finally the Photography Museum in Šiauliai (November). www.backlight.fi

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City of Creative Synergy LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL and form of the medieval tapestries. The subject matter of the original 15th century artwork, with its scenes of wealth and aristocratic fashion, is echoed in the gold and silver threads of the installation, which reflect the gallery lighting. Palestinian architects Elias and Yousef Anastas evoke an immersive space with While We Wait. Inspired by the scenic Cremsian Valley between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, one of the few green spaces in the Palestinian landscape, their work navigates the issues surrounding the construction of a wall through the middle of the valley, which sundered links between a monastery and the local community. While We Wait is a stone construction of a lace-like pattern, contrasting the sophisticated dentelle structure with the stark uniform concrete of the separation wall. The texture of the materials and the ambient soundtrack encourage a participatory experience as though one is entering the valley itself. After the festival, the structure will be relocated to the valley from which it was inspired. Head of London Design Festival, Victoria Broackes, said: “The V&A and London Design Festival have a history of working together to showcase innovative and breathtaking installations by the world’s most exciting designers. This year, we look forward to welcoming visitors, yet again, to experience the best in contemporary design.” The London Design Festival events run alongside the rest of the V&A Autumn programme, including exhibitions focusing on Pink Floyd and Cristóbal Balenciaga.

“As a key element in London’s autumn creative season, it runs alongside London Fashion Week, attracting a wealth of thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators for a city-wide celebration.”

V&A, London 16-24 September londondesignfestival.com

Alex Chinneck, A Bullet from a Shooting Star. Photograph: © Chris Tubbs, courtesy Seam Lighting.

Since 2003, the London Design Festival has placed the city at the heart of the international design community and offered an international stage for the latest developments in technology and innovation. For the 2017 iteration of the event, the festival hub will once again be the Victoria & Albert Museum, further deepening the strong link between the museum’s world-leading collection of art, design and performance – spanning in total 5,000 years of human creativity – and the leading edge of contemporary design. As a key element in London’s autumn creative season, the festival runs alongside London Fashion Week, attracting a wealth of thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators for a city-wide celebration. Spaces within the museum are transformed by specially commissioned installations and displays, offering designers a platform to showcase innovative new approaches and materials whilst responding to the museum’s own collections as a point of departure. In a key example of this two-way process of inspiration, British designer Ross Lovegrove responds to the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries at the V&A by creating Transmission. He makes use of the versatile properties of the innovative microfibre material Alcantara® which, texturally similar to suede, is often used as a substitute for animal-based textiles and is found in many applications from car interiors to fashion, and used by companies from Louis Vuitton to Microsoft. It creates soft undulating folds of structure, which echo the colour

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1. Kahlil Joseph, m.A.A.d., 2014 (still, detail). 35mm film transferred to twochannel video, sound, color; 15:26 min. Courtesy the artist. 2. Zanele Muholi, Bester I, Mayotte, 2015. Collection Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. 3. Patkau Architects, Ice Skating Shelters, Winnipeg, 2012. © Patkau Architects. 4. Max Dupain, Australia 1911–92. Rush hour in King’s Cross, 1938, printed c. 1986. Gelatin silver photograph, 41.2 x 40.3 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Mr A.C. Goode, Fellow, 1987 (PH14-1987). 5. Xaviera Simmons, On Sculpture #2, 2011. Color photograph, edition 1 of 3; 40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm). Courtesy of David Castillo Gallery, Miami.

10 to See RECOMMENDED EXHIBITIONS THIS SEASON

Kahlil Joseph

New Museum, New York 27 September - 7 January www.newmuseum.org

The ethereal, dream-like filmmaking of Kahlil Joseph (b. 1981) has reached a wider audience through collaborations with musicians including Arcade Fire, Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus. His vibrant, impressionistic style now gets its first solo presentation in New York, including a new black and white film inspired by the Harlem photographer Roy DeCarava, shown alongside his 2014 work m.A.A.d.

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From an insider’s position, Zanele Muholi (b. 1972) photographs the black lesbian and transgender community in South Africa. Her first work, Only Half the Picture (2006), contains arresting, powerful and sometimes witty images have concentrated on a community that, remains at risk of abuse, discrimination and sexual violence. Making its Dutch debut is Muholi’s latest series Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Black Lioness).

Light, strong, affordable and versatile, plywood is the unsung material behind an eclectic array of groundbreaking modern objects. Its role in the history of design is celebrated in Plywood: Material of The Modern World. From the fastest and highest-flying aeroplane of WWII, the De Havilland Mosquito, to the downloadable self-assembly WikiHouse, more than 120 objects are brought together, including a 1960s British racing car with plywood chassis.

The 1930s were charged with both optimism and despair for Australia as a nation, with modern feats of engineering such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge taking place against the shadow of the Great Depression and looming war. NGV explores how art and design engaged with forces of change, creating new approaches such as abstraction, surrealism and expressionism. Among more than 200 works are Max Dupain’s pictures of beach culture, and a display of Art Deco radios.

The programme to mark the 50th anniversary of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art makes a bold declaration that art and culture have the power to change our perceptions of the world. This three-part show, drawn from the MCA collection, focuses on this relationship between artist and viewer, with works from many generations arranged thematically, from Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg to Jonathas de Andrade.

Zanele Muholi

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Until 15 October www.stedelijk.nl

Plywood

V&A, London Until 12 November vam.ac.uk

Brave New World

NGV, Melbourne Until 15 October www.ngv.vic.gov.au

We Are Here

MCA Chicago 19 August - 1 April www.mcachicago.org

6. Kynan Tan, Polymorphism (still), 2016. Single-channel video, colour, sound, image courtesy and © the artist. 7. Thomas Ruff, L’Empereur 06 (The Emperor 06), 1982. C-print, 30.2 × 40 cm, © the artist. 8. Diana Thater, White is the Color, 2002. © Gert Jan van Roojt. 9. Richard Misrach, Desolation, Calipatria, California, 2011. © Richard Misrach, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. 10. Paz Errázuriz (Chilean, b. 1944), La Palmera, from the series La manzana de Adán (Adam’s Apple), 1987. Digital archival pigment print on Canson platinum paper. 19 5/8 × 23 1/2 in. (49.8 × 59.7 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galeria AFA, Santiago. Artwork © the artist.

Eight Australian artists aged 35 and under have been selected to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for Primavera 2017, in a show based on the theme Ancient Futures, which considers the idea of existence. The event has a history of kick-starting the careers of young artists, and this year’s participants are Jacobus Capone, Adam John Cullen, Nicole Foreshew, Teelah George, Laura Hindmarsh, Elena Papanikolakis, Tom Polo and Kynan Tan.

Known for taking a critical, conceptual approach to photography, Thomas Ruff (b. 1958) explores themes as diverse as utopianism, suburbia, advertising culture, pornography and surveillance. Ranging from the 1970s to today, the ongoing series that Ruff has created makes use of different image-making technologies, from selfportraits to computeradapted images to critiques of press photography.

Curated by Emma Lavigne, the 2017 edition of the Lyon Biennale is the second part of a trilogy considering the idea of modernity and takes the theme of Floating Worlds. Lavigne reinterprets the term “modern” as an idea of fluidity, in the light of globalisation and shifting identities, foregrounding the rivers of the host city. It is an approach embodied in works like the Babel tower of Cildo Meireles, or the morphing of art, space and form seen in Hans Arp or Lygia Pape.

This influential figure in American landscape photography (b. 1949) responds to the 2016 US presidential election, with the premiere of Premonitions and The Writing on the Wall, two new chapters in the epic Desert Cantos project. Whilst travelling through desolate areas of southern California, Arizona and Nevada, the artist found signs of despair, protest and anger scrawled on derelict buildings and rocky outcrops.

Primavera 2017

MCA Australia 23 August - 19 November www.mca.com.au

Thomas Ruff

Whitechapel Gallery, London 21 September - 21 January www.whitechapelgallery.org

Lyon Biennale

Various venues, Lyon 20 September - 7 January www.labiennaledelyon.com

R ichard Misrach

Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco Until 19 August www.fraenkelgallery.com

Radical Women

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles 15 September 31 December www.hammer.ucla.edu

Addressing an art historical vacuum, Hammer Museum sets out to present the first history of experimental art practice in Latin America by women. Focusing on the years 1960-1985, much of the work was made against a backdrop of political turmoil and dictatorship, in a defiant spirit. Featuring artists from 15 countries, it includes work by Ana Mendieta, Marta Minujín, Zilia Sánchez and Feliza Burztyn.

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Redefined Possibilities Unseen Amsterdam IN AN ERA OF GLOBAL POST-TRUTH, UNSEEN EXPLORES DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS, RELIABILITY AND CONTROL THROUGH AN EXCITING SHOWCASE OF PHOTOGRAPHY.

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) once said that “a photograph is a ies, highlighting those who are helping to shape the future of secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.” the medium. The longlist includes 23 exciting names, whose Whilst the seminal American artist was referring to a qual- imaginative and innovative portfolios demonstrate a new, reviity characteristic of all image-making, this observation seems talised perspective on the possibilities of image-making. Notaparticularly suited to many of the works featured in this year’s ble examples on show here include the work of the “Ultimate Unseen, a leading international fair taking place in Amsterdam, Selfie” creator Juno Calypso, and perhaps the lesser-known which incorporates the ING Unseen Talent Award, one of the imaginations of Aruanà Canevascini and Dominika Gesicka, most generous accolades for emerging European practitioners. the former of whom finds beauty in the colourful everyday, Many of this year’s line-up contribute to a larger, developing celebrating intimacy and introspection through the use of trend, where what is hidden seems as important as what is on subtle gestures and demonstrative emotion. the surface, and where the medium distorts, questions, and unThis year’s shortlist, whilst proving difficult to ascertain, inpicks ideas around “truth” and visual representation. In an era cludes some familiar names. Tom Callemin and Andrea where so much attention is on the spectacle, and where Jean Grützner, previous exhibitors, demonstrate the impact of the Baudrillard’s ideas of the hyperreal have morphed into Adam festival in creating spaces for talent to develop and be nurtured. Curtis’s explorations and excursions in post-truth, it’s perhaps Acting as a result of the strength and flexibility that Unseen not surprising to see questions of reliability and representation provides, Callemin comes to the fore as an exciting pioneer, as strands that run through this diverse selection. flourishing in the hands of the festival. Producing work with Unseen combines a diverse approach to the presentation a restricted palette, often black and white, and exclusively in and engagement of contemporary artists, including CO-OP, a his own studio, his processes explore light and photographic book market and a range of exhibition programmes, includ- gaze: “It stems from the question as to what the photographic ing The Living Room, The Exhibition, Onsite Projects and City medium can render visible or, on the other hand, what reProgramme. As Artistic Director Emilia van Lynden comments, mains hidden beneath the gaze of the lens.” Hole (2015), for Unseen is committed to providing this support: “By nurturing example, depicts what looks like a crater or pit in the earth, emerging photography we help to make the practice more tantalisingly close to allowing the viewer to see inside. In sustainable. That’s what we want to do, to not put the artist on Man with Child (2013), a figure covers his own eyes with one a pedestal but to really work with them. It is important for us as hand whilst with the other he obscures the vision of an infant. an industry, not only to help them to make better images but Whether in horror, play, anticipation or revulsion, very little to help them position their images within the wider ecosystem.” can be drawn from the dark and mysterious background. The ING Unseen Talent Award showcases emerging visionarIn one series, Callemin completely limited his influence on

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Arunà Canevascini, from the series Villa Argentina, 2016.

“Also on the shortlist is the Austrian artist Stefanie Moshammer, who combines an abundant lyricism through dazzling, often brightly coloured compositions, with a profound exploration of contemporary geopolitics.”

Previous Page: Stefanie Moshammer, Two, from the series I Can Be Her, Las Vegas, 2015. Left: Stefanie Moshammer, 1978. Zwentendorf, 2014.

the subject through making work in a completely darkened studio, with the camera flash as the only visible marker of his presence. This process, amongst others practised by the Ghent-based artist, is rigorously conceptual, but also routed in a perfectionist sense of craft. He sketches, writes text and researches before composing, moving into the studio, with a deeply pre-meditated and purposeful approach. The resulting images contain both intensity and mystery, pointing to a psychological and intellectual complexity. As Callemin explains: “I attach so many conditions to it that it becomes almost impossible to realise a photograph as I had imagined it beforehand.” If the work of Callemin is subdued and intensely thoughtful, the work of German artist Andrea Grützner asserts a deep contrast through flamboyant colours and references to advertising, architecture and both the Concrete Art and Neo-Plasticism movements. Erbgericht, for example, is an exploration of a traditional East German guesthouse, casting the building in a sequence of striking abstract compositions which also double up as a unique experimental social commentary or tapestry. The guesthouse is of the sort that, according to the artist, “has been owned by one family for five generations and is still the cultural centre of the village … Thousands of memories are intrinsically connected to the walls and the objects within each room.” In one image, the corner of a brightly coloured staircase is seen in geometric relief with a piano, an open door into a darkened room and a gap between wooden slats. In creating a kind of play between different textures, materials, patterns and shapes, Grützner’s process pulses with a vibrant abstraction and a sheer delight in photography as a practice which lends permanence to fleeting ideas and transient spaces. However, there are also social resonances present which

question how place and memory interact. Each composition investigates the magical, surreal qualities of architectural structures, whilst also pointing to models for social evolution in which communal spaces allow different generations to feel connected to adaptive, amorphous buildings. Perhaps an affinity can be found with Callemin’s work, through a shared interest in what has been left out, is unspoken, or painted over. UK-based Alexandra Lethbridge is also on the shortlist, an intriguing artist who highlights fact and fiction, blending realism and documentary with a wry and pointed self-referential approach. Other Ways of Knowing (2016) explores the notions of surprise and beguilement, creating a fantastical history that raises fascinating questions around how our perceptions can be guided, manipulated and fooled. Her images make use of sleight of hand, distraction and illusion, such as a book that looks as though it should be sliding off the edge of a table. In another piece, a photograph of a glass sitting on two coins is balanced on a table, although this object appears in the actual composition of the image, creating endless layers. This thought-provoking work is playfully phenomenological, questioning the very concepts of knowledge and vision. As van Lynden summarises: “Lethbridge makes us think about the reliability of photography itself.” Meanwhile, hailing from France, Robin Lopvet also employs wit and fancy, showcasing a tantalising combination of improvisation, archive and economics. Family Album (2014-present) digitally manipulates found documents from other families, interspersed seamlessly with material from his own lineage. Taking a cue from the act of sticking pictures into an album, over-scaled images are stacked up and piled over one another, like a collage that distorts and

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Arunà Canevascini, from the series Villa Argentina, 2016.

disturbs the overall narrative and timeline of events. The work eschews a straightforward linearity, and makes instead for a lively and intense act of rewriting and overtyping. Similarly, Stupid Sculptures (2014-present) is a series of manipulated images that comically re-interpret recognisable beings. One such example uses two fluffy poodles, each staring straight ahead, with three rather than two eyes. Playful, unexpected and parodic, Lopvet speaks to the influential object-oriented ontology and “tool-being” of thinkers such as Graham Harman and Katherine Behar, which refuses to anthropocentrically privilege human over object, and instead looks to the peculiar, independent dimension of items that exist without us, and seems to read photographs, which are ultimately representations, as objects in their own right. Also on the shortlist is the Austrian artist Stefanie Moshammer, who combines an abundant lyricism through dazzling, often brightly coloured compositions, with a profound exploration of contemporary geopolitics. Land of Black Milk (2016) takes Rio De Janeiro as the subject, which is, in her own words, “not so much one city as different worlds. Multiplied realities of one place and the space in between. A two-ness, two warring ideals in one body with an inherently split personality.” This tension of inequalities is evident in all her pieces, which are luxuriously shot like fashion photography but which employ subtle visual play. In one instance, the corner of an indented wall suggests a kind of anti-flag. Another shows a precarious stack of water bottles in a plastic wrapper, which in its wobbly uniformity suggests a kind of skyscraper or apartment block. Her portraits often feature people in moments of self-awareness, putting a hand in front of their face, nervously laughing, such as one of a woman in a vibrant floral dress, standing in

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front of a sheet, strung on a tree, her head half turned away. In these tender moments, Moshammer, through the act of wanting to be invisible, makes the subject all the more present. As with the ING Unseen Talent Award, the rest of the programme is a diverse snapshot of developments in contemporary photography. The fair features over 50 leading galleries, connecting individuals from collectors to enthusiasts, and from practitioners to institutions. The inaugural imitative CO-OP recognises the importance of the artist as an all-inclusive and diverse model, providing a space for innovative and experimental collectives to exhibit. Another innovative aspect of the event is The Living Room, which is a three-day series of talks, lectures and discussions run by industry professionals. There are also many installations taking place both on-site and off-site, including a major show of Thomas Mailaender and Erik Kessels’, Photo Pleasure Palace, a fun, bizarre exhibition that takes wild joy in the distortion of the found. Mailaender and Kessels are irreverent and frivolous, undermining the authority of the photograph, and in extension, its lasting “truth” as a visual representation. Arbus’ description of the secretive image seems to be more prominent than ever as a unifying theme in this wholly diverse and welcoming event. What happens if a photograph is instead understood as “fake news of fake news”? Many of the photographers in Unseen seem to be asking these kinds of questions. This rhizomatic approach to supporting contemporary photography represented by Unseen, which focuses not only on the flowers but the roots and tubers, makes for a hugely encouraging and dynamic future shaping of innovative photographers. For such a serious enterprise, it’s wonderful that both the artists and exhibitions show such an excitement and joy.

