The Philistine: The Best Of London Art, Fashion, Film & Performance This April
By Something CuratedLooking ahead at the next month, Something Curated compiles a list of April’s cultural high points, spanning London exhibitions, performances, nightlife, retail and more.
Art
Carlos Garaicoa at Parasol unit || Carlos Garaicoa (13 Apr – 3 Jun)
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents a solo exhibition of works by Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa. Showing in London for the first time in a public institution, Garaicoa reflects upon ‘the city’ – its limitations, potential and possibilities – as a physical infrastructure, social network and political space in this exhibition comprised of large-scale installations, sculptures, video and photography.
The Squash at Tate Britain || Anthea Hamilton (22 Mar – 7 Oct)
Anthea Hamilton has transformed the heart of Tate Britain into an elaborate stage for the continuous 6-month performance of a single character, dressed in a colourful squash-like costume. Over 7,000 white floor tiles have been laid to span the length of the Duveens and encase a series of large structures that serve as podiums for a number of works of art from Tate’s collection, chosen by Hamilton for their organic forms and colours.
Eric N. Mack: Misa Hylton-Brim at Simon Lee Gallery || Eric N. Mack (12 Apr – 12 May)
Simon Lee Gallery presents Misa Hylton-Brim, Eric N. Mack’s inaugural solo exhibition with the gallery and his first in London. The exhibition features a new body of the artist’s signature large-scale assemblages, which oscillate between painting, sculpture, the readymade and performance, at the same time initiating a dialogue between fashion and art.
Ian Cheng: BOB at Serpentine Gallery || Ian Cheng (Until 22 Apr)
BOB is the creation of American artist Ian Cheng, transforming the Serpentine Gallery into a space not unlike an animal sanctuary for new forms of 21st century life. Growing and evolving at all hours of the day and night, BOB will not be exhibited for your viewing pleasure – you will be exhibited to them.
Close Quarters at Vitrine Gallery || Hanae Wilke (12 Apr – 24 Jun)
Informed by her surroundings and starting with an observation, Wilke constructs sculptures and installations from industrial materials such as metal, pipes, brackets, fibreglass and resin. Through material investigations, Wilke explores weight, tactility, texture, gesture and colour and the ways in which they act with and within space.
Performance & Film
WILD CARD: Spoken Movement at Lilian Baylis Studio || Kwame Asafo-Adjei (12 Apr)
The Wild Card series returns to the Lilian Baylis Studio with yet more fresh voices from a new generation of dance-makers curating their own night. This Spring Kwame Asafo-Adjei, founder and artistic director of Spoken Movement tackles the concept of identity within Black culture and how it influences and exists across space and time.
Jerwood/Film & Video Umbrella Awards 2018: Unintended Consequences at Jerwood Space || Maeve Brennan & Imran Perretta (6 Apr – 3 Jun)
The Jerwood/FVU Awards 2018: Unintended Consequences premieres two newly commissioned moving-image installations by Maeve Brennan and Imran Perretta, the recipients of this fifth edition of the Awards. At a moment when world events are so volatile and turbulent that it’s hard to predict what might happen next, the two artists’ works reflect the complex, entangled nature of contemporary experience.
Zaatari Radio Fundraiser at The White Hart || Zaatari Radio (5 Apr)
Zaatari Radio is an innovative humanitarian project, creating a refugee-led radio station in Zaatari Village, Jordan. On April 5th Zaatari Radio are hosting a fundraiser for the project, providing an array of top quality artists to take over the newly established System165b sound system, within the intimate setting of The White Hart on New Cross Road.
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist at Various Locations || Lora Tucker (Open)
Dame Vivienne Westwood has been redefining British fashion for over 40 years, and is responsible for creating many of the most distinctive looks of our time. Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist blends archive, reconstruction, and insightful interviews with Vivienne’s fascinating network of collaborators, guiding us on her journey from a childhood in post-war Derbyshire to the runways of Paris and Milan.
The Square at Various Locations || Ruben Östlund (Open)
Palme d’Or winner, The Square is a satirical drama film written and directed by Ruben Östlund and starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West and Terry Notary. Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next show is “The Square”, an installation which invites passers-by to altruism, reminding them of their role as responsible fellow human beings. But sometimes, it is difficult to live up to your own ideals.
Fashion
Fashioned From Nature at Victoria & Albert Museum || Edwina Ehrman (21 Apr 2018 – 27 Jan 2019)
Fashioned from Nature will be the first UK exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and nature from 1600 to the present day. The exhibition will present fashionable dress alongside natural history specimens, innovative new fabrics and dyeing processes, inviting visitors to think about the materials of fashion and the sources of their clothes.
Post-Soviet Visions: Image & Identity In The New Eastern Europe at Calvert 22 || Ekow Eshun & Anastasiia Fedorova (Until 15 Apr)
Post-Soviet Visions: Image and Identity In the New Eastern Europe is a group show of photography exploring new visual representations of lifestyle and landscape in Eastern Europe. The exhibition gathers the work of a young generation of artists rising to prominence a quarter century after the end of Communism.
Retail
Mackintosh Sample Sale at The Music Room (16 April)
British heritage label Mackintosh, under the creative direction of Kiko Kostadinov since last year, are hosting a one-day sample sale at The Music Room, with discounts of up to 80%.
Self-Portrait, 49 Albemarle Street || Han Chong & Casper Mueller Kneer Architects (Open)
Only five years after launching his label Self-Portrait, the Malaysian-born Han Chong has opened his first outpost on Albemarle Street in Mayfair. He worked with Casper Mueller Kneer Architects, the force behind acclaimed projects including the White Cube Gallery Bermondsey, the ICA London and the Céline boutiques. Spanning 223 sq m, the two-storey space takes inspiration from the brand’s focus on surface detail and tactility.
Feature image: Ian Cheng, Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London (6 March – 28 May 2018) © 2018 Hugo Glendinning (Courtesy Serpentine Gallery)