London’s Must-See Art, Culture & Design Events This October

Following an extraordinarily busy month of fashion, design and architecture events, October brings an onslaught of art, commencing with Art Licks Weekend and Frieze, alongside a barrage of promising new exhibitions opening at galleries and museums across the city. Film too takes priority this month, with a total of 193 fiction and 52 documentary features, as well as 144 short films, screening during the 60th BFI London Film Festival. Something Curated rounds up the best cultural activities taking place in October, spanning art and design, literature, theatre and film.

 

ART

Art Licks Weekend 2016
Various Locations 
30 September – 2 October 2016

Back for its fourth year, the annual Art Licks Weekend, organised by Holly Willats, Lily Hall and Jen Aarvold, celebrates the contribution that emerging artists and grassroots projects make to the cultural life of London. For this three-day festival, artist-run projects, curatorial collectives and young galleries across the city open up their spaces for the public, with free events and exhibitions of young artists’ work. The festival presents the work of early career artists and collectives who are rethinking how art can be seen and experienced. This unique situation provides a fantastic opportunity for you to see the new work of artists in exceptional circumstances that are both fun and challenging.

 

Cindy Sherman and David Salle: History Portraits and Tapestry Paintings
Skarstedt Gallery  
1 October – 26 November 2016

Skarstedt, founded in 1994 by Per Skarstedt, announced the opening of its new London gallery at 8 Bennet Street, St James’s earlier this year. A joint exhibition of Cindy Sherman’s History Portraits (1988 – 1990) and David Salle’s Tapestry Paintings (1989 – 1991) will inaugurate the new space. Designed by Thomas Croft Architects, the new gallery benefits from 5,000 square feet in this historic quarter, enabling Skarstedt to continue its programme of historical exhibitions. Dominant figures in contemporary art, both Cindy Sherman and David Salle were key figures in the influential ‘Pictures Generation’ art movement of the mid 1970s and 80s in New York. Positioning both these bodies of work in dialogue, the exhibition explores the shared visual strategies and the performative aspects intrinsic to the artists’ work.

 

James Richards and Leslie Thornton: CROSSING 
Rodeo Gallery 
1 October – 5 November 2016

Crossing is a video by Leslie Thornton and James Richards, and was originally triggered by the artists’ interests in each other’s practices as they developed a cinema project at the Walker Art Center. The work’s title makes reference not only to Bruce Conner’s iconoclastic 35mm film work that documents the Bikini Atoll nuclear bomb tests, but also the process through which Thornton and Richards collaborated. Full of overlays and sutures, creatures and eyes, this video is a densely packed habitat. It is the willing desire to enmesh distinct logics, to offer oneself up to another’s process in order to produce a new dialogue of speaking and visualising a world where, as one of the artists describes, “something special can happen that goes beyond conscious expectation or design.”

 

Robert Therrien: Works 1975–1995
Parasol Unit
2 October – 11 December 2016

Parasol Unit, founded and directed by art historian and curator Dr. Ziba Ardalan, presents Robert Therrien: Works 1975–1995, the first major solo exhibition in Europe of the artist’s works from this 20-year period. The show includes sculptures, reliefs and works on paper executed in two and three dimensions and various media. The presentation marks a significant contribution to art history at a crucial period within the artist’s oeuvre, and is especially important as a number of these early works are held in private collections and have not been seen publicly for many years. Therrien’s use of the familiar and domestic creates a tangible narrative of childhood memories within his early projects and has provided the vocabulary that has shaped the renowned and immersive sculptures of his later work.

 

Bruce Nauman: Natural Light, Blue Light Room
Blain|Southern Gallery 
5 October – 12 November 2016

Blain|Southern, established by Harry Blain and Graham Southern in 2010, presents a significant architectural installation by Bruce Nauman exhibited for the first time since its initial showing in 1971. It is one of the earliest instances of the artist producing built environments to intentionally discomfit or disorientate the viewer. Walking into the gallery, viewers experience a physical response to the empty space and unfamiliar light. With time, they discern two different light sources – the natural daylight and blue fluorescents. This initial physical stimulus grows more confusing as the atmosphere in the room changes and resets itself with the shifting light outside. Meanwhile, the blue remains wholly consistent, becoming a strangely tangible presence in the room, thus acting like an image or symbol, almost an object in itself, inviting the viewer to interpret their own reaction. The installation is best experienced during daylight hours.

