After Ron Athey's show at Norwich Arts Center I'm ready for a 'breathing in' day in London - time to check out a few spaces
on the way to a night out in Peckham. 180
The Strand has United Visual Artists
doing their thing with lights, lazers and smoke, which is good but in the
same building is Transformer a rebirth
of wonder - a huge sprawling, mixed show throughout the building,
transforming a range of spaces but always giving the viewer a sense of
discovering the bowels of the building. Doug
Aitken’s room is a stand out piece, truly mesmerising - 3 projections in a
room of mirrors play with the mobile phone and its associated imagery. Jenn Nkiru’s film Rebirth stunning - great music and editing - her presentation of a
black experience is outstanding. Danh Vo
at Marion Goodman looks
straightforward enough but has many surprises, it’s simplicity belies many
possible narratives and references so much - my school woodworking bench
created in hard wood was a surprising 'time-travel' revelation. Frith street Gallery has some beautiful
images of archives by Dayanita Singh
within some interesting structures. Mark
Lecky’s homage to youth culture continues under a bridge at Tate Britain - it’s important to see
the whole cycle of the work so give yourself time - it’s worth it. Jonah
Freeman and Justin Lowe at Marlborough is a bit like a post
apocalyptic, sci-art, psychedelic Mike Nelson - it fills and occupies the
numerous rooms throughout the 4 floors of the building - unsure what it was
about but it was most enjoyable. Damien
Hirst at Whitecube was a little
like expensive interior design - pretty but lacking in context or meaning - the
sort of art the Roy family might buy - reference to Succession.
Shobana Jeyasingh Dance's Staging
Schiele at
the dance house in Ipswich was a mixed bag - somewhat over staged with a
range of visual languages that clashed and seemed to make little sense - but
the dance itself was dark and thrilling - some superbly challenging movements
and great costumes that seemed to bring to life the fluid and transparent
nature of Egon Schiele's paintings.