Right: Andrea Grützner, Erbgericht, Untitled 6, 2014.

Words Colin Herd

Unseen Amsterdam 22-24 September www.unseenamsterdam.com

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Intimate Perspective Next Generation 2017

As part of a yearly collaboration with the London College of Communication, Aesthetica presents an exciting list of emerging artists who utilise photography as a medium through which to highlight, accentuate and solidify the transient intimacy of human nature. Delicately veiled windowsills, empty living rooms, open lakes and bordered skies provide a reflective lens through which to grapple with universal emotions: isolation, stasis, ennui, and perhaps ultimately, a sense of personal or collective potential. Influenced by a myriad of diverse locations and cultural identities, each image builds upon a larger narrative that demonstrates the phenomena of contemporary existence. Traversing the elements of the organic world with faceless figures, each vignette casts a sensitive eye over its subjects, yet maintains a successful and potent sense of distance. The featured images are at once deeply effective and enigmatic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a true showcase of graduate talent. www.arts.ac.uk/lcc.

Mon Levchenkova, untitled, Portugal, 2016.

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Rafaela Schoffman, East Jerusalem, 2016.

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Left: Raquel Carro, from the series Between the Cracks. Right: Claire Barthelemy, Matin dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hiver - Winter Morning, December 2016. Le Havre, Normandy, France.

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Rafaela Schoffman, Self portrait, Dead Sea, Israel, 2016.

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Left: Nicola Muirhead, from the series Between Family Reunions. ÂŠ The artist. Right: Cameron Williamson, Untitled (Saas Fee), Switzerland, 2017. From the series A Mask is Not a Mountain.

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Rafaela Schoffman, Two branches of one olive tree, Nazareth, Israel, 2016.

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Left: Chiara Bellamoli, Lamp on Pier. Right: Olivia Lynch, Whirlwind. Digital C-Type, 2017.

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Kinetic Disposition Jonathan Knowles

Jonathan Knowles (b. 1965) re-imagines the potential of still life photography, capturing the fluidity of liquids as a measurable and deeply digital phenomenon. Heavily influenced by conceptual experimentation, the London-based artist brings unseen moments to life through technically inspired narratives. Complex Simplicity documents the very notion of collaboration, combining the practices of photography, set design and art direction. Based on the vision of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg, the images bring calculated systems to the fore; the invention of manmade structures is reflected in the interlocking machine in each composition. The series captures movement through an innovative imagination; featuring a clean, pastel aesthetic, it encapsulates everyday textures, calling upon domestic items as tools for a variety of quotidian tasks. Each item provides a further layer of context to the wider network, ultimately resulting in a dynamic and contemporary outlook. www.jknowles.co.uk.

From the series Complex Simplicity. Photography: Jonathan Knowles Set Design: Kyle Bean Art Direction: Lauren Catten Retouching: Gareth Pritchard

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From the series Complex Simplicity. Photography: Jonathan Knowles, Set Design: Kyle Bean, Art Direction: Lauren Catten, Retouching: Gareth Pritchard.

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From the series Complex Simplicity. Photography: Jonathan Knowles, Set Design: Kyle Bean, Art Direction: Lauren Catten, Retouching: Gareth Pritchard.

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From the series Complex Simplicity. Photography: Jonathan Knowles, Set Design: Kyle Bean, Art Direction: Lauren Catten, Retouching: Gareth Pritchard.

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From the series Complex Simplicity. Photography: Jonathan Knowles, Set Design: Kyle Bean, Art Direction: Lauren Catten, Retouching: Gareth Pritchard.

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Inventing the Future Chicago Architecture Biennial THEMED AROUND THE IMPERATIVE MAKE NEW HISTORY, THIS YEAR’S EVENT LOOKS AT EVOLUTIONARY RATHER THAN REVOLUTIONARY PRACTICES IN TODAY’S LANDSCAPE.

Chicago has long been associated with dynamic architec- is built upon over the years and we are seeing more practural design, from Chicago School skyscrapers and Bauhaus tices that think of themselves as evolutionary rather than Modernism, to the impact of notable architects like William revolutionary.” The Biennial, which features participation from Le Baron Jenny, Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van Der over 100 firms and artists, representing countries around the Rohe, to more recent examples such as Rem Koolhaas’ Mc- world, has been curated by the 2017 Biennial Artistic Directors, Cormack Tribune Center. The city is a remarkably concentrat- Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, of the Los Angeles-based firm ed petri dish for 20th century architecture in the years since Johnston Marklee. Striking in its diversity, the uniting characthe 1871 Great Fire destroyed many notable downtown teristic of many of the participating practices is their dual savbuildings and precipitated an explosion of forward-looking viness in history, and technological and aesthetic approaches. architecture. For a city with such a history of modernist archiAs Johnston explains, many of the companies participattecture and a sense of growth, it’s perhaps particularly daring ing in the Biennial were chosen because the directors found that the second edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial an engagement with history as “an underlying quality of is themed around the imperative to Make New History. many of the firms that we were interested in. There was a What may seem like a paradox – are practices being en- general predilection towards looking at the past in inventive couraged to make the next generation of historical buildings ways. Then gradually, as we started working more closely or to make the insistence on “newness” history? – is in fact an with firms to put the Biennial together, we started to see how astute provocation, acknowledging that the new is always a emerging architectural practices were engaging with history: continuation of the past, and that the practices of the past are building histories, material histories, image histories and civic always also contemporary, in that we live with their legacy histories. These different and diverse categories act as layers now. As Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “we through which to see history in the exhibitors.” live forwards, but we understand backwards”, and that same, Berlin and New York-based Barkow Leibinger, a company intermediary insight seems to fuel the approach of this year’s that designed the undulating plywood Serpentine Summer Biennial, both conceptually and stylistically. House in 2016, is known also for their project HAWE Factory Artistic Co-Director Mark Lee explains the origins of this Kaufbeuren (2014). The building is a factory for the manuyear’s theme: “Younger practices have benefitted from the facture of hydraulic equipment, set in a largely agricultural previous generation of Modernist architects who broke the landscape near the steep Bavarian Allgäu. It completely chalumbilical chord with history. They are able to be more pro- lenges the typical large warehouse-style design of most injective in their methods as a result, seeing history more as dustrial sites, using materials including sheet metal, glass and accrued knowledge. Architectural history is something that translucent channel-glass to create a building that speaks to

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Tham & Videgård, Project: House K in Stocksund, Djursholm. Photo: © Åke E:son Lindman. www.tvark.se/house-k

“What may seem like a paradox – are practices being encouraged to make the next generation of historical buildings or to make the insistence on ‘newness’ history? – is in fact an astute provocation.”

Previous Page: Barkow Leibinger, HAWE Factory Kaufbeuren, Germany 2014 © David Franck

Left: Stan Allen Architect, M&M HOUSE, Cold Spring, New York. Single Family House and Painting Studio, 2000/2012. Photo: © Scott Benedict .

its purpose and its surroundings. Hills are represented in the amination of the balloon frame, a method of construction blueprint, which follows a peak and trough pattern in the shed that is nearly ubiquitous for American residential buildings. halls. The production halls, offices, conference rooms and caf- It was in fact invented in Chicago in the 19th century, and it eteria are integrated together around a central courtyard, of- was once known as Chicago Construction. Stan Allen has unfering an all-inclusive environment in which the different parts dertaken a hypothetical project that hones in on new ways to of the machinery of the company, representing its overall use this type of construction in adaptable and flexible ways, sense of labour, can work together efficiently. for multi-purpose buildings, or for structures that could be For the exhibition, and as a key example of how looking at adapted for purpose as school buildings, homes, garages etc. the past can be a way of addressing complex problems in the For its contribution to the exhibition, Swedish Tham & Vidpresent, the team has explored a number of different ways of egård, has built upon a concentrated history of a local buildlooking at mid-20th century histories of social and affordable ing vernacular by exploring the compact, often self-built housing. One starting point is an artist film from the 1970s boathouses which are common features of the Stockholm armade by Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt, which is then chipelago. It has adapted these qualities and layout of typical traced and graphed into the fabric of a plan for a building; timber construction boathouses into a concrete structure, alanother starting point is the wooden panel designs of the ar- tering the atmosphere and spatial relationships of the building chitect Heinrich Tessenow, active in the 1920s and early 1930s through its material. They same formal inventiveness with his(he lost his job in 1934 because of the Nazi administration); an- torical rigour can be seen in House K (2005), which is a shallow other is an East German construction method of precast panels puzzle-like structure from in-situ cast concrete, covered with a for affordable housing that was used from 1940s to1980s. façade made from stained black plywood panels, mounted in Stan Allen Architect’s M&M House (2000 / 2012) also layers on a slowly grown pine framework. In its position on the incorporates dramatic peaks, as a response to the sloping site in Djursholm, Sweden, it is narrow and contained, almost terrain of its Cold Spring, NY location. Painted wood siding like a macron, the straight bar placed over a vowel for accent. acts as a canvas for the silhouettes and reflections of nearby The canopy, made from exposed cast concrete, just 7cm thick, wooded areas. Drawing on the layout of a New York loft is playful, incorporating two disc-shaped gaps. The design apartment, all of the building’s services are focused in a cen- makes inventive use of double-height and single-height tral block, with open living space around it. The construction, rooms, to bring light into living spaces and also provoke visual first completed in 2000, has since had a major addition in surprises in the interior, which is minimalist and characterised the form of a large studio, which resulted in a striking – and by white plaster and Ash wooden details. Modernist – geometric frame which contrasts with the surAs Lee explains, HHF from Basel is interested in rounding rugged scenery in which the house is set. “anonymous histories and un-pedigreed architecture” and in The firm’s contribution to the Biennial is through an ex- ways that buildings can reveal and cover over hidden and

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PEZO VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Solo house, Cretas, Spain, 2009-2013. Photography: © Cristobal Palma. Right:

untold histories. HHF focuses on buildings such as car parks the structures, reminding us that our histories are intricately HHF Architects, The Tsai Residence. and other anonymous edifices that are anti-canonical but interwoven with and inseparable from the organic and natu- Photo: © Nikolas Koenig. very important nevertheless. These histories have influenced ral world. A more direct engagement with history is evident in www.hhf.ch/hhf/projects/ projects/016-tsai_residence.html a project it is working on in a warehouse area to construct a Tropica Canonica (2017) which explores ideas of the canon parking garage over an existing parking garage, and how this by printing translucent images of tropical plants onto pieces could be developed into a concert hall or gallery. of fabric that refer to the curtains used by Mies van der Rohe The same exploration of inner and outer impressions and and Lilly Reich at the Café Samt & Seide in 1927. realities can be seen in Tsai Residence (2008), HHF Architects Looking to the past becomes more important, as well as and Ai Weiei. This structure also entails a block design, a more available and accessible, in moments when there is an sequence of four equal sized box-shaped buildings. It is a abundance of knowledge and information. There is perhaps weekend house owned by two art collectors and, located in a responsibility on practices to engage with the abundance Ancram, New York, it also features timber constructions clad in of information that is available, and to avoid disregarding corrugated galvanised iron. The outside arrangement of four the achievements and the lessons from the past. This is boxes is revoked in the internal floor plan, which liquefies the something that Lee emphasises through ways in which the geometrical formality into connected living spaces, suitable Biennial attempts uses the past to engage audiences in for exhibiting the art collection of the inhabitants. the present, offering, as he notes, “a visceral and physical The past also informs the work of AGENdA agencia de ar- experience in an age when so much is screen-oriented.” quitectura based in Medellin, Colombia. Founded by Camilo Johnston comments: “It is important to us that this is in ChiRestrepo Ochoa in 2010, AGENdA is a profoundly forward- cago, in the middle of America, and that it is a nascent Bienlooking agency that doesn’t ignore history in its explorations nial, the second in the series. It is vital to use architecture to of specific contemporary contexts, describing itself as a re- create experiences and to widen engagement and diverse ausearch firm that questions the possibilities of the discipline diences. It is about providing a generous space for engage“from a condition of crossroad between tropic conditions, ment.” Highlighting history is often a radical idea in itself, Words history and disciplinary matters – with special attention to and most often has been part of the stimulus for artistic inno- Colin Herd uncertain conditions”. Its projects include an involvement in vation. Whilst Modernist, Futurist and other forward-looking Orchideorama (2006), which Ochoa worked on with Plan B manifestos might stress breaks with the past, the continuities Chicago Architecture architects and J Paul Restrepo, a large flower-tree structure – with previous movements are usually as pronounced as the Biennial the organisation of a flower but the size of a tree – that takes divergences. By showcasing this aspect of architectural pro- 16 September - 7 January an organic and biological approach to seeding and history gress, the Chicago Architecture Biennial situates itself as a that adapts to the possibilities of the future such as budget multi-directional festival that, to build upon Kierkegaard’s www.chicagoarchitecture constraints and weather conditions. Flowers grow alongside phrase, moves forward and understands backwards. biennial.org

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Ethereal Composition Ben Zank

Currently living in New York, Ben Zank (b. 1991) is a photographer who revels in the unconscious condition. Utilising the stark semantics of straight lines, his characters nestle within the clutches of roads, pathways and desolate landscapes, transfixed by bodily limitation and immersive environments. Suburban areas are often used for the sets; playgrounds, basketball courts and sidewalks are re-created as strange and unfamiliar locations. Gravity and linear time are presented as fluid concepts through which angles can be redrawn and borders re-imagined as arenas of possibility. Each image offers a micro-universe to its viewers, allowing the featured figures to let go of their material existence momentarily. Every manmade structure â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether recreational or functional â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is therefore harnessed to project the human persona, an intangible concept which, through a singular instance, comes to life through a curious investigation and reflective interpretation of surrounding topographies. www.benzank.com.

