Doug Jones’s new series of work revolve around issues of equality, accessibility and availability. Through the media of video, installation, needlepoint embroidery and quilt-making, Jones’ show Caeteris Paribus (everything else being equal) weaves together experiences of personal failure of involvement in public events, irreverent comments on British heritage production and observations on ubiquitous patterns of restriction inscribed in the social arena by legislative mechanisms and police jurisdiction.
I Can’t Go On. I’ll Go On | Ursula Burke | PS2 Project Space | Belfast
Text by Angela Darby
The PS² in Belfast is a gallery dedicated to platforming projects and exhibitions of an experimental socio-political nature. Through this open-ended approach the curator, Peter Mutschler and curatorial adviser Ruth Morrow have attracted a high standard of proposals to the gallery’s program. The current exhibition by renowned artist, Ursula Burke I can’t go on. I’ll go on confirms their vision.
Expanded Self-Portraiture | This Unfolds | Ffotogallery | Cardiff
Text by Luke Healey
This Unfolds is a significant milestone in Ffotogallery’s Wish You Were Here program, which sees them oscillating between their HQ at Penarth’s Turner House and Cardiff’s Dairy, as part of a space-sharing arrangement with the temporarily homeless g39. Featuring 7 Welsh-resident photographic artists, many of them fairly recently graduated, the show undertakes to examine an approach to lens-based practice situated around ideas of narrative, duration and what the curator, Leela Clarke, refers to as ‘a kind of expanded self-portraiture’.
Alternative Delights | Branchage Film Festival | Various Locations | Jersey | 22-25 September
If you’ve got a boat it is feasible to sail across to France for dinner and be back in time for supper. For those of us that don’t there’s another reason to visit Jersey at this time of year; Branchage Film Festival.
Last Chance To See | Compulsive, Obsessive, Repetitive | Towner | Eastbourne
Seven artists – Susie MacMurray, Brendan Jamison, Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, Jill Townsley, Claire Morgan and the duo Henry Seaton have been asked to produce work that challenges the commonly considered belief that repetition is purely a means to an end or a device. Here repetition opens up debates about authorship, failure through repetition and the role of labour.
Maybe We’ll Be Soldiers | Gawain Barnard | Ffotogallery | Cardiff
This summer, Ffotogallery turns the spotlight onto new photographic and lens-based media work in Wales. In a series of exhibitions and events across two spaces, the main gallery in Turner House, Penarth and The Dairy in Cardiff, an off-site venue, Wish You Were Here is dedicated to nurturing and foregrounding emerging artists in Wales. The season reflects the concerns – social, conceptual and technical – of a new generation of photographic artists. Whether challenging cultural stereotypes of offering glimpses into unseen worlds, the artists offer fresh perspectives on photography whilst exploring the expressive potential of the medium. The latest solo exhibition in this series sees Cardiff-based artist, Gawain Barnard present Maybe We’ll Be Soldiers at The Dairy in Cardiff.
Out of the Dark Room | PhotoIreland 2011 | Various Locations | Dublin
Text by Rosa Abbott
Following on from thesuccess of last year’s inaugural edition, the PhotoIreland Festival returned toDublin in 2011 with a bolstered programme and the duration doubled from twoweeks to a month. The festival seeks to promote photography from all levels, withparticipating artists ranging from internationally respected photographers tonew graduates and amateurs – perhaps the most egalitarian event being theun-curated was Homeless Gallery, in which would-be photographers are given theopportunity present their work wherever they see fit in a sizable exhibitionspace with no gallery fees. The result of this all-encompassing approach is afestival programme that is difficult to navigate for the sheer volume ofevents. There are far worse complaints that could be made about a festival,however – especially considering that even some of the smallest, leastpublicised exhibitions I’ve attended were of a high standard. The gap inquality between the big names and the emerging artists being satisfyinglysmall.
Opens Today | Briefly Yours | Maria & Natalia Petschatnikov | WAGNER + PARTNER | Berlin
There are some things we only own for a while, without even noticing it. Following on from the acclaimed installation Sidewalk (2009) WAGNER + PARTNER is proud to present the latest exhibition from Maria & Natalia Petschatnikov Briefly Yours. The exhibition connects paintings and objects from three of the Petschatnikovs most recent series, all which subtly investigate the notion of possession and ownership. As so often in their work it is the banal everyday things that are artistically explored and viewed from new angles.
Shift | The Arts University College Bournemouth Postgraduate Show Opens Today
Opening today, the highly anticipated Arts University College at Bournemouth postgraduate show features graduates from fine art, photography, graphic design, and many more, runs until the 8 September. The exhibition, entitled Shift, reflects the interdisciplinary nature of postgraduate study and represents the culmination of a meaningful, transformative and personal journey for the students involved.
The Fragile Beauty of Existence | Mathilde Rosier: Necklace of Fake Teeth | Camden Arts Centre | London
Text by Matt Swain
Camden Arts Centre hosts the first solo exhibition in the UK by French artist Mathilde Rosier (b. 1973). Renowned for creating visual embodiments of dreamlike objects and haunting animal presences, here Rosier creates atmospheric environments drawing on her interest in ancient rites and rituals. The gallery is transformed into a series of rooms, containing paintings, sculptural assemblages and film, representing the journey between conscious and unconscious states.