BJP International Photography Award - exhibition

The winners of the 2010 BJP International Photography Award are being exhibited at the AOP Gallery (Association of Photographers) from the 2nd to the 6th November.
The winner of the 'body of work' category is Peter diCampo for his Life Without Lights series:

Peter DiCampo, Lights at the night time market in Gbulung, Ghana.

DiCampo writes about the project on his website:
Year-round in Ghana, the sun sets at 6pm and rises at 6am - thus, the residents of communities lacking electricity live half of their lives in the dark. Over ten years ago, the government of Ghana began a massive campaign to provide the country's rural north with electricity, but the project ceased almost immediately after it began. The work sluggishly resumes during election years, as candidates attempt to garner popularity and votes. But at present, an estimated 73% of villages remain without electricity in the neglected north - an area comprising 40% of the country.

Living without lights is more than just a minor inconvenience. Electricity provides a paramount step on the ladder of economics, and northern villagers know what is being kept from them: lights to study and cook by, machinery and refrigeration, and a standard of living that would attract teachers, nurses, and other civil service workers from the city, not to mention foreign tourists. Potential economic growth is stifled and poverty's cyclical nature is perpetuated...

The winner of the single image category is Michelle Sank for her picture of a sleeping man, an award which has proved to be controversial in the pages of the BJP.

Michelle Sank, Man asleep on the Golden Mile, Durban, South Africa.

Hereford Photography Festival - 2010

Simon Norfolk, Full Spectrum Dominance, 2008
The 20th annual Hereford Photography Festival runs from 29th October through to 27th November. An extensive exhibition programme includes "Twenty", curated by Paul Seawright and featuring photographers who have shown work at the festival over the last 20 years, including, amongst others, Jodi Bieber, Martin Parr, Paul Hill, Rankin, Roger Ballen and Simon Norfolk. See slide shows of images at The Telegraph and The Independent. See the HPF website for full details of all exhibitions and the programme of talks and events.

Landscape Photographer of the Year - 2010

Winter Mist: Corfe Castle, by Antony Spencer: winner of the The Landscape Photographer of the Year, 2010.
See gallery of winning and commended entries here.

Andrew Whitaker, Newcastle and Gateshead Quayside. (Highly commended.)

Damien Hirst and the British Art Show 2010 - on Frontrow

BBC Radio 4's Frontrow broadcast a 'special' on the eve of the opening of the British Art Show 7 in Nottingham. The programme includes an interview with Damien Hirst, reflecting on his generation's approach to success, and comments from current students at Goldsmiths on their prospects. Critics and artists also give their views on the current state of British art. Listen to the programme here.

British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, will be in Nottingham, from 23rd October until 9th January 2011with shows at Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham Castle Museum and New Art Exchange. The exhibitions will then tour to London, Glasgow and Plymouth.

diatribes - Xposed Club, 29th October

Poster by Mark Unsworth.

A new season of Xposed Club events kicks off with diatribes on Friday 29th October in the atrium, Pittville Studios, Cheltenham. diatribes, from Switzerland are 'd'incise' (laptop, objects, treatements) and Cyril Bondi (drums, percussions). On Friday they will be playing with Chris Cundy and Pete Robson and then with the massed ranks of the CIO (Cheltenham Improvisers Orchestra). Expect (according to their website): "magnetic freedom, interaction, intensity and fluctuation, breaths, quiverings, cracklings, bearings, masses, crash, chaos. Sound matter builded, deformed, tears off influence of the reason, imploses and becomes again the dreams behind our eyelids"! Unmissable! (£5.00 (£3.00 concs.) on the door.)

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow - Anselm Kiefer

Premiered at Cannes, Sophie Fiennes' documentary about Anselm Kiefer, Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow, has just been released. Peter Bradshaw's review in The Guardian, is enthusiastic and describes it as a deeply serious meditation on artistic practice and expression. However, don't expect it to be screened at your local multiplex: scheduled UK screenings include Sheffield Doc/Fest (4th November), The Baltic Centre in Newcastle (11th November), The Royal Academy of Arts (15th November), and, the 'local' showing at Bath Film Festival - sometime between 10th and 20th November, actual date to be announced.

Exhibition Roundup - (mid) October

An occasional, and highly selective, pick of current and forthcoming exhibitions. This is a supplement to the previously posted October list (see below).

Susan Derges, Arch 4 (summer), 2007/8
Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography at the V&A (13th October - 20th February 2011). The exhibition features: Floris Neusüss, Pierre Cordier, Susan Derges, Garry Fabian Miller and Adam Fuss - see short videos about their work here. Susan Derges writes about making Arch 4 (summer), (above), in The Guardian's 'My Best Shot', series.

An intriguing work by Christian Marclay is at White Cube (Mason's Yard, 15th October - 13th November): The Clock is a 24 hour video constructed out of thousands of clips from a vast range of films featuring shots of clocks and watches so that the narrative flows in real time and the film always shows the correct time! See here for more detail.

At the Hayward Gallery, Move: Choreographing You: Art & Dance (13th October- 9th January, 2011) explores the place of dance in art since the 1960s. See Judith Mackarell's article in The Guardian: How the 60s New York arts scene revolutionised dance.
Robert Morris, Body Space Motion Things, 1973

Gagosian is showing James Turrell at its Britannia Street gallery (13th October - 10th December) which features a work called Bindu Shards, described by the gallery as "a fully immersive visual and auditory work to be experienced by one person at a time". At the Davies Street gallery Gagosian is showing new paintings by Damien Hirst: Poisons + Remedies (11th October - 20th November).
Damien Hirst, These Days (detail), 2008/9

Marina Abramović, a key figure in the story of performance art, is the subject of an exhibition at the Lisson Gallery (13th October - 13th November). The exhibtion will include both a survey of her Rhythm series of performances, dating back to the 1970s and recent work.
Marina Abramović, Rhythm 10, 1973