Ben Zank, Crossing the Street, 2014.

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Ben Zank, Paper Trail, 2014.

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Ben Zank, Isabella, 2016.

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Ben Zank, Amost Nowhere, 2016.

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Ben Zank, VTL, 2015.

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Ben Zank, Road Service, 2015.

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Organic Reformation Julia Körner EXPERIENCED IN ARCHITECTURE, FASHION AND DESIGN, JULIA KÖRNER COMBINES FORMULAE FROM THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE WITH TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS.

Imagine a world where the most intricate garments could easily be created on a computer. Rather than producing a pattern, cutting fabric, sewing, adjusting, and so on, a dress could instead be printed, there and then, made to fit your exact body measurements. It might sound futuristic, but this is the real world of Julia Körner, an Austrian architect, and her contemporaries, a group of digital designers whose work in 3D printing and additive manufacturing has the potential to change the way in which fashion is produced. Körner describes her method as “deeply rooted in interdisciplinary work.” She studied for a degree in architecture, followed by a Masters from the Architectural Association in London, where she became fascinated by geometry and structure, and learned about elements of digital design such as 3D printing and laser cutting, which are now integral to her work. During spells working in New York and London she realised that, whilst in architectural design, 3D printing is largely used for prototypes, in the case of products, “you can actually print the thing you want.” The move towards fashion, then, seemed logical. Körner wanted to explore “how you could combine traditional creative methods with computational design.” She thinks of this process as “digital craftsmanship,” an apt phrase to describe how she “weaves together couture within the computer.” In 2014, through her work with the 3D printing company Materialise, Körner collaborated on a critically acclaimed collection with Iris van Herpen, a seminal figure who had seen Körner’s interesting patterns and structures, and “wanted something like this remodelled in the form of

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a dress, so we collaborated on generating the design.” Her role was to create a 3D model of the dress and program its printing. This collaboration was “extremely rich,” Körner says, “it allowed both of us to learn from each other.” The use of different materials in 3D printing is the key innovation of Körner’s work. Her collaboration with van Herpen produced the first ever 3D flexible print, in the form of the Voltage dress. Prior to this, she had used hard substances: the Hybrid Holism dress, also produced with van Herpen was, she says: “a full-scale 3D print, which came out in two parts, front and back, that are clipped together on the side. It’s a sculptural piece … which really was designed for haute couture and for museums.” The Voltage dress, by comparison, is flowing and organic. It was partly inspired by the process that went into putting together the Hybrid Holism dress – Körner wrote specific code – and then, she says: “we worked out how the flexible material could be enhanced by these calculations. I wrote a script that would digitally map these gradients of lines around the body.” Eventually, the script which Körner produced for the project “could be adapted and rescaled to any other body form.” Body scanning technology would ultimately allow these pieces to be produced for any shape, and they would fit the wearer perfectly. Indeed, recently, Körner has been working on projects that are focused on “pushing towards how you could make 3D printing more integrated into wearables, how you could eventually combine traditional craftsmanship with digital craftsmanship. I thought it was really interesting, and it’s probably the future of this line.”

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Julia Körner, Detail of Hymenium Jacket. Manufactured by Stratasys Ltd. Photography: ©Julia Körner.

“Körner’s designs are data-driven, and so, increasingly, are our lives. She acknowledges debates about ‘the machine versus the human,’ but advocates a more pragmatic, less binary take on the issue.”

Previous Page: Julia Körner | Kelp Jacket. Photography: Ger Ger. Model: Mathilda Tolvanen @ Photogenics LA. Left: Julia Körner | Kelp Jacket. Photography: Ger Ger. Model: Mathilda Tolvanen @ Photogenics LA.

In years to come, Körner envisages a process in which “you could really scan the structure of it. And then I modelled might not need cutting patterns, or any sort of 2D pattern morphologies of it and generated the jacket based on the making.” Instead, 3D scanning of bodies would mean “no forms of geometry I found.” This notion of biomimicry need for cutting seams, because you could create continuous allowed Körner to sculpt the jacket “so it looks like the kelp is surfaces, and print them directly.” The impact of this could growing as a second skin.” A similar process took place in the fundamentally change the way we shop for clothing: “apart creation of the Hymenium jacket, which is “inspired by the from the idea of customising every single piece, we would underskin of a Portobello mushroom.” But biomimicry is not also no longer be determined by specific sizes. Eventually, an act of simply copying natural structures. Körner did not you could get your 3D, individualised garment which is want the Hymenium jacket to “look like a mushroom,” but perfectly moulded to your proportions, to the symmetries rather aimed to “embed the aesthetic capacity of the lamella in your body.” The same idea could also be applied to shoes. into the garment.” Essentially, she says: “it should not look Exciting though this undoubtedly is, Körner cautions like a sculpture, but like something you would wear.” against a common reaction: “the first thing people think is The inspiration Körner takes from nature has been a ‘I can make anything!’ But it’s not so unlimited: you have longstanding feature. It has not arisen from her work in to work with the material and the specific technology.” Her fashion, but was instead part of her architectural designs in garments, as with the Hybrid Holism dress and the Voltage her days as a student, when she was “always looking for, and dress are, in part, a dialogue with the available materials, collecting natural artefacts.” She describes this influence as working out what 3D printing is capable of, and how to make an “organic language,” and is fascinated by how nature the most of it. The capacity to think in terms of “unlimited “organises materials … look at deep-sea sponges; they go geometry” is, she acknowledges, “wonderful,” but is “actually towards light and build up their structural system based on very much guided by what’s available from the industry.” the water currents and the light. They use a single material Körner’s personal pieces, like her collaborations, also to build both their structural grid and their body form.” utilise the potential of new textures. To produce her Kelp The links with her own work are clear; she even designed dress and Hymenium jacket, she worked with strategists a dress based on the structural make-up of the sea sponge, at a US printing company, who focus on a technology where the pattern goes around the whole body, and is which makes it possible to print in different softness and more open in places that do not have a structural load. hardness “without changing the thickness of the material.” This, she says, was directly influenced by her architectural The resulting product was “very rubber-like, and one of background, noting that “you can save lots of material with the most technical I had seen.” It allowed her to further this method.” In this respect, her interest in biomimicry goes develop her fascination with organic structures. For the Kelp beyond the aesthetic concerns and explores the question of Jacket, Körner 3D-scanned foraged kelp: “it was dried, so I how we can extract mathematical logic from nature.

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Julia Körner, Detail of Kelp Jacket. Manufactured by Stratasys Ltd. Photography: ©Julia Körner.

There is clearly, then, a cerebral and highly theoretical side to Körner’s design process, and she does not shy away from dealing with contentious questions about the role of machines in the modern world and what this might mean for our understanding of what it is to be human, and the economic, social and cultural implications which follow from the possibility of mass automation replacing skilled manufacturing jobs on an unprecedented scale. Körner’s designs are data-driven, and so, increasingly, are our lives. She acknowledges the significance of contemporary debates about “the machine versus the human,” but advocates a more pragmatic, less binary take on the issue. She draws attention to the key role of human creativity in originating the process of design, regardless of what technological tools may be employed in order to realise it. People might, she says, think 3D printing is a case of “there is a computer program, it generates it for you, and then you just send it to the machine, you press a button, and it’s finished,” but in fact, human processes are key to this: “There’s no such thing as a program that just generates designs; it doesn’t exist.” Instead, tools have changed: where designers might have produced a pencil sketch, they now use a digital platform – “but a human is still doing that.” Ultimately, she believes we should embrace the role of the machine, rather than fear it. This debate after all dates back to the Industrial Revolution, and is unlikely to be settled any time soon. Körner’s view is that machines are in fact more likely to enhance human work than to replace it. “Some people might think negatively,” she says, “that it can take work away from us, or that it would eliminate certain jobs, which is so often the question with robots, for example. But I

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think it actually adds new opportunities and new ways we can Right: Julia Körner | Hymenium Jacket. do highly professional things.” For Körner, due to its focus Photography: Ger Ger. Model: on geometry and symmetry, a machine can “take over some Mathilda Tolvanen @ Photogenics LA. of the things where we as humans might not be as good … we can never be as exact.” This interplay between organic inspiration and machine-produced precision lies at the heart of her couture and is one of its most fascinating aspects. When she’s not grappling with questions about the future relationship of machines and humankind, Körner is busy researching new substances and technologies to expand the potential scope of her practice. This will, she hopes, allow her to produce wearable garments: “how we could make these things without compromising on geometry” is a major focus for her over the coming year. She has also recently collaborated with a top designer on a big Hollywood production, and is excited by the potential of producing more in this particular design field. More broadly, she is looking at ways of integrating her work into her teaching practice at UCLA, where she is “interested in putting knowledge of other industries back into academia.” Innovation is ongoing in the field of digital design, and Körner remains excited by its potential: “I like the richness and vastness of what you can find, how you can continually advance and make things work better, improve processes, logistics, materials, and so on. Rather than creating another huge design which just explores geometry, I’m interested in all these other components, too.” Evidently, Körner’s work Words is set to be influential not only in aesthetic terms, but also Anna Feintuck academically. Given her influence in this fast-growing field, the fashion revolution of widely available, custom-fit, 3D printed garments might not seem so far away after all. www.juliakoerner.com

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Formal Consideration Matthieu Belin

Matthieu Belin (b.1972) is a French fashion photographer based in Shanghai, who has accrued more than 10 years as an art director for internationally renowned brands such as Ebel (LVMH), Yue Sai (L’Oréal) and Natura Cosmetics, as well as contributing to photography collaborations with publications that include GQ, Vogue, Elle, Life and Wallpaper*. The following images are taken from a variety of editorial commissions, contrasting organic and constructed worlds through cinematic images that utilise light and structure as a tool for contemplation. Each piece, whether located against the backdrop of a city or a mountain, revels in the deeply weighted presence of the camera. Through the act of capturing, documenting and, by extension, creating, Belin offers a facet of the truth. As the artist notes: “I am unendingly fascinated by the mysteries of form and the surprising secrets they can unveil.” www.matthieubelin.myportfolio.com.

Matthieu Belin, KASHGAR, the Kunjerab Pass for LIFE CHINA Magazine.

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Matthieu Belin, RACHELLE JIM fashion designer, Shanghai.

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Matthieu Belin, KASHGAR, the Kunjerab Pass for LIFE CHINA Magazine.

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Matthieu Belin, KASHGAR, the Kunjerab Pass for LIFE CHINA Magazine.

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Matthieu Belin, RACHELLE JIM fashion designer, Shanghai.

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Matthieu Belin, RACHELLE JIM fashion designer, Shanghai.

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Dynamic Technologies 50 Designers A NEW PUBLICATION PROVIDES A DIVERSE OVERVIEW OF WELL-KNOWN PIONEERS AND THE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS THEY HAVE PRODUCED FOR DOMESTICATED LIFE.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames and Jean Prouvé – these are all household names for aficionados. Lesser known, but no less innovative or pioneering, are the names of Poul Henningsen, Tapio Wirkkala, Joep van Lieshout and Karim Rashid. These designers are but a small selection of 50 included in the revised edition of the Prestel publication 50 Designers You Should Know. Edited by Adeline Henzschel, the book is a compendium starting with Michael Thonet and ending with Droog. Within these bookends are practitioners like Karim Rashid, a “pop icon” who has created over 3,000 products for leading brands such as Samsung, Veuve Cliquot, Swarowski and Ettore Sottsass, renowned for playful and colourful creations that he propagated as part of a wider anti-design movement. Despite Rashid’s cult pop-star status and Sottsass’ niche following, it is their ability to create appealing designs that ensure their longevity – neither of them exists at the whim of their uber-stylish audience, in much the same way that Charles Rennie Mackintosh was not at the whim of his. Selecting 50 individuals from a 150-year period is no small feat and one fraught with difficulty. Of the names included, only four are female – Eileen Gray, Marianne Brandt, Lucienne Day and Andrée Putman. Major manufacturers or brands presented include Vitra, Muji, Swatch and Droog. Henzschel argues that ultimately “each of the 50 presented have reacted in their own original way to the contemporary developments in material and technical innovations – more than in any other areas of artistic expression – simply for the reason that, the needs of the consumers or end-users

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are constantly changing.” Surprisingly, some key pioneers have been omitted – Antoni Gaudí and Zaha Hadid being two key examples – but, as they straddle a line between architecture and design, perhaps this is not so surprising. The longevity of some of the featured firms means that some of the selected names work for another company which is featured – Tom Dixon joining Artek, the furniture manufacturer set up by Finnish designer Alvar Aalto 70 years earlier, Lucienne Day creating fabrics for Heal’s in the 1950s and consulting for John Lewis in the 1980s, and Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Michael Thonet’s legacy, the firm of Thonet Frères. This is unsurprising as the field of design, as with fine art, is interconnected and a complex web of influences, inspirations, and derivations. Featuring more than a century of ideas, it is difficult to pinpoint a trend or over-riding movement. Saying that, what is clear is a movement towards simplicity in functional, technological devices and a more rich, luxurious and complicated sense of form in the everyday solutions. Henzschel describes it as beginning with designers such as Michael Thonet, William Morris and Charles Rennie Mackintosh: “influenced by the Arts and Craft movement with its strong sense for floral- and organic-based forms and decorative elements.” Thonet (the first in the compendium), was renowned for his innovations in the 1830s using bentwood furniture but equally so for capitalising on the “tool-box” principle, which allowed for individual finished elements to be combined with other parts. For the first time (and long before Ikea’s flatpack furniture) this allowed for industrial mass production.

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Gemma Chair, designed for the Italian brand B-Line, 2013.

“Encouraging a return to simplicity and functionality, Rams’ principles encapsulate the current cultural shifts: away from ‘fast design’ and towards an emphasis on sustainability and quality.”

Previous Page: © Studio Bouroullec. Left: © Ingo Maurer.

