breathingin

Time to breath in – in between meetings - some galleries in London. Anne Imhof has a gloriously cold installation throughout all 4 floors at Spruce Magers, specially loved the scratched glass panels. Veronica Ryan's thoughtful assemblies at Alison Jacques got me thinking about the cultural appropriation of materials. What is it to work with the idea of otherness in found materials? Pi works has by Fabio Lattanzi Antinori commenting on the unicorn business world of hyper capitalism using the media utilized by the very systems commented on. David Altmejd at white cube has created a gloriously nightmarish cast of characters who look as if created through physically photoshopping material. Cecilia Vicuna's installation at Tate Modern is a little like a tatty version of a school Halloween display who have been working on the theme of dream catchers. At least I got out of the rain and got to see Grass Breathing by Ana Mendirta. Whitechapel gallery has a mini archive show of live art in London Institutions - I loved a video by Louis Keidan of LADA talking - "we don't publish for money we publish for history".  "Thatcher's version of society didn't include anybody who was interesting. There is a great photo of La Ribot with a chair from a performance that has pride of place on a wall in our house! The work of Zadie Xa straddles the worlds of fashion and installation. Nevins Mahmoud's practice of recreating kids’ plastic toys in stone is an interesting one and as ever the work at Soft Opening looks hyper professional. There is great project at the museum of the home by Kadir Kara baba called One Song. Women born in another country but who live in London singing a song that reminds them of home. The videos have them waiting and then singing, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes on their own. The Korean Centre has a mixed show - the work by Ya Wen Fu that sets out to destroy itself sets up an interesting dialogue that is continued in the dance/performance piece. Onto screens - Armageddon Time was sweet but slightly underwhelming. Black Adam had lots of special effects, lots.