The Athens Video Art Festival returns for the 9th edition of the International Festival of Digital Arts & New Media. Running 7 until 9 June, exhibitions, screenings, workshops and performances will be hosted at the Historical Centre of Athens, opening a dialogue between public and private space.
Tate Liverpool is 25
Since 1988, Tate Liverpool has been the home of some of the world’s most important art works and attracted 15 million visitors. Opening its doors on 24 May, 1988, the gallery has become the most visited venue for modern and contemporary art outside of London. The gallery has already received several birthday wishes in the form of postcards, letters, emails and artworks, from Wayne Hemingway, Anthony McCall, Yoko Ono, Ed Ruscha, Bob and Roberta Smith, Zarina Bhimji and Colin Self. From 17 May until 2 June, Tate Liverpool will be celebrating in style with a specially curated exhibition entitled Tate Liverpool is 25.
PUNK: Chaos to Couture, New York
The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, open PUNK: Chaos to Couture this May. Running 9 May until 14 August, the exhibition collates one of the most significant and political forms of fashion as it explores punk’s influence on high fashion. Beginning at the birth of punk in the 1970s, PUNK: Chaos to Couture spans the transformation of the movement, concluding with its resonating impact today.
One Month Left to Enter the Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2013
There is just one month to go before the submission deadline for the Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2013 (ASFF). Enter your film by 31 May and screen your work in an impressive setting to an international audience and be in with the chance of wining a cash prize. ASFF allows for both budding and established filmmakers to connect with new, worldwide audiences and interact with some of the biggest personalities in the film industry today. High profile ASFF attendees in 2012 included representatives from Warp, BAFTA, Channel 4 and Raindance. Over 200 films will be screened at this unique event, in 15 iconic locations across the historic city of York in the UK from 7-10 November 2013.
Bella Kerr: Keeper at Mission Gallery in Swansea
The traditional white cube gallery space comes with a cultural set of definitions and rules, it’s a set interaction between viewer and art object, with the object presented for the viewer to contemplate, there is a predetermined level of participation, which often makes it hard to negotiate, both from the experienced and casual gallery visitor. Keeper(s) investigates the gallery space, the role of the artist and the participation of the viewer. When we enter the space we are given the opportunity to interact, with the exhibition becoming a malleable object which shifts and changes with each encounter.
Review of Bowie Is, London
When an important, popular figure dies, fans seem to need more than their legacy – more than their work – to remember them by, to cling to them through. Physical mementoes, objects – things which that specific person touched, used, loved – are obsessed over; particles of skin and saliva on a napkin George Harrison used take on strange importance. Voyeurism and celebrity obsession have grown to a point now where people are paying up to $15,000 for a pair of stained underpants worn by Elvis Presley, a rumoured million for a pair of John Lennon’s glasses, and, perhaps most bizarrely, $45,000 for a set of three X-rays of Marilyn Monroe’s chest. However, this strange obsession we seem to have with the physical remnants left in the wake of our popular icons can be traced back a surprisingly long way. Darwin’s beard, for example, Abraham Lincoln’s hair and even Galileo’s finger have survived decomposition and remain, today, preserved behind glass for us all to gawk at.
Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography
Diffusion: Cardiff International Festival of Photography is a city-wide event, featuring exhibitions, screenings, performances and events showcasing outstanding photographic work from around the world, and providing a major new platform for Welsh artists. Hosted by Ffotogallery, the month long celebration (1 – 31 May) of photography includes highlights such as the world premiere of award-winning filmmaker Gideon Koppel’s B O R T H and Lure, a major exhibition of new work by Helen Sear, another of Wales’ most important and insightful artists.
Art Monaco this Weekend
Uniting international art under one roof, Art Monaco opens today. Offering more flexibility to their audiences they present a show in Barranquilla, Columbia simultaneously and launch a digital event online. For their fourth edition, Art Monaco hosts a special four day event in The Grimaldi Forum, one of the most prestigious convention centres in Europe. Adding to the wonderful venue itself, the event exhibits some of the most sought out and distinctive pieces of art, undoubtedly complimented by the beauty and breathtaking scenes that the Principality of Monaco is so well known for.
Turner Prize Shortlist Announced
The four artists handpicked by Tate Britain shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2013 have been announced this morning. The artists are (in alphabetical order): Laure Prouvost, Tino Sehgal, David Shrigley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. This year the exhibition will be held at Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry as part of the UK City of Culture 2013 from 23 October until 2 December. The winner will be announced in an awards ceremony on 2 December.
The Other Art Fair, London
The Spring edition of The Other Art Fair is here. Running 25 – 28 April, the fair is an artist-led event, designed to give artists the opportunity to curate individual stands from which to directly sell their work to the public. This approach allows creatives, art-lovers and buyers to communicate and forge lasting relationships that serve to benefit the artist and the collector. The fair has quickly gained a reputation as one of the best locations for collectors to find undiscovered talent who are yet to gain gallery representation. Using a selection committee of industry experts, the 100 participating artists are handpicked to showcase the best emerging talent globally.
Interview with Performance Artist, Ellie Harrison
Artist Ellie Harrison opens her installation, Rage Receptacle, tomorrow in Leeds. Running until 27 April the outdoor project is part of Transform my Leeds and will give participants a chance to let off some steam. The Leeds-based artist constructs a temporary, interactive booth that questions how, when and why we encounter anger in our daily lives. Through a sequence of games, tasks and activities – Harrison invites the public to decide on how best to express frustration. This standalone piece is part four of Harrison’s The Grief Series which examines the 7 stages of mourning. This work is in collaboration with Paula Chambers and Bethany Wells and Harrison speaks to us about her work with grief and the audience. She is also hosting an artists’ talk The Making Of The Rage Receptacle on 19 April at 6pm at West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Interview with Adam Carreé, Lighting Designer for Sadler’s Wells’ New Production Puz/zle
Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s new work, Puz/zle has its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells on 24 & 25 April. One of Europe’s most exciting and prolific choreographers, Cherkaoui has made more than 20 shows, including zero degrees (2005, with Akram Khan, Antony Gormley and Nitin Sawhney), TeZukA (2011, based on the iconic work of manga artist Osamu Tezuka), and the award-winning Babel (2010) and Sutra (2008). Puz/zle is a Sadler’s Wells co-production with Cherkaoui’s company, Eastman. The work questions the seeming importance of order and linearity, and explores whether there is more than one way of solving a puzzle, telling a tale and simply living. Working closely with past musical collaborators – Corsican polyphonic group A Filetta, Lebanese singer Fadia Tomb El-Hage and Japanese musician Kazunari Abe – Cherkaoui dissects the form of composition and identifies the various themes that can shape a song.