Previous Issues
About Article
Stockists
Article Shoppe
Press
Advertise
Connect
At Manchester Art Galleries until January 30 is the solo show from artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer consisting of his electronic artworks which cannot exist without your input. Their interaction with you is memorised, going so far as to detect your heart rate and exploit it as a base rhythm for the 100 flashing light bulbs of installation ‘Pulse Room’. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is the Mexican-Canadian world renowned electronic artist who invites participation in his work. He uses materials such as cell phone interfaces, robots and ultrasonic sensors and works at some point between architecture, performance and sculpture to examine how perception and deception control our urban existence. Read more ⇒
S1 Artspace was established 15 years ago as the main artist-led organisation in Sheffield and is now a marked leader in the contemporary art scene of the city. It has offered studio spaces to artists and has remained consciously outward looking through its public exhibitions, screenings, discussions and by operating in broad support of artistic development. Artists’ residencies have included the exciting modernist duo Pil and Galia Kollectiv and audio visual artist Haroon Mirza, and many spectacular exhibitions are in the S1 archive such as Haegue Yang’s solo show (within Art Sheffield) earlier this year. Lest we forget, S1 has hosted some of Sheffield’s most entertaining and must-attend parties!
In anticipation of S1’s re-launch in brand new premises with a new exhibition to celebrate their progress and achievements so far, we spoke to their curator (and leading light) Louise Hutchinson about the hopeful future this unfolds for both the artist-led organisation and for Sheffield’s art scene.
Haroon Mirza nominated for the Northern Art Prize
Its November, its colder than it should be, and if you are as lucky as this editor, your boiler is broken. Fortunately galleries are surprisingly good places to keep warm. Here is our November round up of some exhibitions and arty things worth looking at.
Here is a selection of this issue’s book reviews.
Faile: Prints and Originals 1999-2009
An interview filmed and left in a drawer for over two decades of seminal artist Jean-Michel Basquiat serves as the basis for this feature length portrait of the artist. Jean-Michel Basquiat: the Radiant Child by Tamra Davis chronicles the rise and tragic end of one of the most fascinating artists of the twentieth century.We managed to interview director Tamra Davis at this years Sheffield Doc Fest.
Tamra Davis, the first question that comes to mind after watching your documentary was if this film was intended to map out Basquiat’s later years (had he lived longer) or was it always going to be a snapshot in time?
I wanted the film to be about his art and not so much about his personal life and family. I wanted to introduce him in the film the same time henwas introduced into the ny scene. The film starts as he arrives in NYC. It was this 7-8 years that he produced his body of work
This friday night sees two very good DIY shows taking place in Sheffield. First up is Technical Silence - An Exhibition of Works by Ivan Rabodzeenko.
An exhibition of painted works within an environment of technical grid geometry and programmed sound: Technical Silenceis an intimate installation, exploring sensory perception as over-fed in the social and physical realms of everyday lives. Graffiti and oil techniques are merged to create works that are self-conscious products of synthetic culture. The images incorporate twisted rigid geometries and strange Burroughs-esq characters inhabiting pseudo-surreal coloured landscapes. Their display is accompanied by the sound of ambient post-dubstep composed by Volk.
Ivan Rabodzeenko is in his fourth year at the University of Sheffield studying architecture and engineering. He frequently paints at live art events and makes posters and flyers for various nights. He also, writes and designs for us at Article Magazine. We like him.
Second is Prism. This night is a stalwart on the Sheffield scene for anyone young and arty. Held sporadically in different locations with a pop up bar, occasional live bands, djs, oh and art, how could it not be trendy? But really, its good too.
It’s gonna be an arty week on the Article blog, there’s stuff going up and down all of the place, and it all needs talking about! So this week, art. Next week the new issue is out and we’ll just be talking about that! Right now, point all telescopes at Nottingham for the BAS and Sideshow exhibitions!
“In the Days of Comet” is a science fiction novel by H.G.Wells, published in 1904, which tells of a society torn apart through poverty and corruption. A comet breaks through the ozone and enters the world’s atmosphere, gassing the entire population and sending all to sleep. Eventually people wake from the haze, but instead of all the depravity each person has a new found clarity and lust for life.
If only things were so easy! The next exhibition landing at Nottingham Contemporary this month bears the title ‘In the Days of Comet’, and it is The British Art Show, so we are naturally geared up for something apocalyptic. In reference to the comet as ‘harbinger of change’, will the show awaken us to the most crucial contemporary art of now?
‘British Art Show 7 highlights how artists today explore historical episodes that shape our experience of the present and anticipation of the future’.
This 7th reincarnation of the major exhibition by the Hayward Touring, curated by Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton, will present 39 notable British artists and their works in film, painting, drawing, sculpture, installation and performance. This looks set to be an appropriately spectacular showcase - ‘In the Days of Comet’ at Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham Castle and New Art Exchange, 23 Oct 2010 - 09 Jan 2011.
Similarities between the British Art Show and the epic comet in Wells’ story are apparent, so perhaps the gases trailing the comet which miraculously invade and remedy the minds of people can be recognised in Nottingham’s Sideshow.
Sideshow is a city-wide exhibition now making its second appearance in Nottingham and it will be visible for much of the duration of the British Art Show (must stop the metaphors!). Sideshow itself proclaims to be so much more than a side serving of an art show, but a central event encompassing something different to the British Art Show. In contrast it represents the artist-led sector of Nottingham, the independent, do-it-yourself approach that its contemporary art network is so known for. It seems just right that the presence of this major exhibition has again sparked a series of events, exhibitions and performances under the Sideshow name.
Tomorrow night sees the Rex N Rob Exhibition open up at Sheffield’s Archipelago Works. The show will feature fresh screenprints and original paintings on bits of urban flotsam and jetsam. Entry is free, and if you’ve never been inside the Archipelago works, its an ancient electro-plating works well worth a poke around, especially with a beer in your hand. The exhibition ends on the 30th of October. Read more ⇒