 

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Somerset House
6 – 9 October 2016

Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1:54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange. Initiated by Touria El Glaoui in 2013, October 2016 will mark its fourth consecutive edition at Somerset House, having returned from its second New York edition this May. 1:54 London 2016 will showcase about 40 exhibitors, presenting over 130 African and African diasporan artists across the East, South and West Wings of Somerset House. The fair will be accompanied by an educational and artistic programme, FORUM, curated by Koyo Kouoh, and will include lectures, film screenings and panel discussions with international curators, artists and art professionals.

 

Frieze London
Regent’s Park
6 – 9 October 2016

Taking place a week earlier this year, Frieze London, first established by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover in 2003, brings together over 160 of the world’s leading galleries from New York to Berlin and Shanghai to São Paulo, to showcase works by newly discovered artists alongside some of the most respected names in contemporary art. Curated sections include: Focus, the definitive destination to discover young talents; Live, which creates moments of immersion and interaction with participatory performance works; and new this year, The Nineties, recreating seminal exhibitions from this decade. Other highlights include our non-profit programme of new artist commissions, a lively series of talks, guided tours, impressive large-scale works in the Frieze Sculpture Park, and a selection of pop-ups from London restaurants. Frieze London and Frieze Masters are both located in Regent’s Park, a short 15-minute walk from each other.

 

Picasso Portraits
National Portrait Gallery 
6 October 2016 – 5 February 5 2017

Picasso’s portraits epitomise the astonishing variety and innovation of his art. Under the direction of Dr Nicholas Cullinan, this major exhibition of over eighty works focuses on the artist’s portrayal of family, friends and lovers and reveals his creative processes as he moved freely between drawing from life, humorous caricature and expressive painting from memory. On display will be portraits from all periods of Picasso’s career and in all media, from the realist paintings of his boyhood to his later ultra-spontaneous canvases. The works on show will range from celebrated masterpieces loaned by international institutions to works in private collections being shown in the United Kingdom U for the first time.

 

Miracle Marathon
Serpentine Sackler Gallery & Second Home 
8 – 10 October 2016 

Now in its eleventh year, the Serpentine Marathon series continues on its exploration of activism, art, literature, music, philosophy, and science, through a specific theme or topic of relevance in artists’ practice and in the wider contemporary context. Each year, the Marathon topic breaks through disciplinary boundaries to identify discursive movements, as well as the parallels and points of encounter between the empirical, the political and the imagined. This year’s Marathon, operating under the direction of Hans Ulrich Obrist and Yana Peel, takes place over two days and in two locations across London: Day 1 at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery and Day 2 at Second Home.

 

DESIGN 

Opus Anglicanum: Masterpieces of English Medieval Embroidery
Victoria and Albert Museum
1 October 2016 – 5 February 2017

Curated by Glyn Davies and Clare Browne, masterpieces of English medieval embroidery from the V&A’s world-class collections will be displayed, together with works returning to England for the first time since they were created in the Middle Ages, in what will be the largest exhibition on the subject in half a century. From the 12th to the 15th centuries, England enjoyed an international reputation for the quality of its luxury embroideries, often referred to as ‘Opus Anglicanum’ (English work). Made by professional craftspeople in the City of London and rich in their intricacy, they were sought after by kings, queens, popes and cardinals from across Europe. Paintings, illuminated manuscripts, metalwork and stained glass will be shown alongside rare surviving examples to explore the world within which these exquisite works were created.

 

PAD
Berkeley Square 
3 – 9 October 2016

Set in the heart of Mayfair, PAD is London’s leading fair for design and the decorative arts. Inspiring a unique spirit of collecting, PAD, founded by Patrick Perrin, epitomises how photography, design and art interact to reveal surprising combinations and create successful interiors. Prominent international galleries from major cities across Europe, North America and Asia come together to offer an exceptional panorama of works. PAD is a place to discover and acquire pieces of museum quality with a distinct history. Its boutique setting is designed to inspire collectors, art consultants, curators, interiors specialists, design practitioners and the public alike, making PAD the only event of its kind.