Thonet’s chair No 14 (1855) is considered the “greatest chair ever made” and was described by the jury at the 1862 London Exhibition as representing “an excellent application of a happy thought ... not works of show, but practical furniture for daily use ... graceful, light and strong.” However, Thonet’s achievements in industrial massproduction were precisely what his contemporaries, such as William Morris, moved away from. Morris expounded a return to traditional manufacturing and craftwork, away from industrial production which he believed produced poor-quality products. Though Morris was not successful in this regard, his floral wallpaper and textile designs have been infinitely successful – today sold under licence by companies such as Sanderson and Liberty. The stylised organic forms he created are in stark contrast to the work of the Bauhaus pioneers of the 1920s, which Henzschel says “refused the playful forms at the turn of the 19th century and elevated functionality, clarity and simplicity of form to its central design principles.” This emphasis on functionality and purity can be seen replicated in the modern achievements of Swatch, Muji and Apple design visionary Jonathan Ives. Translating functionality and purity of form into an everyday solution is not a simple task; the most austere, simple products are often most complex to achieve, especially in the case of a computer or mobile phone. Ives not only achieved this but he also managed to “emotionalise” the product: his Apple designs were both functional as well as attractive. The candy-coloured iMacs from the 1990s, with their bulbous form, are echoed in more contemporary shapes. Karim Rashid argues: “Furniture must deal with our emotional ground therefore increasing the popular

imagination and experience … Our lives are elevated when we experience beauty, comfort, luxury, performance, and utility seamlessly together.” Rashid, like Ives, responds to changing technology and the social tendencies of the consumer. Our habits at home have changed drastically as we encounter food-delivery systems like UberEats, Deliveroo and Hungryhouse, shifting emphasis away from the kitchen. The hearth is no longer the home, so Rashid argues that architectural and interior design should reflect this, with smaller kitchens and lean appliances. He goes one step further, arguing that our furniture needs to change to accommodate new sitting postures as we spend more and more of our downtime making use of computers, phones and other forms of technology. Even the notion of the physical book has become relatively obsolete with the introduction of the Kindle and the smartphone. Rashid’s philosophies seem avant-garde but this volume evidences the opposite, as designers like Thonet, Marcel Breuer and Alvar Aalto all capitalised on new technologies in production, manufacturing and distribution: “The Breuer chair used steel tube bending from a bicycle factory. The Alvar Aalto chair used plywood tube technology inspired by a local fabricator of wooden sewage tubes. The first plastic molded mono bloc chair existed because we had the resin technology and injection machine technology to create it. Eames embraced one of the first compound bent plywood machines.” Rashid’s examples all work towards supporting one key idea, that design is not driven by trends but by technology. This argument is evident in the lighting systems of Ingo Maurer: using the latest and most efficient technologies he has gained a wide appreciative audience. Bulb (1966),

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Voxel Chairs, designed for the Spanish Brand Vondom, 2016. Right:

his tribute to a lightbulb, which is now in the collections end of the “Ikea” era, but it does mark a return to his guiding ©Tahon & Bouroullec. of major museums like MoMA, NYC and SFMOMA; the rules. Even Ettore Sottsass, renowned as the founder of the lighting system YaYaHo (1984); and the winged bulb “Memphis” collective who espoused “anti-functionality”, Lucellino (1992) are three iconic products made by the lauded Rams’ ability to maintain such a clarity of form. German designer. For Maurer “lamps … are like family There is a distinct movement from the 1950s to the late members: Once you have them, you can’t do without 1960s onwards, which Henzschel describes as “a shift away them.” The integration of design into the home is the most from the pure functionalism to the integration of emotions basic thing, as pioneered by Eileen Gray in her E1027 and passions [with designers such as] Tapio Wirkkala, whose home, a villa on the Côte d’Azur. Completed in 1929, it is designs are based on natural forms, or Verner Panton with considered a feat of 20th century architecture – each form his almost humorous colourful creations, or Philippe Starck.” is connected to the next whether it be a water tank, a table Wirkkala used nature as his greatest source of inspiration, or a chair. The villa, garishly graffitied on by Le Corbusier much as Morris and his characteristic organic natural (apparently disgruntled by the fact a woman had built shapes are lauded for their originality and craftsmanship. something so similar to his “own” style), now survives as a Like his Finnish counterpart Alvar Aalto, Wirkkla embraced shrine to her achievements in simplicity of form. Gray once warmly stylised objects, the influence of their homeland’s famously pronounced, “To create, one must first question geography and the climate. Their designs are at opposite everything”, and it is this questioning process which is the ends of the spectrum, combining the more geometric root of originality for all of the featured 50 designers here. hard lines of modernist design. Ultimately the aesthetics This questioning is solidified by Braun designer Dieter of the finished product are as important as the utility, the Rams’ principles of design. His own straightforward designs – functionality, and the usefulness of the product: no-one the first “Walkman” for example – are renowned but it is Ten wants to carry around a bulky mobile phone when they can Words Principles for Good Design that he is equally celebrated for. carry a sleek Ives-imagined iPhone. This was aptly summed Niamh Coghlan Having become the Ten Commandments of craftsmanship up by William Morris: “Have nothing in your house that you and engrained within any practitioner working from the do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” 1970s onwards, the guidelines are simple: good design is The various notions of “design” can ultimately be brought innovative, aesthetic, understandable, honest, long-lasting, back to one simple idea of “making”, which Dieter Rams 50 Designers You Should environmentally friendly and unobtrusive, yet thorough describes in an insightful interview: “My grandfather was Know is published down to the last detail. Encouraging a return to simplicity a carpenter, I went to visit him often and I watched how by Prestel. and functionality, Rams’ principles encapsulate the current he ‘produced’ his forms which were always linked to his cultural shifts: away from “fast design” and towards an technique (by hand). They were simple but very beautiful. www.prestelpublishing. emphasis on sustainability and quality. This doesn’t mark the That is what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to make things.” randomhouse.de

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Active Subversion Marcus Palmqvist

Marcus Palmqvistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (b. 1976) Movement series offers a playful and experimental use of digital photography. Concrete becomes a vertical, horizontal and perpetuated platform from which to perform; brick walls, monuments and ledges emerge from a Brutalist urban landscape as springboards for dynamic gestural figures. At the centre of each image is a truly liberated sense of the human imagination. The deeply animated â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and at times uncanny â&#x20AC;&#x201C; compositions reflect the sheer joy of expression with a youthful demeanour. Meanwhile, crisp, bright styling comes to the fore as an unlikely component, providing an intriguing sense of narrative to the featured models and their various identities. Sleek, angular lines provide the basis for the garments, connoting an unlikely sequence of events. Jumping, bending and postulating mid-air, each character is part of a composition, which, whilst pre-meditated, seems to be filled with an infectious sense of spontaneity. www.marcuspalmqvist.com.

Marcus Palmqvist, from the Movement series. Styling: Josef Forselius. Art Direction: Gemma Fletcher. Dancer: Eszter Czedulas. Hair: Sara Eriksson. Courtesy of the artist.

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Marcus Palmqvist, from the Movement series. Styling: Sofie KrunegĂĽrd. Hair: Peter Johansson. Model: Nathalie Nyren. Courtesy of the artist.

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Marcus Palmqvist, from the Movement series. Styling: Josef Forselius. Art Direction: Gemma Fletcher. Dancer: Eszter Czedulas. Hair: Sara Eriksson. Courtesy of the artist.

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Marcus Palmqvist, from the Movement series. Styling: Sofie KrunegĂĽrd. Hair: Ali Pirzadeh. Make-up: Mel Arter. Courtesy of the artist.

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Marcus Palmqvist, from the Movement series. Styling: Josef Forselius. Art Direction: Gemma Fletcher. Dancer: Eszter Czedulas. Hair: Sara Eriksson. Courtesy of the artist.

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Marcus Palmqvist, from the Movement series. Styling: Josef Forselius. Art Direction: Gemma Fletcher. Dancer: Eszter Czedulas. Hair: Sara Eriksson. Courtesy of the artist.

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Symbiotic Landscapes Maik Lipp

German designer and self-taught photographer Maik Lipp (b. 1973) takes a clean, graphic approach to documenting the modern metropolis. The featured series Mixed Minimal isolates the beauty of lone architectural elements, which are, in reality, taken from narrow and often cramped buildings from the overdrawn, globalised city. Based on a longstanding passion for topographical symmetry, Lipp’s practice finds symbiosis in the space between geographical realities. Although using real projects as the basis – Rotterdam Centraal; Neuer Zollhof (Gehry-Bauten), Düsseldorf; the Citroen Building, Paris; and the Pavilion of Portugal being but a few examples – each composition is stripped back to a showcase of concrete, glass and metal. The congruent materials that make up 21st century spaces are represented as bold, reflective structures that encroach on the skyline, moving forwards, both thematically and literally, into the organic atmosphere. www.userdeck.de.

Maik Lipp, Neuer Zollhof (Gehry-Bauten) – Düsseldorf, Germany, 2011. From the series Mixed Minimal • 2.

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Maik Lipp, Esplanada â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Singapore, Singapore, 2012. From the series Mixed Minimal â&#x20AC;˘ 2.

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Maik Lipp, Citroen Building â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Paris, France, 2010. From the series Mixed Minimal â&#x20AC;˘ 2.

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Maik Lipp, Bauhaus - Museum für Gestaltung – Berlin, Germany, 2012. From the series Mixed Minimal • 1.

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Maik Lipp, Belem â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Lisbon, Portugal, 2015. From the series Mixed Minimal â&#x20AC;˘ 2.

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Maik Lipp, Rotterdam Centraal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2014. From the series Mixed Minimal â&#x20AC;˘ 2.

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Maik Lipp, Unknown residential â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Frankfurt, Germany, 2013. From the series Mixed Minimal â&#x20AC;˘ 1.

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Maik Lipp, Schicentrale â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2016. From the series Geometric Lines.

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Maik Lipp, Bus Station â&#x20AC;&#x201C; London, England, 2013. From the series Mixed Minimal â&#x20AC;˘ 2.

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art

Energetic Arrangement Paul et Martin

French duo Paul et Martin – Paul Lombard and Martin Rautureau – specialise in photography and short film, working consistently for international fashion brands such as Le Coq Sportif and Armistice, as well as a number of established musicians. Stills from The French Lesson showcase one of their most notable collaborations, a creatively led video achieved through a summery, geometric aesthetic. Bold, emphatic models take to pop-coloured patios and radiant poolsides; they are active participants who engage freely with the locations. Sun-drenched spaces and verdant landscaping are the perfect outdoor components for tricolore-styling, with each background being a successful example of art direction. Demonstrating a well-practised vision for editorial commissions, the series looks at advertising through a fresh perspective; each image offers a glimpse into a bright and idealistic lifestyle, enhanced through immaculate set design and cultural identification. www.pauletmartin.com.

Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheone’s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheone’s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of the Studio Paul et Martin.

Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheone’s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of the Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheone’s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of the Studio Paul et Martin.

Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheone’s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of the Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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Paul et Martin, The French Lesson. Shot for Pantheoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SS16 FRENCH SUMMER Collection. Co-directed with David Hugono-Petit. Courtesy of Studio Paul et Martin.

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exhibition reviews

1 Maeve Brennan THE DRIFT

The Drift, by London and Beirut-based artist Maeve Brennan (1917-1993), follows the stories of a handful of inhabitants of modern-day Lebanon, focusing on three characters in particular: a young mechanic who, in between tinkering with the collection of beat-up cars in his scrapyard, spends time drifting in his beloved BMW; a keeper of an ancient Roman temple who has been guarding the ruins from looting and vandalism and putting them back together for over four decades, as his father did before him; and a silent conservator who painstakingly puts together broken pottery, fragment by fragment, out of the hundreds of pieces which can be found in his workshop. The parallels between the figures are clear: salvaging the debris of previous civilisations, holding on to an identity, or perhaps building one anew out of the ruins of the past. The past is woven into the present through these objects that drift through space and time, carefully and unques-

tioningly looked after by those who instinctively, unconsciously believe in their worth. The undercurrent of conflict is implied or only mentioned off-handedly – perhaps, paradoxically – because it is so central to the economies of artefacts which the film is grappling with. The rituals of tearing down, reconstructing, looting, smuggling, and putting back together which are explored all stem from and return to the core underlying questions around the extrinsic versus intrinsic value of objects in conflict. The film does leave you pining for more: more exploration, more exposition, more questioning of what the inhabitants of this country think and feel about the deeper, unexplored causes which lie behind all the ruins and decay that are spreading across their country. These questions are hinted at, but no answers are given or even implied here; perhaps a future project will have the scope to revisit these central issues and offer some answers.

Words Regina Papachlimitzou

Spike Island, Bristol 8 July -17 September www.spikeisland.org.uk

2 A Handful of Dust

DOCUMENTARY AND TOPOGRAPHICAL WORKS

A Handful of Dust takes its title from TS Eliot’s poem The Waste Land (1922) and its starting point as a 1920 May Ray photograph of Marcel Duchamp’s The Large Glass. Originally published as view from an airplane and later named Dust Breeding, that photograph’s ambiguity has inspired generations of artists and informs an exhibition that encompasses documentary, topographical and artistic works. Room 1 of the exhibition is a menagerie of the potential uses of dust and the beauty of aerial photography, which extends the photograph’s two primary interpretations, but A Handful of Dust shies away from any overtly prescriptive curation to instead mediate on encounters with the incidental and the ephemeral. The disparate works attest to the beauty, irritation and all-encompassing nature of dust. It is the enemy of art but is carefully preserved in Robert Fillion’s rags and polaroids

that testify to cleaning of Velázquez paintings, whilst a collection of postcards of dust storms in 1930s American show its ability to permeate whole worlds and to transform the landscape. All together, the works combine to illustrate the manner in which art can be extracted from the everyday and the exceptional, from both natural phenomena and man-made atrocities, and the selection presented here is at once meditative, informative and politically engaged. The dust-filled shadow of Hiroshima looms large. It features in several works including photography of the bomb’s aftermath and Alain Resnais’ film Hiroshima My Love (1959), as well as filling the second gallery with the sounds of Kirk Palmer’s video Murmur (2006). This engagement with dust in its most destructive form returns to Eliot’s quotation, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust”, and illustrates the potency of this most unavoidable of materials.

Words Ruby Beesley

Whitechapel, London 7 June - 3 September whitechapelgallery.org

3 Allan Sekula

COLLECTIVE SISYPHUS

Allan Sekula’s (1951-2013) photographic essays identify the impact of globalisation and neoliberalism on the maritime economy throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Akin to social literature, each series analyses human– ocean interaction through sensitively shot chromatic prints, found objects and textual narratives; together they tell a story of both optimism and dismay. Many of the works in Collective Sisyphus reflect Sekula’s ability to shed light on the lives of those affected by an arduous economy – the hardship of which is addressed in the show’s title. Drawing a line between Fish Story (1989-1995) and Ship of Fools / The Docker’s Museum (2010-2013), the exhibition documents the history of our relationship with the sea, one that ultimately ends with a sense of contemporary separation. Spread across two floors of the building, Collective Sisyphus is the first presentation in the city to recognise Sekula’s interest in a post-Olympic Barcelona

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and its incorporation in a wider maritime ecology alongside cities such as Los Angeles, Athens, Bilbao, Rotterdam and Tokyo. Hidden moments are highlighted throughout – pipe fitters completing the engine room of a tuna-fishing boat and dystopian shadows of abandoned shipyards contemplate the transformation of industrial spaces as well as the figures within them. Concluding the exhibition is The Lottery of the Sea (2006) – a film that draws on Adam Smith’s 18th century text on the sailor’s life as a lottery. It considers the economic, political, environmental and personal risks that are associated with the ocean, and – through an amalgamation of documentary footage from events such as the Prestige’s devastating oil-spill onto the coastline of Galicia – begs us to question the fulfilment of governmental responsibilities to regulate this global labour market and its diverse output.

Words Selina Oakes

Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona 14 June - 25 September www.fundaciotapies.org

1a & b. Maeve Brennan, The Drift (2017) HD video with sound, 50’ 29” (video still). Produced by Spike Island, Bristol and Chisenhale Gallery, London. Commissioned by Spike Island; Chisenhale Gallery; The Whitworth, The University of Manchester; and Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore. Courtesy of the artist. 2. Rut Blees Luxemburg, In Deeper from the Liebeslied project. Photograph: Rut Blees Luxemburg / PR. 3. Allan Sekula, Deep Six / Passer au bleu, Abandoned Dover marine station, Part 1 : The Rights of Man, diptych, stuck paper and cibachrome matt, 1996 - 1998, n° inv. 998.43.5.

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4. Actress Corinne Skinner-Carter in Dreaming Rivers by Martina Attille. Sankofa Film and Video Collective (1988). Photo Credit: Christine Parry. 5a. Bill Viola, Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall), 2005. Video/sound installation, 10:16 minutes. Performer: John Hay. Courtesy Bill Viola Studio, © Bill Viola. Photo: Kira Perov 5b. Bill Viola, The Veiling, 1995. Video/sound installation, 30:00 minutes. Performers: Lora Stone, Gary Murphy. Courtesy Bill Viola Studio, © Bill Viola. Photo: Roman Mensing. 6. Mouna Karray, Murmurer #20, 2007. Lambda print on silver Baryta paper, mounted on aluminium.100 cm x 100 cm. Edition of 5 + 1AP (2/5). Courtesy Tyburn Gallery.

