An occasional, and highly selective, pick of current and forthcoming exhibitions.
Page from the original catalogue for This Is Tomorrow, 1956
In 1956 the Whitechapel Gallery presented the seminal exhibition This Is Tomorrow, organised by the Independent Group, which, arguably, kicked off Pop Art. This month (from 9th September until 6th March 2011) the gallery revisits that exhibition. No doubt, Richard Hamilton's collage Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing?, will be featured - but will Robby the Robot be there?
Left, Richard Hamilton, Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing? as it appeared in the 1956 catalogue, right, Robby the Robot (star of Forbidden Planet, 1956) making his appearance at This is Tomorrow.
Eadweard Muybridge: The Photographer Who Proved Horses Could Fly is at Tate Britain from 8th September until 16th January, 2011. (See articles in Guardian, by Rebecca Solnit: Eadweard Muybridge: Feet off the Ground and Peter Conrad: Eadweard Muybridge: Pioneer Photographer)
Eadweard Muybridge, Lantern Slide EM8129 ‘Horse and Cart’, 1877 (From The Muybridge Collection, The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.
Also at Tate Britain, Fiona Banner's installation of 2 jet fighters (see also earlier entry, below) continues until 3rd January, 2011.
In what might prove to be an interesting and perhaps poignant counterpoint to Banner's fighters, Jeremy Deller's installation of a bomb blasted car, Baghdad, 5th March, 2007, goes on display at The Imperial War Museum from September 9th.
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Left , Fiona Banner, Harrier, 2010, right Jeremy Deller, Baghdad, 5 March 2007. Images from Tate Gallery and Imperial War Museum respectively.
At Tate Modern, there is the last chance to catch Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera (closes 3rd October), (see review in The Guardian and feature by Blake Morrison), and at Nottingham Contemporary, Diane Arbus also continues until 3rd October. The exhibition of 69 photographs by Arbus is one of the first showings of Anthony d’Offay’s remarkable gift to the nation of 'Artist Rooms'.
Diane Arbus, Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C., 1962
Gagosian Gallery (Davies St.) presents new work by Rachel Whiteread (7th Sept. - 2nd Oct.), which is complemented by an exhibition of her drawings at Tate Britain (8th Sept. - 16 Jan., 2011) (see reviews by Adrian Searle and Laura Cumming).
White Cube (Mason's Yard) is showing Darren Almond: The Principle of Moments and Sadie Coles HQ is showing Gregor Schneider: Fotografie und Skulptur (until 2nd Oct.).
The Liverpool Biennial kicks off on 18th September and runs to 28th November.
Finally, Andrew Stonyer (Professor of Fine Art, University of Gloucestershire) is showing his Audio Kinetic Solar Sculpture at Fermynwoods Contemporary Art in Northamptonshire, until 26th September. The piece is described on the Gallery’s website, as follows: this innovative installation is suspended within the central point from the branches of three alder trees… The work … responds to changes in sunlight and to the daily cycle of the sun. Sound & movement are produced by the actions of plectrums positioned on circular disks, which are rotated over wire strings via low-voltage power generated from solar photocells in the tree canopy. The plectrums’ speeds vary according to the intensity of the sunlight, altering the sound; the piece literally orchestrates the shifts in light like a ‘solar Aeolian harp’.