 

The Vulgar: Fashion Redefined
Barbican Centre
13 October 2016 – 5 February 2017

Conceived by curator and exhibition-maker Judith Clark, in collaboration with psychoanalyst Adam Phillips, the Barbican Centre’s latest exhibition takes varied literary definitions of ‘the vulgar’ as a starting point, presenting over 120 unique exhibits from the Renaissance through to the 21st century. Intertwining historic dress, couture and ready-to-wear fashion, textile ornamentation, manuscripts, photography and film, the carefully crafted show illustrates how taste is a mobile and continually varying concept.The impressive range of garments on display are drawn from major public and private collections worldwide, with contributions from leading contemporary designers, including Manolo Blahnik, Chloé, Dior, Pam Hogg, Lacroix, Lanvin, Moschino, Prada, Schiaparelli, Philip Treacy, UNDERCOVER, Victor & Rolf and Louis Vuitton.

 

CULTURE 

BFI London Film Festival
Various Locations 
5 – 16 October 2016

The programme for the 60th BFI London Film Festival was revealed earlier this month, with Festival Director Clare Stewart presenting a resolutely diverse selection of projects. The Festival is Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s most established. In its 60th year the programme sees headline galas shown at the Odeon Leicester Square each evening, alongside a busy schedule of independent films, documentaries and talks, occurring over twelve days, from 5-16 October. This year’s Festival includes an agenda-setting symposium that heralds the BFI’s Black Star project, a season of film and television dedicated to celebrating black talent. The Festival will screen a total of 193 fiction and 52 documentary features, as well as 144 short films, with screenings taking place at venues across the capital, including, BFI Southbank, Picturehouse Central, the ICA, Curzon Soho, the Ritzy in Brixton, Hackney Picturehouse and Curzon Chelsea, to name a few.

 

London Literature Festival
Southbank Centre
5 – 16 October 2016

Opening with a performed reading of HG Wells’ The Time Machine, a gripping adventure which gave rise to time travellers from Doctor Who’s TARDIS to countless tin-foil creations, London Literature Festival delves into the power of science fiction to show us our shared humanity across time. The festival features many of the brightest stars in the literary firmament including Margaret Atwood, Xiaolu Guo, Lauren Beukes, Naomi Alderman, Michel Faber, Teju Cole and Etgar Keret. They join a broad range of emerging international authors including China’s most celebrated science fiction author, Cixin Liu, and award-winning Iraqi author Hassan Blasim who imagines his homeland one hundred years in the future, to make a line-up of intergalactic proportions. With a range of family events, poetry readings and talks, London Literature Festival has a diverse offering of events for curious minds to enjoy.

 

The Red Barn
The National Theatre
6 October 2016 – 17 January 2017

Multi-award-winning playwright David Hare returns to the National Theatre with a taut new thriller based on the French novel La Main by detective writer Georges Simenon. Inspired by La Main, Hare’s play follows two couples leaving a party on a snowy evening in Connecticut. But as the couples make their way home The Red Barn turns thrilling, and not everyone arrives safely. With a prolific history of stage and screen successes including Skylight, Judas Kiss and The Hours, Hare has a particular talent for tension and filmic shifts in perspective.

 

The Nose
Royal Opera House
20 October – 9 November 2016

Shostakovich was only 20 when he began writing The Nose, his operatic debut. He turned to a short story by Gogol: an absurdist satire, where a civil servant’s errant nose launches its owner on a ludicrous battle against both nose and the authorities, as bureaucratic processes break down in the face of so unusual a problem. Gogol’s surrealist fable fired Shostakovich’s imagination, and he responded with a work of exuberant energy, full of musical jokes and grotesque parody. Artistic Director of Berlin’s Komische Oper Barrie Kosky directs, fresh from his triumphant production of Saul for Glyndebourne Festival. The Nose is performed in English, in a new translation by David Pountney.

 

Feature image: Kara Walker, Go to Hell or Atlanta, Whichever Comes First, 2015 (via 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair)

Curated by Tamara Akcay