4 Untitled

A GROUP SHOW

“Decolonisation” is a term that holds both uncertainty and possibility in Tyburn Gallery’s summer show. For example, Edson Chagas’ photo series Found Not Taken (2009) – a title that consciously invokes the rhetoric of western expansionism – explores economic change by documenting abandoned objects in the city of Luanda, Angola, a country controlled by Portugal until 1975. When the artist was growing up, items that were found on the street would be repurposed, like the rusty pushcart depicted in one of the images, but today, in Angola and other former colonies, such things are thrown away, owing to accelerated economic development. The exhibition’s title denotes the cultural erasure of imperialism, whilst indicating other narratives. In Linetrap (2014), Mónica de Miranda stiches ornate patterns over photographs of Angolan jungles under threat from deforestation, like Chagas, referencing contemporary

pressures of globalisation but also recalling the arbitrary, geometric borders drawn up by colonial cartographers. Although annexation and independence can cause great turmoil and instability, the latter also provides hope. Mouna Karray’s Murmurer (2007) captures crumbling walls in Sfax, Tunisia, symbolising de-territorialisation and posing a counter-point to de Miranda’s work. Engaging with similar notions of reclamation, Victor Ehikhamenor’s paper works are created through the use of a pinprick, resulting in beautifully intricate patterns that recall the spiritual traditions of the Benin Empire, which later became the British “protectorate” of Nigeria. Like his fellow exhibitors, Ehikhamenor presents a pointed critique of the usurpation of civilisations; and, whilst imperial powers treated the world like a tabula rasa, this considered exhibition displays the powerful ways that postcolonial artists re-inscribe cultural identity.

Words Henry Broome

Tyburn Gallery, London 19 July - 15 September www.tyburngallery.com

5 Bill Viola

A RETROSPECTIVE

Marking Guggenheim Bilbao’s 20th anniversary, the museum holds a major retrospective on the practice of pioneering video artist Bill Viola this summer. Most of the artist’s early works, from the 1970s, overcome the visual limitations of a then-nascent technology by merit of concept. The Reflecting Pool (1977-1979), for example, documents Viola jumping into a secluded body of water, freezing at the apex, whilst its surface continues to ripple below. As the suspended image fades, defying expectations of reanimation, simple editing tricks engender deeper considerations on the nature of time. Ironically, some more recent pieces have aged less well. Viola’s culturally mediated interest in eastern and western mysticism at times translates into an aesthetic that, in the later works where higher budgets permit more idiosyncratic design, detracts from the inclusivity that marks his strongest creations. His truly timeless pieces are more elemental. In a

nod to previous exhibitions mounted in religious buildings, the most powerful works here are projected alone onto ceiling-high screens in spacious rooms. Tristan’s Ascension (2005) shows a body falling in reverse slow-motion, accompanied by a cascade of water, and Inverted Birth (2014), also in reverse, features a standing figure bearing a deluge of oily-black, blood-red and milky-white liquid, whilst progressing toward a state of naked purity. In the particularly noteworthy Slowly Turning Narrative (1992), diverse projections, reflections and refractions focus on a rotating screen, mirrored on one side. With a chanting voice enumerating identities – “the one who educates”, “wastes”, “repeats” and myriad other verbs – this manifestation of a constantly turning mind is indicative of the artist’s best work, combining many elements with clarity in order to generate both inward and outward reflection.

Words Ned Carter Miles

Guggenheim Bilbao 30 June - 9 November www.guggenheimbilbao.eus

6 The Place is Here

FILM, PHOTOGRAPHY AND PAINTING

In spite of its focus on the civil unrest, political segregation and identity politics of the 1980s, The Place is Here is a timely exhibition. Pulling together films, photographs, paintings, printed materials and collages from black artists, writers and thinkers, the exhibition’s scope is huge and its prescience astonishing. One centrepiece work, Black Audio Film Collective’s Twilight City, depicts the upheaval and economic inequalities of Thatcher-era London and mirrors issues that have only gathered pace in today’s fractured cities, with an eerie accuracy. Many of the works are angry but some are encouraging, some celebratory. The naked white woman and black man of Keith Piper’s The Body Politic (2012) highlight the fetishisation of each of these bodies and illustrate the commonalities that cross race, in a moving way that still cuts close to the bone. In contrast, the curvaceous beauty of the black female form is celebrated in the semi-abstract

I Came to Dance (Claudette Johnson), whilst in Untitled (Woman with earring) it is Johnson’s cool, collected gaze that confronts the viewer and proudly celebrates her nudity. Alongside these paintings, Joy Gregory’s Autoportraits experiment with processing techniques in order to achieve a gentle diffusion of light that serves to deify its subject and hones in on isolated individual elements of black beauty. Marlene Smith’s Art History portrays four black women artists as a riposte to their lack of representation in the art world and, in doing so, produces the stark realisation that, 30 years on from its creation, black artists still remain criminally under-represented. In drawing attention to the fact that so few of these artists are well known in today’s art world, The Place is Here is a damning verdict on the continuing obstacles which still face the creatives of Black Britain when it comes to securing institutional representation in the 21st century.

Words Ruby Beesley

South London Gallery 22 June -10 September www.southlondongallery.org

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Image: © Adventure Pictures Ltd

film

Reflecting Social Dialogues THE PARTY

“With a story that sees secrets and lies stain like red wine on a carpet, Potter had to rigorously keep track of her seven characters’ movements across a remarkably crisp 71 minutes.”

Words James Mottram

The Party Released in autumn adventurepictures.co.uk

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“Comedy is the most serious form of all,” says writer-director reaction into it,” she says. Rather, The Party is a more univerSally Potter. “Graham Greene used to talk about his novels sal skewering of the middle classes, and inspired by works as entertainments, and I always thought that was wonderful.” like Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Luis The British filmmaker behind Orlando, The Tango Lesson and Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. “This is a film Ginger & Rosa is not known for her comic stylings, but the all about people’s internal lives but with enough clues in the idea of humour was one of the starting points for her latest environment to figure out what kind of people they are.” film The Party. “I gave myself permission to write the kind of Shot in monochrome, Potter’s aesthetic choice was fundabitter-edged humour that I love when I watch it,” she says. mental to her thinking. “So many of my favourite films are Set in the well-appointed London home of Janet, an ide- black-and-white; I find them more powerful, more graphic,” alistic politician (Kristin Scott Thomas) and her academic she says. She encouraged her cinematographer Alexey Rodihusband Bill (Timothy Spall), the premise sees the couple onov and production designer Carlos Conti to watch British host a small gathering of close friends to celebrate Janet’s classics such as This Sporting Life and The L-Shaped Room. promotion to Shadow Minister for Health for an unnamed For her cast, Potter dipped into an impressive pool of talent: opposition party. “I wanted to look at the politics of health Patricia Clarkson as Janet’s best friend April and Bruno Ganz and the health of politics,” says Potter, who began writing as April’s new-age partner; Cillian Murphy as a sharp-suited the film script during the 2015 General Election campaign. banker; Cherry Jones as Bill’s old university friend; and Emily Even given the rapidity of world events since then, The Party Mortimer as her highly-strung partner. “I take ages casting,” feels like it is tapping into the zeitgeist. “Since I started writing, says Potter. “I always aim for the feeling when people see the there’s been Trump, Brexit, the rise of the right, the crisis in film [that] they can’t imagine anyone else in that role.” the National Health Service … it all starts to feel prescient.” With a story that sees secrets and lies stain like red wine Curiously, the production took place for just two weeks in on a carpet, Potter had to rigorously keep track of her seven June 2016 in West London Film Studios, just as the vote for characters’ movements across a remarkably crisp 71 minutes. the United Kingdom to leave the European Union took place. “I drew up a lot of charts so you could see graphically where Potter, however, was keen not to make a last-minute refer- somebody was at any one moment.” The result is a pathosence in the script. “It would be a mistake to put a knee-jerk infused melting pot of the political and the personal.

Biography as Influence ENGLAND IS MINE

Translating the story of a highly controversial personality to punching the keys of his typewriter late into the night and “England Is Mine screen is no mean feat. Doing so without the blessing of the leading a purposefully isolated existence, confiding only follows Steven actual person is even more so. The life of Steven Morrissey, a in his strong-willed mother and best friend Linder Sterling Morrissey’s younger renowned and idolised musician, is undoubtedly fascinating, (played with warm patience by Jessica Findlay Brown). years, plastering his rising from Inland Revenue filing clerk to icon, and is desThe casting for such a prickly yet beloved persona was walls with the bands tined to reach the cinema eventually. One of a global move- crucial, with Gill finding his star, award-winning stage and and authors that he ment of Morrissey fans, director Mark Gill was introduced to TV actor Jack Lowden, a year before filming began. Growing adored, punching the The Smiths frontman’s music in his teenage years. Both from up on the same streets as his subject provided an enormous keys of his typewriter Manchester, there was comfort and solace to be found in the advantage for the director, who took Lowden to the places late into the night, leading a purposefully. songs that would launch Morrissey to international success. where Morrissey himself had spent his adolescence. “I’d bought Hatful of Hollow on cassette from Woolies in “Our mantra was to play the person on the page, not the isolated existence.” Stretford, and put it straight in my Walkman,” Gill recalls. “The icon,” Gill says, an approach that would prove imperative for first track starts, the first line is delivered: ‘The rain falls down conveying a person who hadn’t lent their time or insight to on a humdrum town.’ Right there I had a soundtrack to my life.” the project. Help in fleshing out Steven’s character came in To say that Morrissey has raised a few eyebrows throughout many other forms; whereas Morrissey’s life remains fairly the span of his career would be restrained; his autobiography public (the topic of his sexuality is firmly unaddressed in the is littered with the bridges that he’s burned, whilst his public film), key details came from the people that knew him well. statements and political agendas remain widely criticised. “I had a lot of help from guitarist Billy Duffy from The Cult, “Knowing an audience is going to come to this film with a who was actually in a band with Morrissey in the mid-1970s Words preconceived idea of your main character is a challenge,” says and has an amazing memory,” the director recalls gratefully. Beth Webb Gill. “But I never saw Steven as Morrissey, so I mostly ignored it, Inevitably, however, it would be the music, those first songs and got on with the business of imagining how he might have written by a frustrated and despairing young man that would evolved towards the person he presented to the world in 1983.” speak to Gill above anything else, and bring out the strong- England is Mine England Is Mine follows Steven’s painful younger years, est elements of the film. It will be people like him who flock Released 4 August plastering his walls with the bands and authors that he adored, to see a part of their younger selves in this intimate portrayal. englandisminefilm.co.uk

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film reviews Fog in August

Aquarius

Kai Wessel StudioCanal

Kleber Mendonça Filho Arrow Academy

The subject of eugenics bears heavy on human history, and yet Fog in August is the first feature film to address the Nazi euthanasia programme from World War II. Based on Robert Domes’s 2008 novel, the feature examines this weighty topic through the real-life story of 13-year old Ernst Lossa – a Yenish boy who was committed to a psychiatric hospital situated in Sargau in 1942. Concealed behind the façade of a mental institution, the facility’s staff slowly execute their patients – children with disabilities or behavioural problems – for the irrational logic of “race hygiene.” Through director Kai Wessel’s sensibility and rigour, the viewer is drawn into an unsettling realm where Dr Werner Veithausen (Sebastian Koch) is convinced that he is helping those who do not meet the standards of the Third Reich. New arrival Lossa (Ivo Pietzcker) unearths the truth and looks to sabotage the hospital’s activities – to spare the lives of his friends. A moving and critical feature, Fog in August pays tribute to over 5,000 victims, whilst also highlighting contemporary society’s attitudes towards disabilities and the implications of prenatal diagnosis.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s sophomore feature finds the critic turned filmmaker once again drawn to the residential setting. Here, the filmmaker narrows his focus from the ensemble cast of Neighbouring Sounds (2012), to tell the story of 65-year-old writer Clara (Sonia Braga). She is the last resident of the Aquarius, and her refusal to leave creates a conflict with the construction company that has acquired all of the neighbouring apartments – in itself the necessary provocation to sustain this character study. Through the notion of space, Filho emphasises our own role as authors, sometimes antagonistic, beyond which space is innocent and otherwise undefined. The film’s strength is the willingness to question the selfishness and ignorance of not only the heads of the construction company but of Clara herself, thereby opening up the dimensions of its moral consciousness to create a lasting impression. This is an incisive study of human nature, the struggle between our individual and social impulses or responsibilities, anchored by Braga’s performance, which feels authentic and real.

With an extensive and well-known cast led by Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent, the adaptation of Julian Barnes’s 2011 novel The Sense of an Ending was, from the very beginning, built within the clutches of stardom. As with a number of Barnes’s novels, including A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters (1989), the book was already an example of meta-textual reference – taking its name from Frank Kermode’s 1967 publication, which sought to “make sense of the ways we try to make sense of our lives.” This cinematic feature further adds to these fabricated layers, becoming yet another mode of interpretation rich with structural complexity. Following the life of protagonist Tony Webster, the narrative delves into the past to resurface hidden truths and re-write memory. Each scene is a revelation of powerful emotion and buried regrets, with each passing minute delving deeper into personal journeys that, whilst seemingly familiar, can, and have in this case, become deeply repurposed and ultimately alienating.

Selina Oakes

Paul Risker

Kate Simpson

The Handmaiden

Tschick (Goodbye Berlin)

The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portriats of John Berger

Park Chan-wook Curzon Artificial Eye

Fatih Akin StudioCanal

Park Chan-wook has broken down geographical boundaries, most notably with his gothic thriller Stoker (2013), starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, from a script by Wentworth Miller. It was preceded by Thirst, an adaptation of Émile Zola’s tragic novel Thérèse Raquin, and is succeeded now by The Handmaiden, an adaptation of English writer Sarah Waters’ period novel Fingersmith. Transposing Victorian London to Japaneseoccupied Korea, young thief Sookee (Kim Tae-ri), posing as a handmaiden for nefarious intentions, is hired by the reclusive heiress Hideko (Kim Min-hee). From dialogue with a poetic aspect, to the visual and musical poeticism that creates dreamlike moments within a tale of manipulation and obsession, Handmaiden pleasures the senses. The raw sensuality of the erotic scenes compliment the unpredictable essence of the characters, whilst our sympathies become prey to the narrative itself. Indulgent in length (Park sacrifices perfection), the film remains enthralling as the fate of these two intriguing women unfolds.

Based on the 2010 bestselling novel by writer Wolfgang Herrndorf, Fatih Akin’s latest feature film transplants the typical coming-of-age story out of suburbia and into a “borrowed” car speeding down the autobahn with reckless abandon. Before a boy named Tschick (Anand Batbileg) arrives unannounced in his life, 14-year-old Maik Klingenberg (Tristan Göbel) is an unpopular kid who is labelled as a “psycho” by his classmates, in part thanks to the stories he shares about his alcoholic mother and absent father. But Tschick is here to change all that. He’s unlike anything the school has seen before. He shaves his head, brings vodka along to class and shuts down bullies with nothing more than a whisper. After convincing Maik to join him on a road trip armed only with frozen pizzas, two sleeping bags and a fistful of cash, they embark on a summer of adventure that will alter Maik’s path, and his sense of self, forever. Whilst the film plays on some familiar teenage tropes, it succeeds in breathing fresh air into the genre.

