Test Lab this evening at V2 in Rotterdam, with demonstrations of 4 projects from artists who’ve been working there over the summer. I’m interested to see how the mix between demonstration/exhibition/talk format works. The Lab will be streamed live on V2 website, if it’s a good stream I definitely recommend watching as I suspect the projects will be both progressive and antagonistic. Review to follow!
The National Design Triennial entitled ‘Why Design Now’ is currently taking place at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.
Silent Witnesses: Graphic Novels Without Words
Curated by Darren Diss
Venue: Danes Terrace, Lincoln
29 May 2010 to 30 Aug 2010
Admission price: free
This exhibition brings together the work of internationally recognised artists and illustrators from around the world working in Graphic Novel form. Spanning publications from the early twentieth century to the present day, the works contained in the exhibition are distinct in that all use the capacity of images alone to communicate narrative, functioning entirely without the use of text.
The exhibition celebrates the book form and in particular the Graphic Novel as an increasingly popular medium for artists and explores its enduring appeal to readers of all ages. By focussing on works without text it examines the underlying structure and mechanics of developing a Graphic Novel, exposing it as a unique art form. It looks at the Novel in the true sense, as an extended sequence conveying a narrative. The show includes preparation and working drawings, writings, flat plans, sketch books and character studies and associated works alongside complete book-works to reveal the various developmental stages in creating a Graphic Novel.
The exhibition combines works from a wide range of cultural contexts, from modern popular Graphic Novels, with scratchboard images by Eric Drooker produced for his novel ‘Flood’, to woodcuts by Frans Masereel for his his 1925 work ‘Die Stadt’, to original drawings by Sara Varon for her well loved books, ‘Sweater Weather’, ‘Robo and Hund’ and ‘Chicken and Cat’. Also in the show will be a large scale flat-print version of ‘A-Z’ by Lars Arrhenius, a novel produced on the iconic A-Z map of London. Shown in print form it allows the viewer to scan the intersecting narratives sewn through the map in a single image, creating ever new readings.
Works for the exhibition have been loaned to The Collection from the British Museum, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Klinspor Museum, Offenbach, Scott Eder Gallery, New York, and from the exhibiting artists.
The show’s curator, Darren Diss, is an established illustrator and Senior Lecturer in Illustration at The University of Lincoln. He has a specialist academic research interest in Textless Narratives.
Definitely head over to the Glue Factory for MFA degree show, some great work in an unusual venue (which I gather wasn’t their original choice but there is some comments about that on their blog.) I haven’t been to the CCA yet for the other part but I’m interested to see the difference in the work between venues. I particularly liked Emily Donnini’s sound installation which had me walking round in circles to the amusement of the invigilator.
Anyway, second and hopefully less shallow post to follow…
Glasgow based creative agency small-media-large are hosting space made live – a visual artists take over of a Category A listed building as part of the West End Festival.
A call for submissions is currently underway. If you are interested in exhibiting and would like to know more about the project, visit http://www.small-media-large.com/space-made-live.
ARTIST ROOMS On Tour is a partnership between The Art Fund and the Scottish Government. ARTIST ROOMS includes an impressive selection of 232 works which span Warhol’s entire oeuvre, and reflect his eclectic career and vibrant personality.
ARTIST ROOMS in Perth will feature 67 selected works from this collection including Warhol’s early drawings, stitched photographs, prints and posters. The themes in the exhibition will look at film, fashion and photography. The display will also include a large number of self portraits.
The exhibition will be at Perth Museum and Art Gallery from 17 April to 23 October 2010.
(image ©: Melanie Bonajo)
Some recent trips, rounded up:
Berlin, hosted by baxpax kreuzberg:
The moral of the story is don’t take pictures at 5 in the morning. The motto of the story is a very good bookshop, making an exhibition of itself, and Yale. Do you read me ?! You might now be too late to visit the kiosk, but we also visited Node, Berlin Haushoch and Carolin Kurz. Many thanks to them for their generous hospitality. The Bauhaus isn’t open on tuesdays it transpires, (but it is on wednesdays).
The thing linking Rotterdam and Berlin is that they’re both full of Kunst.
A compelling if slightly strange city, permanently grey and very modern/corporate/industrial. The biggest port in Europe by a long stretch, Portscapes was an exhibition at museum boijmans van beuningen, reflecting on this expansion, featuring Glasgow artist Ilana Halperin amongst others. Fucking Good Art. Another great exhibition and venue: Quickscan at the Dutch National Photographic Museum. Diverse and exhilarating. Included Melanie Bonajo (image above), Club Donny and many more. Track down the accompanying publication if you can (or lend it from me).
And Max, this is because I feel bad about putting that video up, even though you do rock the shop:
Visual Communication, Class of ‘03, Rotterdam 2010 (biker names, left to right: Joomla, Dreamweaver, Firefox, Drupal, Flash)
Vis Com alumni and illustrator Emily Chappell has an exhibition entitled ‘he sleeps with the fishes’ opening at the Tron Glasgow on Monday 1st March.
Monday 25th Jan, 17:00 hrs, the Work in Progress Show doth commence. All welcome.
If you’re in London before April, decode at the V&A would be worth a look.
Notification about the first talk of this term, Colin Gray. This one is going feral as we hit the streets and head downtown to Streetlevel photoworks on King St where Colin currently has an exhibition. That was an odd sentence.
Meet outside the foulis at 3:15pm on Fri 15th Jan.
Many posts on manystuff.org about the RCA work-in-progress show.
David Kerr (see vis com people, right) sent in the following as possible upcoming things of interest, over the next few weeks/months/years:
The first is this citizenship Pub Quiz.
the rest are:
Kuti Kuti:
A free Comics anthology published by a comics collective in Finland. Newspaper format full colour.
Comica Festival:
Opening this week in London
Fumetto Comics Competition:
Each year, Fumetto – International Comix-Festival Lucerne holds a competition to give comic creators the opportunity to compare their work, present it to a broader public and to exchange views with others.
Paul Jenkins digests the Typographica exhibition at Kemistry Gallery, mentioned here a few posts ago.
Quick reminder about the talks and events as part of ‘In Search of Space’ at Streetlevel. There’s also a display of some covers of the International Times, linked to this exhibition, in the window of our studio on King St, opposite 13th Note.
Central Station, (a community for art, film and design), launches (in beta, but aren’t we all) today. Log-on, look around, sign-up, tune-out. GSA Visual Communication is on there, so you could even become friends with the course.
More interesting Edinburgh Festival activities here. Also free.
As part of London Design Festival, The Wapping project has curated an installation of live studios installed in the Boiler House and Coal Store of the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station and a series of talks about the process of design. It’s named ‘Design is Simply Complex’, featuring Ally Capellino, Blue Print magazine, Tracey Neuls and Van Der Meersch & Weston. Click the image above for the details or visit www.thewappingproject.com
It’s on from the private view on September 3rd until the 27th at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, Wapping Wall, London, E1W 3SG.
On August 31st, the exhibition Milton Glaser’s SVA: A Legacy of Graphic Design opens at the Visual Arts Gallery, and runs through September 26th. Curated by Steven Heller, co-chair of the MFA Design Department, and Mirko Ilic, faculty member in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department, the retrospective presents graphic works created by the legendary designer since he joined the faculty in 1960. Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26 Street, 15th floor, New York, NY 10001
You may have heard about the recent funding problems at The Lighthouse. The Lighthouse—Renewed is a place for constructive ideas for a renewed centre of Architecture + Design.
The Magazine Ning
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