Paul Risker

Grace Caffyn

The Sense of an Ending Ritesh Batra StudioCanal

Bartek Dziadosz, Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, Tilda Swinton Curzon Artificial Eye

An adoring portrait of the deep-thinking storyteller and art critic John Berger, this unusual documentary is not really a documentary at all. Instead it ventures into uncharted docu-territory, wallowing in the essence of Berger as he is captured on film by four separate directors. It is, perhaps, Tilda Swinton’s adoration of this man – they class themselves as twins, sharing the same birthday 34 years apart – that drives this conversation piece. He glories in words; she glories in him. It is a love affair but one built of talk, of language and of ideas and the mind. A (deliberately) fractured piece that is at times gleefully incoherent, this quartet of vignettes/film essays drops in Berger’s own poems, references to Derrida and Heidegger, faraway memories of the Great War and politics. It is all an indicator to Berger’s intellectual landscape but the content works best when the man himself is sounding forth. A “kaleidobiopic”, Seasons in Quincy is a filmic tapestry. Tony Earnshaw

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The Bourgeois © Nick Whitaker

music

Refabricated Visions THE BOURGEOIS

“None of us grew up in affluent households,” explains The new EP, The KKK Took My Country Away, and the soil that “Bands that focus Bourgeois’ guitarist front-man Zach Mobley, when prompted The Bourgeois have spring from. “Oklahoma is absurdly red their entire sound to elaborate on his band’s nom du rock. “But being white [Republican] politically. Tulsa is more liberal than the rest of and aesthetic on middle-class males in America is kind of like winning the the state, but I’m not sure how much by.” being gloomy all the lottery when you consider how much adversity minorities face. The KKK EP is a three-song salvo against Trump-era time are actually the [The band name] is definitely tongue-in-cheek. In retrospect, fascism and American neo-liberalism. Did the 2016 election ones I laugh hardest naming the band something that half the population can’t politicise the band, or were they raging against the machine at. I think politics pronounce may not have been the best idea.” long before Donald’s rise? “Our first single is about income definitely have a Nevertheless, it’s a banner that’s topped various incarna- inequality, which I believe is the source of almost every other place in music, tions of this noisy rock trio from Tulsa. The initial line-up major problem in America. Our new EP is definitely more but in moderation.” was cobbled together in haste, in order to play a promo gig explicit though. When you title a song The KKK Took My for their debut single, Perverting The American Dream. They Country Away, there isn’t a lot of room for interpretation.” unspooled just as quickly, after an argument involving “too The video for the EP’s eponymous lead single is a dark much alcohol and a hat.” Reluctantly, Mobley turned to satire of the American nuclear family, a re-writing of the Craigslist for a drummer and Ty Clark, fresh out of jail and idealistic dream – white hoods at the diner table; brimstone fully clean after eight years of opioid addiction, replied. “I’ve bible lectures in the front room. The Bourgeois are a band never really been secretive about [that time in my life],” says that revel in irreverence, for both political context and Clark, who credits the cold-turkey detox that jail enforced as laughs. For an example of the latter, see the video for their an unfortunate, but ultimately life-saving, route to clarity. 2016 single Be Careful With That Sound, It’s An Antique, in “When Ty joined the band four years ago, I finally had which cargo shorts fans are mercilessly lampooned. “I try to Words someone willing to put the same amount of time and effort write lyrics about things that are important to me, but it can’t Charlotte into music as me,” explains Mobley. “We cycled through four all be dark clouds,” says Mobley. “Bands that focus their Richardson Andrews other bass players before we finally found Vance [Young]. He’s entire sound and aesthetic on being gloomy all the time are a rad dude, and we think he might be the final puzzle piece.” actually the ones I laugh hardest at. I think politics definitely If Peverting… sounds incendiary, consider the title of their has a place in music, but it has to be in moderation.” www.thebourgeoisband.com

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Reconciliating Themes ZOLA JESUS

Zola Jesus © Tim Saccenti.

Nika Roza Danilova, the Slavic-American musician who records in, claw the dirt and grow roots. After years of trying to find “‘Home’ is such a as Zola Jesus, is in her (sort of) new Wisconsin home, contem- out where I belong, I finally realised it’s where I started.” strange concept, so plating nature. “From where I’m sitting, I can see trees out the After the lighter, pop-inspired excursion of 2015’s Taiga, loaded with memories window, and a wood stove in front of me. It’s raining, so the Zola Jesus has returned to familiar sonic territory. Okovi is and meaning. Even light is coated in a muted grey.” The artist, who rose to promi- fraught, an album nurtured by dark touchstones: left-field when we’re long nence in the late 2000s with a grand, gothic electronica sound, cinema (Begotten; Hard To Be A God; Tetsuo, Himiko); eerie divorced from it in has turned full circle, widdershins-style, and is now back in the dance traditions (Japanese butoh); art that ranges from Junji any geographical rural woods she knew as a child. “I needed to put roots down Ito’s Japanese horror manga to Pierre Soulages’ outrenoir sense, it calls us – a [in order to pen fifth album, Okovi], but I couldn’t decide where works. Danilova reveals it is a cathartic response to several, wrench the artist to settle. Eventually, I chose to come back home, because it’s very personal traumas. “Whilst writing the record, I endured articulates through easy, it’s isolated and I’m surrounded by people I love.” people very close to me trying to die, and others trying des- dreamy, otherworldly Her new digs, purpose-built last year, are within spitting perately not to. I was fighting through a haze so thick I wasn’t layers of vocal reverb.” distance from the now-decomposing tree fort she played in sure I’d find my way to the other side.” Has the fog lifted at all as a child. That sense of returning to the earth is rife on Okovi, since? “Some aspects of my own haze have, yes. But as long an album swirling with themes of death, loss and reconcili- as those I love are in battle, I am in battle with them.” ation. So often, these are the things that pull us back to the That flight-or-fight energy is panic-attack level on induscomfort of the familiar. “Home” is such a strange concept, so trial lead single Exhumed, whilst Veka weezes with synth lines loaded with memories and meaning. Even when we’re long that could be the sound of a life-support machine. Witness, a divorced from it in any geographical sense, it calls us – a triumph of swelling strings, bears the same wounded power wrench the artist articulates on Okovi’s opening song, Doma as Björk’s Stonemilker, but it was black metal and Eastern Eu- Words through dreamy, otherworldly layers of vocal reverb. ropean folk music that the artist drew on. “Stonemilker was Charlotte Richardson “Since becoming an adult I’ve wandered aimlessly from not an inspiration, no, but I deeply admire Björk’s honesty in Andrews place to place, trying to find this sense of home, both Vulnicura. It is always, without fail, a painfully beautiful listen,” physically and emotionally. ‘Being home’ isn’t only about she says. This, in a nutshell, is what Okovi feels like – rewarda location, but a state of mind. It’s about being able to lock ingly wracked music – offering a compass for all souls in flux. www.zolajesus.com

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music reviews EMA

Lone Taxidermist

Fever Dream

Exile In The Outer Ring City Slang

Trifle Memetune

Squid Club AC30

EMA – otherwise known as Erika M. Anderson – returns with her characteristic spellbinding, low-fi sound. Exile In The Outer Ring opens with the dreamy, distorted 7 Years, which leads into a raw, rugged and addictive build up in Breathalyzer. Though the record as a whole is consistently impressive, Fire Water Air LSD, I Wanna Destroy and 33 Nihilistic and Female are stand-out examples that glitter with imaginative and innovative reprise. Each track is dripping with societal reform, documenting identity, poverty, capitalism and feminism through surly and meditated lyrics that reflect the contemporary age. Traversing public and private realms through complex, new-age song writing, the lyrics are at once whispered, growled and, sometimes, harmonised. Ultimately the album is a dark and melancholy tapestry. Weaving together a multitude of voices, guitar tones and synths, EMA delves into the notion of Americana, and pulls out, with brutal honesty and poetic clarity, the crux of its present emotion. A fresh contribution to the industry.

The double-meaning in the title of Lone Taxidermist’s album, Trifle, tells you a lot of what you need to know about this debut from the London-based threesome. With a distinctly punk spirit, this record nods to the humdrum and the everyday (like the classic British dessert of yesterday), with the desire to rip things up and get messy (like the verb). Hence, Trifle fits well. With Phillip Winter on bass, Will Kwerk handling the band’s smattering of electronics and Natalie Sharp on vocals, they land somewhere between electro-pop artists and sweat-fuelled garage band. This thronging, twitchy electro is at times crude in its content and style. Peaches herself would be proud of the over-sharing that’s on offer on the lead single Knicker Elastic, where vocalist Sharp muses, “Little does he know there’s a crime scene in my pants.” There’s also the self-explanatory misadventures of Hammered in Homebase. Bijoux Boy adds an unplugged, indie edge, offering a raucous acoustic break mid-way through the album. It’s sexually complex, loud, visceral and bombastically self-aware music.

Following on from the release of the critically acclaimed 2015 debut Moyamoya, Fever Dream unleashes Squid via Club AC30. Comprising Adrian Fleet (guitar, vocals), Sarah Lippett (bass) and Cat Loye (drums), the band has crafted a mesmerising post-punk collage of guitar-driven music with a grunge-heavy yet commercial sounding heartbeat and vocals that frequently sit deep in the mix, almost like another instrument. Striking moments include Inside, which coasts along as a radio-friendly stab of pop before reaching a tumultuous crescendo. Equally, on Youth (is Wasted On The Old), intense and evocative guitar sounds give way to dynamic chord progressions with almost anthemic stadium-made potential. Squid is testament to the band’s willingness to experiment and explore nuances within its music, brought about by the high level of musicianship which is apparent at every turn. It is the blistering guitar work that truly stands out, going under, over and within every other note, continually driving the overall sound forward whilst simultaneously transporting the listener to other-worldly places.

Kate Simpson

Grace Caffyn

Matt Swain

Lovely Bad Things

Mermaidens

Mary Epworth

Perfect Body Flying Nun

Elytral Sunday Best

Teenage Grown Ups Burger Records

LA pop culture walks hand-in-hand with alternative punk rock in Californian quintet Lovely Bad Things’ latest album, Teenage Grown Ups. A follow up to their popular EP Homebodied, this new release homes in on the band’s effortless dynamism that reflects upon the mundanity of life on the West Coast. Fuelled by crashing cymbals and rugged guitar riffs reminiscent of the 1990s, Teenage Grown Ups boasts an impressive boy-girl vocal exchange that steers the band’s output in a playful, energetic yet slacker direction. Vocally situated somewhere between the Pixies and contemporaries Best Coast, the 13-track compilation maintains a peculiar optimism and vigour evocative of the likes of Weezer and King Tuff. I’ll Listen kicks off with raucous guitars and Lauren Curtis’s powerful voice, paired with the Ward brothers’ off-beat accompaniment. In Cartoon Food, softer melodies build into a layered symphony of howling strings. Curtis’s mellow vocals in Glow Buddy sway listeners into a gentle contemplation, ready for the lively single releases, Space Waste and Always Lazy.

Formed in 2013, MerTaking five years to follow maidens comprises up her debut album, EpGussie Larkin, Lily worth has truly put her West and Abe Holheart and soul in to this lingsworth, an exciting three-piece that hails from spellbindingly considered and yet, enjoyably rough Wellington, New Zealand, influenced by the likes around the edges sophomore effort. Filled with of Warpaint and Fugazi. Their first album – after a lo-fi synths and whirring bleeps, filtered piano and 2014 EP and a 2016 LP – is a dynamic and allur- distant drum machines, the vastness of her sound ing affair, reflecting their strength of the band and makes it an engulfing listen from the very beginning. the steps it has taken since forming. The magnificent Last Night, beautifully curated in The title track lyrics provide a summary for the its subtlety, brings together light instrumentation entire album: “Your perfect body won’t save you and vocals just expertly processed enough to not now, every word will fall down. You are an animal, I take away from their simplicity. This flaunts Ephave no sympathy.” Dark, polished and rich in both worth’s dreamy tones, tricking you into a false sense thematic content and musical depth, Sunstone and of calm before turning into an emotional nightmare Lizard are beautifully gloomy and passionately mid-way through. The diversity and respect for assertive, whilst Mind Slow and Smothering space and timing on Elytral is undoubtedly one of its Possession are slow, lingering night-time anthems. strongest attributes, paving the way to repeat listens Haunting, well-paced and rife with reverb, just to attempt to comprehend its complexity. the record draws from a multitude of genres. The childlike, La Roux-sounding Me Swimming Post-punk, psych and alt-rock are but a few of has coming-of-age teen drama soundtrack written the styles that can be heard in the playful and all over it, whilst the hypnotic nod to James Blake of experimental twists and turns. Each melody is at Towards The Dawn is an inspired journey. The infurionce unexpected and highly fluid; Perfect Body is atingly repetitive Bring Me The Fever is the sole low a real diamond in the rough. point in this otherwise extremely cohesive ten -racker.

Selina Oakes

Kate Simpson

Kyle Bryony

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performance

Charting Collectivism Blak Whyte Gray MICHAEL ASANTE AND KENRICK SANDY, FOUNDERS OF THE ACCLAIMED BOY BLUE ENTERTAINMENT, TAKE HIP HOP TO THE 2017 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL.

Boy Blue Entertainment is an Olivier-Award winning com- rative. Asante says: “I think the triple bill sets the tone – it pany founded by Michael Asante and Kenrick Sandy kind of prepares people to come in and accept that this isn’t (London Olympic Opening Ceremony, T2 Trainspotting) going to be a set piece, it’s going to be three separate levels in 2001. One of the organisation’s primary ambitions is to which are to be enjoyed both separately and together.” take hip hop beyond the streets and clubs. They have sucThere are layered elements between the pieces, however, ceeded in doing just that: they have created dance theatre and it is possible to interpret it, if not as a pre-supposed pieces that have shown at the Barbican and one that was storyline, at least as a journey. The first section, Whyte, selected to form part of the UK’s GCSE Dance curriculum. sees the dancers dressed in restrictive clothing, struggling Their latest work, Blak Whyte Gray has now been included for movement whilst the second allows a slight release, as part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. and the climax of the third, Blak, offers a more complete, Whilst Michael Asante professes that theatre hasn’t joyful, physical freedom. All these intertwined approaches changed hip hop, he admits that it has altered the “way contribute to a sense of catharsis, evoking embodiment, in which the world perceives it.” For Asante, “theatre is just entanglement and release through the use of gesture. another medium for expression”, and this desire to create Each possible detail is considered part of the jigsaw being cross-cultural and all-inclusive dialogues does seem formed; the costumes are designed by Ryan Dawson Laight, to be at the heart of their show-stopping productions. the choreography is by Asante’s co-founder, Kenrick Sandy, Asante explains the origins of the hip hop genre started as and the lighting by Lee Curran. This last component plays “political statements made by predominantly black people an undoubtedly crucial role: “With no set, it became the main in America about their situations and struggles. It was a device to find space and place because essentially it’s in a form of escapism, freedom and self-expression.” void. So the lighting creates the world. It’s so, so important.” Saying that, however, Asante does not restrict Blak Whyte In the first section, the dancers are literally caged within Gray, or any of their dance productions, by labelling it as illuminated constructions. It’s yet another abstract part of a political work. “It was never meant to be a statement of the show which takes on an overt edge of social critique, anything in particular; it’s meant to be more of a moment asking questions as to the reality of imprisonment through for people to be individuals whilst connecting.” It is kept in- intangible, perhaps manmade structures. tentionally abstract so the audience can make up their own Despite Asante’s earlier reluctance to solely describe minds about what it is they are watching. Divided into three Blak Whyte Gray as politicised, it is hard to avoid. Many sections that move from Whyte to Gray to Blak, different people have interpreted the triptych in different ways: conceptual layers come to the fore as a progressive nar- “Some people have come and interpreted it as a depiction

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Left: Boy Blue Entertainment, Blak Whyte Gray. Photo: © Carl Fox at www.carlfoxphotography.com. Right: Boy Blue Entertainment, Blak Whyte Gray. Photo: © Carl Fox at www.carlfoxphotography.com. Previous Page: Boy Blue Entertainment, Blak Whyte Gray. Photo: © Carl Fox at www.carlfoxphotography.com.

of race, some people have seen a personal journey towards selves forward. That’s what makes it so powerful.” “Given a platform self-actualisation.” The symbolism could certainly be This is one of the reasons Boy Blue Entertainment is for spontaneity read either way, or as both simultaneously. Oppression, excited about the new reach the company’s work is gaining: and individualised revolt, liberation; all of these ideas can be applied equally “It’s great that hip hop is getting recognised in such a way.” movement, the dancer on a globalised and a micro level. However, the two The opportunity to take something that celebrates the can take everything interpretations are rarely completely independent. expression of populations into a space that holds such that they’ve learned Asante captures this duality perfectly when he talks about international renown is, necessarily, political. And it’s and felt, and put the intention behind the work: “The show, as a whole, is powerful. Asante talks about the ability of the medium it forward in a about a type of feeling. It’s one that you want the audience to connect people across the world: “Hip hop has done way that’s totally to empathise with, without specifically saying anything on amazing things. When you talk to people who are from unique to them.” stage.” The creation of the piece came about as the result of different cultures, you all share some kind of common a conversation Asante had with his father about the origins experience of a euphoric moment that dance encourages.” of identity. “It was the idea of history and also the notion Hip hop typically seems to be something to be discovof ‘where are we getting our information from?’ How does ered alone, outside of the established institutions and the it inform who we are?” He states that in creating the work usual influences. It’s possible that this is because it is at they were pursuing this idea of “trying to reach a space of heart something truly radical, an art form that evolves and freedom which is based upon an true understanding of self.” changes with the individual. Asante explains: “Essentially Hip hop, as a whole, is ideal for delving deeper into the what is required is the love of sampling; you can bring your notion of performance as an outlet for sensory and emo- own culture to hip hop. It’s been affected by black culture, tional information. Not only because of its background by white culture, Cuban, Brazilian; people love it and can Words as a means for seeking self-identification but also be- interpret it in any way they want. It’s an all-inclusive form.” Bryony Byrne cause of the resounding fact that it is, after all, dance. “It’s So, whether it was Boy Blue Entertainment’s intention to always done a great thing of moving where it needs to make a socially relevant work, or one that speaks purely go. It totally allows the person who is affected by it, be to the emotional experience of each audience member, it it an audience member or a dancer, to take it somewhere seems that the two are inextricably combined. They have Blak Whyte Gray new. That’s because embedded inside hip hop is the idea created a production that at once speaks to every viewer The Lyceum, Edinburgh of freestyle.” Given a platform for spontaneity and indi- and listens to their story as an active spectator, and yet one International Festival, vidualised movement, the dancer can take everything that which welcomes the additions of all cultures. Asante refers 16 - 19 August they’ve learned and felt, and put it forward in a way that’s to Blak Whyte Gray as being a “conversation about human totally unique to them. Asante captures this perfectly: “It experience.” Inclusive, human, free: it’s a performance Box Office: 0131 473 2000 begs for the human person to stand up and bring them- which offers an antidote to the manmade borders of today. www.eif.co.uk

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Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition A presentation of selected works from contemporary artists

26 May - 10 September 2017

York Art Gallery, Exhibition Square, York, YO1 7EW (Daily 10am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5pm) www.aestheticamagazine.com/artprize | www.yorkartgallery.org.uk Image: Judith Jones, Rendezvous.

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book reviews Sleeping by the Mississippi

Concrete

New History of Modern Architecture

Alec Soth MACK

William Hall, Leonard Koren Phaidon

Launched in tandem with a seminal exhibition at Beetles+Huxley, London, Sleeping by the Mississippi provides a glimpse into the “third coast” of the US. Although first published by Steidl 13 years ago, this new edition takes independent strides in re-affirming the innovative and infectious vision of Alex Soth. With 48 stunning colour plates, all 120 pages provide a wider example of the photobook at its best. The tumultuous and brooding landscape of America is captured and presented bound in printed linen as a truly mesmerising experience. Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota and Missouri are amongst the spellbinding locations – each of which is laid open through cinematic intimacy. This boundary-pushing publication carries the documentary style into new depths, whilst offering an unprecedented source of immersion for each and every reader. As renowned Magnum photographer Martin Parr notes: “It’s hard to believe that the first edition of Sleeping By The Mississippi appeared only in 2004, so swiftly has the book become a classic of our time.”

Many of the world’s greatest structures have been built from concrete – the Hoover Dam; The Pantheon in Rome; Le Corbusier’s Palace of Justice, Chandigarh – and yet, it is a material that is often described as cold, stagnant and emotionless. William Hall’s Concrete sheds new light on what is today’s most widely used manmade material – 7.5 billion m3 of it is produced annually. Sparking our imagination is a contemplation on the changeable nature of Southbank’s National Theatre through the seasons, which, along with Leonard Koren’s essay on trends in California and Tokyo, sets the tone for a book that celebrates concrete as malleable and enlivened. Form looks at its fluidity through the coiled ramps of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim, New York; Landscapes identifies its interaction with the land in Oscar Niemeyer’s futuristic Museum of Contemporary Art, Rio de Janeiro; whilst Presence explores its unabated impact through the energetic concrete shards of Zaha Hadid’s Vitra Fire Station. This portable edition is a must for enthusiasts with a thirst for modernism and Brutalism.

This new history uses a combination of chronological, geographical, typological, biographical, technological and stylistic approaches to redress the balance in the study of modern architectural history, which has heretofore given disproportionate prominence to Modernism. It chooses to focus on ideas rather than specific buildings, gleaning the formal and technical principles that have given the discipline its backbone. The book is divided in roughly chronological, sometimes overlapping chapters, exploring movements as diverse as Art Nouveau and Brutalism, studying the work of practitioners and pioneers of the discipline such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, and engaging with specific structures, for instance domes, shells and tents or mass housing, in relation to their historical context. It also delves into ways in which ecological concerns and digital innovation have changed the face of the field. This is thorough and lovingly put together, with elucidating images, drawings and contextual analysis, and will be invaluable to professionals, aficionados and amateur enthusiasts of architecture alike.

Kate Simpson

Selina Oakes

Regina Papachlimitzou

The Visual History of Type

Barber Osgerby: Projects

Paul McNeil Laurence King

Jana Scholze Phaidon

Pieter Hugo: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

We’re accustomed to scrolling down the list of typefaces on the font panel of our word processor or design software, making quickfire decisions about whether to use Arial, Helvetica or Times New Roman. Yet every typeface has own aesthetic and sociopolitical history, shaping the way in which texts have been read and disseminated as a whole. This new book, written and designed by Paul McNeil, brings those histories together in one lavish codex, the ultimate typographic manual. The book charts typefaces from the 15th century, designed to imitate script, to contemporary fonts which express a heightened awareness of their history; Doctrine (2013), for instance, references the obsolete long “s” of pre-19th century typefaces, and Korpus (2011) is an homage to printing errors. The organisation of the book initially appears straightforward: ordered chronologically, each page is dominated by a large-scale sample of the typeface, accompanied by a column of text (Times New Roman) providing historical context. However, the most engaging way to read the book is to follow McNeil’s list of “connections” for each entry.

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have worked together for over two decades on a vast range of designs. They are perhaps most popularly known for the Olympic Torch (2012), which receives significant attention in this book. An array of images document the planning, prototype and eventual use of the iconic form: it is shown lit and carried triumphantly. A thoughtful conversation-based piece with Dr Paul Thompson (Royal College of Art) complements the visual form and illuminates key parts of the process. The focus of the volume, though, is much broader, reflecting Barber and Osgerby’s talents. The designers’ own introduction explains the text’s division into three parts, based upon the visual characteristics of their work. The images form a coherent pattern as the volume progresses. Long-read essays are interspersed with the high-quality photographs. The text ends with a useful chronology of key pieces, from 1996 to 2017, with images, a concise introduction and further references, where relevant. This is a beautiful and informative book with much to commend it.

This book is an absolute treasure trove for readers from all walks of life. Showcasing 14 of Pieter Hugo’s collections; it includes subjects that range from wild honey collectors to definitions of home and Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood. It offers a detailed and moving investigation into different people’s lives and presents an alternative depiction of modern Africa, calling into question the power of assumption. The volume also extends beyond his home continent to explore similar concepts in America and Asia. Stunning and completely captivating, the images are intense and commanding. The editors’ introductory text presents a thorough background, contextualising each photograph and giving an insight into Pieter Hugo’s influences and his overall output to date. Each colour plate is packed with a weighted sense of humanity; this collection feels like a vital piece of documentary footage in a world that is too often observed from a marginalised Western European viewpoint.

Matilda Bathurst

Anna Feintuck

Bryony Byrne

Colin Davies Laurence King

Ed. Ralf Beil & Uta Ruhkamp Prestel

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artists’ directory

Image: neg 1504-11, 2017. Colour photograph, 71 x 71in. Edition of 3, 2AP.

TUCK MUNTARBHORN

www.tuckmuntarbhorn.com

Stebuklingas Drugelis. Oil on canvas, 200cm x 150cm.

HAWK ALFREDSON | www.hawkalfredson.com

Image: Becoming a Star, 2016. Permanent paint markers, Japanese sumi, watercolour ink and carving on wood board.

British-Thai Tuck Muntarbhorn is an established artist, curator and contemporary art collector who has been involved in Frieze London 2016. He became Thailand’s first contemporary art collector to produce and curate an art exhibition in the UK. His photographs reflect his belief that “the highest function of an artist is to make the experience of beauty – nature’s eternity – manifest”.

Image: Tyson, 2016. From the Petite Heavyweight series. Acrylic on canvas, 8in x 8in.

MICHAEL WAGNER Michael Wagner is an American portrait artist, who focuses on the concepts of identity and celebrity. Each piece explores the allure of the person behind the composition, delving into wider questions about representation and truth.

www.michaelwagnerfineart.com

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YUKO MIZOBUCHI

www.brain-brunn.com/mizoyuuu_e.html

Image: minimalistic signet ring made of sterling silver.

CHRISTINA PAULS | www.christina-pauls.de

Years of study and training in goldsmithing and textile handicraft have inspired Christina Pauls to combine these forms of design in her art practice. Her resulting feeling of the ‘entanglement’ of these forms fuels her designs in jewellery and textiles work. The objects she designs and produces are always clear, simple and modern.

GINGER GILMOUR Ginger Gilmour is inspired by her spirituality; each artwork presents an experimentation with fluidity, be it through light, colour or form. Her practice revels in ethereality, offering a sense of catharsis through three dimensional shapes. She says: “My work expresses the archetypal power of art to touch the heart and enlighten the spirit through inner beauty”. In celebration of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Gilmour created Swimmer, the piece shown here – a sculptural panel for Lloyds TSB’s Art of Sport. She also sculpted her famous 12-foot piece Flame of the Spirit, which was formerly on display at London’s Heathrow airport.

www.gingerart.net

RUBA BADWAN

Abu Dhabi-born Ruba Badwan majored in Architecture and Interior Design at NYIT. In her abstract paintings, she explores deeply-held emotions, attempting to visually express them on the canvas. Badwan believes that this can lead to a greater awareness of one’s emotions, aiding in the understanding of the self. www.rissab2.wixsite.com/ruba

ANNE HOERTER

Photographer Anne Hoerter has won a number of international awards across a variety of genres, including fine art and advertising. She is fascinated by the examination of new ways to exhibit botanical forms. In her work, she comments on the wider digital world, focusing on how we perceive and reinvent content through the internet.

www.aine-photography.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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artists’ directory

Alastair Becker Alastair Becker founded Papa G Prints to communicate a deep interest in cross-cultural modes of expression. Marrying Japanese calligraphy with traditional western mediums, Becker’s portfolio of fine art prints aims to capture the imagination of the viewer with thought-provoking portrayals of life.

Alejandra Gomez Sarmiento A visual artist based in Barcelona, Gomez Sarmiento’s practice is focused on photographic compositing, video installation and art film. She explores the human condition and how it is affected from a social point of view, whilst using a combination of surrealism and basic geometric forms. www.alejandragomezsarmiento.com Instagram: agomezsarmiento

Image: Double D.

www.papagprints.com

Alex Voinea Alex Voinea’s Shock Value series captures individual universes through the fluidity of materials. Fading backgrounds create depth, embracing a “hyperrealist abstraction” where every splash of colour is identified in high definition. He aims to transport viewers through vibrant and imaginative works. Image: av_365, 2017. Acrylic on linen, 46cm x 38cm.

Shipman will exhibit new works at 54 The Gallery in London, 11-24 September.

Anna-Kajsa Alaoui Anna-Kajsa Alaoui has worked as a professional artist for the last 30 years. Based between Stockholm and Öland, an island in the Baltic Sea, her paintings are deeply influenced by the movement of nature and the shifting landscape. She has exhibited in Sweden and the USA. www.annakajsa.se

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www.alistairtearne.com

www.alexvoinea.com

Andrew Flint Shipman An upbringing in the theatre world has influenced the mystic symbolist work of Andrew Flint Shipman. He paints what he hopes are positive icons, using the power of colour and symbolism of objects to restore balance and encourage the viewer to look beyond the veil of the physical that surrounds and often swamps us. www.andrewflintshipman.com Instagram: @andrewflintdesign

Image: Breaking Up. Oil on canvas, 150cm x 185cm.

Alistair Tearne Oxford-born Alistair Tearne captures a sense of melancholy in his analogue images. The recognition of time passing comes to the fore – nostalgia is visible through the traditional use of film. Tearne is currently working on a short film entitled Nostalgia For Now.

Anita Benjamin Anita Benjamin’s photographic practice explores the importance of place as a dimension of human life and experiences. Her series Familiarity gives an insight into her relationship with the settlements on the remote Falkland Islands, a place in which childhood experiences and memories helped form her identity. www.anitabenjamin.co.uk

Assiya Amini Artist and filmmaker Assiya Amini grew up in Afghanistan, Germany and the UK. She is interested in the impact that the people and places around us have on our lives. Still directly involved in the Afghan diaspora, she sees her art practice as representing the voice of Afghan women, intertwining drawings, moving images, sound and installation. afgartfilmmedia@gmail.com

Image: The Power of HeARTwork, 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 30in x 15in.

Brett Dyer Texas-born Brett Dyer is an art professor and artist. His recent work combines abstract figures with evocative colours and patterns revealing the complexity of the human spirit. Dyer’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking and mixed media. The piece shown here has won the Professional Theme Award at the Irving Arts Center. www.brettleedyer.wixsite.com/artist Instagram: @brettleedyer

Camille Emblem Camille Emblem is an American selftaught contemporary artist currently working in painting and mixed media. Her creative process pulls together a variety of methods, from highly organised sketches to free-flowing brushstrokes. Each piece demonstrates a love for the metaphysical and surreal; she describes her artistic style as “naive abstract expressionism”. www.camilleemblem.com

Daniel Tidbury Graphic designer, photographer and artist Daniel Tidbury works from his studio on the south coast of the UK. His paintings, created using knives and household brushes, evoke a sense of energy, drama and mood. His sea and skyscapes come to life with fast, broad strokes and rich colour. Image: Morning Glory.

Daniel White Daniel White is a fine art and fashion photographer currently based in the UK. His latest fine art project, Stranger in a Strange Land, examines unnatural landscapes of the monumental heaps of material left behind from the industrial age. Walking through the manmade and often unstable land, he marks new pathways with string or salt to record his movements on this barren surface. www.danielwhitephotography.co.uk

www.danieltidbury.co.uk www.facebook.com/tidburyart

Dee Glazer Dee Glazer is a multidisciplinary artist who traverses the line between traditional materials and technology. Using wood, gesso, ink and paint, Glazer reflects on the notion of craftsmanship in each composition, contrasted by the visual depiction of mechanistic structures.

Diana Cosma Diana Cosma is a Romanian-born artist based in Malibu, California. Her practice is deeply rooted in spirituality, acting as an expression of love. She uses crystals for most of her paintings, materials that create shimmering worlds which reflect a perpetually starry night. www.dianacosma.com

www.deeglazer.com Image: Machines are Super Organized.

Ella Husbands Ella Husbands is a Brighton-based artist whose work explores notions of disrupted perception. She combines videos and objects to immerse the viewer in a distorted environment. Her work centres on a sense of movement and pattern, using layers of light and colour and provokes the viewer to think about the relationship between their senses and surroundings. www.ellahusbands.com

Eric Wiles Northern California artist Eric Wiles combines fine art and landscape photography to reveal dynamic images of natural beauty and manmade objects. His contemporary approach has propelled his work to exhibition at the Musée du Louvre, and he was recently nominated for the prestigious 10th annual International Color Awards. www.ew-photo.com Instagram: @eric.wiles.photo

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Gary Plummer Gary Plummer is an Irish artist currently based near the Rocky Mountains in Canada. His work is inspired by his love of the outdoors with a focus on forms and colours that interest him to create mixed media and collage art. He has exhibited in galleries and been published internationally.

Gunilla Daga Stockholm-based Gunilla Daga uses primitive shapes and bold, contrasting colours to produce a naturalised aesthetic. Each piece is an investigation of materiality, achieved though earth tones and delicate forms. www.gunilladaga.se www.circle-arts.com/gunilla-daga

Hanna ten Doornkaat The recent work of Hanna ten Doornkaat is an intersection of drawing and painting. Most of her works operate in a community, informing and reflecting each other. Abstract forms are worked and reworked, creating fragments of something that is no longer there. Her work will be exhibited at the &Gallery in Edinburgh in September. www.tendoornkaat.co.uk Instagram: hannatendoornkaat

Image: The Storm. Acrylic on canvas, 100cm x 150cm.

Jason Clarke Jason Clarke uses art therapy to manage his bipolar disorder. It helps to release the pressure in his head from disturbing voices and visions. Exhibiting his work brings mental health issues to a wider audience; conversations begin and people can open up about their experiences. Better understanding and education can reduce stigma. www.jasonclarke-bipolarart.com Instagram: @bipolar.art

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Image: Catherine, Northern, Irish and Jewish, 2017.

www.garyplummerfineart.com

Joan Andal Romano Toronto-based painter and mixedmedia artist Joan Andal Romano’s works are visual representations of people, places and frozen moments in time. The multicultural mix and rich historical backdrop witnessed in her childhood are her everlasting muses. Romano brings her visions to life using vibrant colours and creative chaos in design, pattern and texture. www.joanromano.weebly.com joanAR@artiststoronto.net

Hannah Rich A recent graduate from the University of Sunderland, the detailed vision of Hannah Rich has led her to a First class honours degree in Illustration and Design. Her Unite This Kingdom project consists of a portrait series which mixes clothing and styles to represent various multi-ethnic identities in the UK. www.hannahrichillustrator.weebly.com

Image: In The City 3. Mixed media on canvas, 12in x 12in.

Joanna Pyrskała The seascapes of Joanna Pyrskała aim to evoke a powerful emotional response from the viewer. From calm to storm, they capture the essence of the sea in all its moods. The striking use of colour, with patches of deep blue and silver, has a strong impact on perception.

Jodie Cooper Recent graduate Jodie Cooper is an emerging fashion photographer influenced by the styles and textures of the 20th century. Each image reflects an investigation into conventional beauty and contemporary realism, providing a fresh, unique vision.

www.pyrskala.wix.com/malarstwo www.facebook.com/pyrskala

www.jodiecooper.org Instagram: @jodiecooperphotos

Image: Celestial Gardens.

Jonas Nemeth Jonas Nemeth’s paintings tell a variety of stories which reflect an autobiographical vision. Inspired by seminal figures such as Francis Bacon and Dante Alighieri, as well as innovators from his native Sweden, each composition communicates a specific emotion, often through an experimentation in oils. www.jonasnemeth75.wixsite.com/konst

Joumana Medlej Joumana Medlej utilises abstraction to evoke universal truths. Free of iconography, the work speaks directly to a sense of wonder and mystery, whilst an architectural quality generates a unique, geometric space. Influenced by Kufic script, each composition balances a sense of the textual and the graphic. www.majnouna.com Instagram: @joumajnouna www.facebook.com/joumajnouna

Karen Lemmert Karen Lemmert is an American artist and architect whose sculptural works involve mechanical orchestration through patterning and sequencing. She creates phenomenological effects through tectonic construction. Her unique approach has garnered her a number of shows, including participation in the last two Venice Architectural Biennales and at various international and regional exhibitions. www.karenlemmert.com

Image: Salish Sea. Photo: Ron Glowen.

Image: The Man Who Lost His Head.

Joey Bradley Interdisciplinary artist Joey Bradley’s passion for tactility is revealed through considered material where the importance of touch controls the direction of his work. He aims to present fetishistic and organically-influenced work as a platform to investigate intangible subject matter through diverse and intricate methodologies. Instagram: @j.bradley.art

www.juliejohnsonart.com | Instagram: @juliejohnsonart www.juliaolsonart.com | Instagram: @juliaolsonart

Julie Johnson As a successful fashion illustrator, Julie Johnson has worked with a number of international brands including Jean Paul Gaultier, Revlon and L’Oréal. Building upon decades of experience in art, fashion and academia, her practice also encompasses painting, which she pursues under the name of Julia Olson. In these works she explores cultures and representations of the body, harnessing bold colour and free-flowing lines.

Karen Thomas Karen Thomas’ series Figurer le Féminin, is based upon random observation, aquaintence, film and fashion editorial. She has shown in numerous exhibitions this year including The Other Art Fair in London and Brooklyn, KÖLNER LISTE and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She will also be at The Other Art Fair Bristol, the Accessible Art Fair in Brussels and Art on a Postcard in London. www.karen-thomas.org

Kathryn Glowen A sense of order, structure and control pervades Kathryn Glowen’s relief collages and assemblagesurfaced sculptures. Her handling of fragmented objects, textures and detritus in the work invites closer inspection. Her themes can be playful and humorous, yet edgy and political. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, USA. kaglowen@earthlink.net

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

Leanne Atkin British artist Leanne Atkin explores photography’s inability to represent the truth, commenting upon a photograph as being only ever an illusion, and challenging visual perception. Her work uses digital manipulation to reveal the artifice of the image, skewing dimension, perspective and space to embrace notions of contemporary Cubism. www.leanneatkin.com Instagram: @leanneatkin

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Loz Taylor Loz Taylor is a contemporary pop artist who specialises in gambling art. He says: “You don’t have to understand odds, chance and risk to ‘get’ my art...but it helps.” Instagram: @storedimages Twitter: @loztaylor Image: Celebrity Crisis.

Image: Amsterdam. Ink drawing.

Megan Douch Megan Douch’s practice builds upon the notions of recollection and interpretation. She explores various ways of developing the same photograph through acrylic paint, inks and acetate. Her current series is inspired by recent travels to a number of locations – including Amsterdam, Venice and New York – documenting layered experiences. meganerin@hotmail.co.uk

Nathan Walker In the Individuality series, Nathan Walker utilises textiles to reflect on his experience with autism, when the world can become overwhelming and frustrating. Fabrics provided by his mother helped him to improve sensory development, and as such, are represented in emotive and poignant photographs. www.walkernathan65.wixsite. com/photography

Maria Emilov Silvestar Maria Emilov Silvestar believes that the creation of art serves to bridge existing language barriers, as well as peeling back the layers of what appears to be familiar. New images can recapture the lost meanings of words, as well as having a range of contemporary resonances on social and aesthetic levels. They help us to develop our knowledge and understanding of the universe. www.mariaemilov.net

Image: from the ongoing My Finlandia series, 2015-2017. Pigment print on paper, 40cm x 60cm.

Image: The Last Ship.

Mirja Paljakka A Finnish fine art photographer, Mirja Paljakka has a background in textile art. Her work is inspired by a love of nature and its spontaneity – each image captures lingering moments that can never be reproduced, offering a personalised perspective of the world around us. In her series My Finlandia, she aims to capture something beyond the landscapes. www.mirjapaljakka.weebly.com

Nic Wickens Interested in the human figure to express open narratives that explore contemporary themes, Nic Wickens favours oil as a medium to depict realms that fall somewhere within realism and abstraction, striving to attain a dialogue of a certain state of consciousness in each painting. Image: Individuality, 2017.

www.nicwickensfineart.com Instagram: @nicwickensfineart

Omar Germain Magaña Flores Mexican artist Omar Magaña creates dynamic compositions that capture a moment between abstraction and figurative narrative. His work is a reimagining of consciousness. In addition to his art practice, Magaña is a trained architect whose projects include residential work and urban planning. Instagram: @omagana.artproject

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Image: EROS, 2017. Acrylic on tarpaulin, 213cm x 183cm.

Image: Liquid10Ne. Oil on panel.

Robert Patrick Robert Patrick’s paintings look at the relationship between time and space through spontaneous forms that reflect the laws of physics. Each piece represents a figurative mapping of the mind through sensory stimuli. www.robertpatrick.org robert-patrick@comcast.net

Sean Hunter A colourful childhood in 1950s London still inspires the work of artist Sean Hunter, who works primarily with molten glass. His artwork revels in materiality – offering a multitude of block-type colours, shapes and textures, reflective of manual craftsmanship and an attention to detail. www.suffolkopenstudios. org/artists/suffolk-coastal/ userprofile/Hunters%20Yard

Sneha Dasgupta Sneha Dasgupta is an illustrator and visual artist from Mumbai. The aim of her work is to evoke and not to dictate. She describes it as eccentric, raw and unfiltered with no pretentions to ideas of maturity. Despite the tools she uses, her art is informed by a profound desire to make the viewer feel or see something they haven’t before. www.behance.net/theinkpot Instagram: @the.inkpot

Stefan Petrunov Stefan Petrunov lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he experiments with expressionism and figurative representation. The resulting paintings depict psychological tensions in the wider notion of humanity. He is a winner of the Barcelona Showcase Best Artist Award. www.stefanpetrunov.com

Sue Currie Living in New Zealand, Sue Currie is an artist influenced by her surrounding landscapes and seascapes, which she expresses on canvas or paper. A graphic design and illustration background was the beginning of her painting career. A wide range of subjects are composed intuitively to purvey mood, time and a sense of place.

Image: Low Cloud, Lake Manapouri . 530mm x 330mm.

www.suecurrie.co.nz

Image: The Dilemma of Choice. Shown in the My Tel Aviv group exhibition in 2017.

Stefanie Pietschmann German documentary photographer Stefanie Pietschmann is currently based in Tel Aviv. Her work aims to counterbalance the social pressure for perfection. Her subjects are items, places and people which appear to be under-represented, but, through her compositions, are given the possibility to be seen. Her work has appeared in numerous exhibitions in Europe and Israel. www.pietschy.de Instagram: @pietschyde

Tamara Stoffers The collage work of Dutch artist Tamara Stoffers focuses on the interconnection of unexpected images. In her Soviet Union series, strange connections seem natural, as they might in one’s own thoughts. The viewer’s imagination can create a narrative to confer meaning on the images, in what the artist sees as a game-like process that reveals subconscious connections. www.tamarastoffers.com

Tatyana Schremko Born in China to Russian-Ukrainian parents, Tatyana Schremko is now based in the USA. Her largescale sculptures evoke the very essence of personality, combining clean lines and abstracted forms. Mediums include bronze, wood and ice. Her work has been collected and exhibited around the world. www.torpedofactory.org/ profile/schremko_t

To be included in the Artists’ Directory contact Katherine Smira on (0044) (0)844 568 2001 or directory@aestheticamagazine.com.

Thomas W Kuppler Thomas W Kuppler’s process of methodological experimentation, exploration and constant questioning of the media is driven by the need to both deconstruct the representational character of a photograph and to expand the conventional limits of form and the dichotomy between the visible and the invisible. www.dadaxus.com info@arttwk.com

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artists’ directory

Tomas Rowell Tomas Rowell has persistently experimented with painting, understanding its ability to confront the physical qualities of art over an external embodiment. In his work is a structure applied through the use of dramatic colours and geometric shapes that implements a sense of harmony through simplicity. www.tomasrowell.co.uk

Trishna Patnaik Trishna Patnaik is a Mumbaibased artist. Her practice involves a contemporary reformation of traditional painting; she works primarily with abstracted concepts, graphic design and portraiture, employing bursts of bold colour whilst exploring the boundaries of lines. tripatnaik@gmail.com Image: Eml.Ol.05.17.

Trygve Skogrand Trygve Skogrand is a postphotographic artist from Norway. In his work he examines themes of human value, meaning and vulnerability – or as in this piece: shame. Skogrand’s works have been published in several books, and exhibited in Norway, Sweden, Italy and the UK. He currently lives and works in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. www.trygveskogrand.com

Vera Kramerova Vera Kramerova is a Czechborn photographer currently living in London. Her images are inspired by the unrealised beauty within the monotony of everyday life experiences. She uses abstract and figurative compositions to layer meaning and emotion onto normal life. www.verakramerova.com

Val Moker Saskatchewan-born Val Moker is deeply influenced by a life on the sweeping Canadian Prairies. She translates a sense of freedom and nostalgia into each of her works, using oil and acrylic to capture an overarching feeling of energy and movement. Image: Phantom Ghost Wind II. Oil on canvas, 40in x 60in.

www.valmoker.com

Wolfgang Lehrner Wolfgang Lehrner’s Metro/Polis series asks the viewer to think beyond the urban condition. Using the topography of Athens, the photographs speak indirectly about the transience of one metropolis in a time of global uncertainty. Image: Untitled. From the Membrane series.

www.metro-polis.city www.wolfganglehrner.com

Yvonne Jones Welsh artist Yvonne Jones examines issues surrounding the body and the wider concept of humanity. Through paintings, video projections and installations, Jones considers the interactions between inner and outer realms and the individualised condition. www.yvonne-jones.net Image: The Dancer (Polykleitos Dreams of Nauman Descending a Staircase), 2017.

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Image: Little Miss Sunshine, 2017. Acrylic and latex on canvas, 24in x 18in.

Zoran Poposki Zoran Poposki (MFA, PhD) is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist based in Hong Kong. He explores cultural translation, liminality, identity and public space through painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, video, performance and publishing. His work has been shown in 70 art fairs, exhibitions and festivals worldwide, including Art Basel Hong Kong and the ICA. www.zoranpoposki.com

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Sylvain Biard, Kotoura, Tottori. Japan, January 2017. www.twennys.com

last words

Sylvain Biard Artist

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This image was taken on my sixth trip to Japan. I wanted to travel alone for at least two months so I rented a minivan and found myself covering 5,000 kilometres. I had already visited the big cities, so this time I lost myself on the roads between Tokyo, Kobe, Tottori and Hiroshima. I drove south, following the coast. Akin to most islanders, the Japanese people lived on their own for a long time and outsiders will never fully understand them. Indeed, foreigners like to think of Japan as a place that brings together antithetical representations of technology and tradition. I went there looking particularly for the imprints of an in-between state. My project is titled SHiMA, the Japanese word for island. It speaks of the frontier along which I drove but it also represents the gap between myself and this ancient, ancestral culture. www.twennys.com.

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