The Philistine: The Very Best Of London Culture This March
By Something CuratedSomething Curated picks the must-see art across the city this March, from vibrant ceramic sculpture at Castor Projects to a new-site specific arts weekend in central London, via readings, talks and an artist film club.
Exhibitions:
Rose English: Form, Feminisms, Femininities at Richard Saltoun | Rose English (1 March – 13 April 2019)
British artist Rose English has been writing, directing and performing her own work for four decades, bringing her productions – and co-performers, dancers, musicians, magicians and horses – to venues like Tate Britain, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Lincoln Center, New York. Form, Feminisms, Femininities is English’s first solo exhibition at Richard Saltoun Gallery, and shows the artists work across photography, ceramics, collage and performance. It focuses on two moments from her early career work – beginning in the early 1970s and culminating in Plato’s Chair, which marked a turning point in her practice.
Lindsey Mendick: The Ex Files, at Castor Projects | Lindsey Mendick (15 March – 20 April 2019)
Featuring ceramic post-it notes jotted with remembrances like “You were the best looking boy in year 7” or “You introduced me to Nirvana”, sculptor and ceramicist Lindsey Mendick’s new solo show The Ex Files is a record of broken relationships. This latest exhibition follows Mendick’s recent shows at The Turnpike, Leigh; VITRINE, Basel, as well as work produced as part of her ongoing collaboration with artist Paloma Proudfoot, at Hannah Barry Gallery last year.
Ghislaine Leung: Constitution, at Chisenhale Gallery | Ghislaine Leung (Until 24 March 2019)
What are the implications of eliminating the environmental sounds that surround us? In this new commission by Ghislaine Leung at Chisenhale Gallery, a new sound work explores the possibilities through sound cancellation. Alongside sculptures and a moving image work, Leung’s Constitution unpicks what is at stake when we cancel noise, exploring questions of agency, interdependency, withdrawal and complicity.
Performance & Film:
Artists Film Club: Jeff Preiss’ STOP, at the ICA | Jeff Preiss (6 March 2019)
STOP is a feature-length chronicle distilled from 2,500 100-ft camera rolls of 16mm film shot between 1995 and 2011. Directed by filmmaker and cinematographer Jeff Preiss (whose work includes Let’s Get Lost, Broken Noses, and numerous music videos for Iggy Pop, Malcolm McLaren, REM, B52s, and Mariah Carey), STOP centres on the conventions of home movies: the images are of Preiss’ own life and the alternating subjects of family, friends and travel.
Events:
Open Spaces presents: Forum: Of Hosts & Guests, at University College London, Mary Ward House, Pushkin House | Amartey Golding, Adelaide Damoah, Henry Hussey & More (28 – 30 March 2019)
A three day event featuring site-specific artist performances, film screenings, talks and workshops Forum: Of Hosts & Guests, organised by creative arts organisation Open Space, explores ideas of hospitality, hierarchy, ritual and belonging through the work of six artists. Highlights include Chainmail Series – three films by British-Ghanaian artist Amartey Golding, exploring the experiences of black British men, featuring Golding’s brother Solomon, the first black British male dancer to join the Royal Ballet Company; Into the Mind of the Coloniser, a new performance by Adelaide Damoah, in which the audience is invited to cut away her Ghanaian funeral dress while she reads directional manuals written by self-proclaimed 19th-century colonisers, recently discovered by the artist in a forgotten archive. Meanwhile, a life drawing class with Henry Hussey subverts the white European male gaze and challenges notions of power.
Samuay & Sons at Kiln, Kiln | Num Triyasenawat (25 March 2019)
Soho’s Kiln have invited chef Num Triyasenawat of Samuay & Sons in Udon, Thailand to take over the grills for one night only. Samuay & Sons, a progressive Esarn-Thai restaurant at a shophouse that his parents once used for wholesale clothing. Recently nominated in the World Restaurant Awards alongside Kiln, Samuay & Sons has become the sensation of Thailand’s creative food scene.
The Second Shelf x Ache Magazine present: Women Reading, at The Second Shelf | A.N. Evers, Olivia Sudjic, Thea Hawlin (15 March 2019)
Ache Magazine and The Second Shelf, the newly-opened rare books shop concerned with both the infamous and long-forgotten works by great women writers, team up for this evening of conversation, refreshment and readings by women about illness, health, bodies and pain. Featured writers include Olivia Sudjic and Thea Hawlin, with more to be confirmed.
Sheila Heti on Bonnard and his Methods, at Tate Modern | Sheila Heti (18 March 2019)
Canadian novelist Sheila Heti responds to the work of painter Pierre Bonnard, via her own familial connection; Heti’s grandfather, also a painter, wrote an essay about Bonnard in which he cited him as his favourite painter. Heti will delve into the working methods and artistic process of Bonnard, who used the repetitions of his daily life to build up an inner, visual vocabulary.
Words by Stevie Mackenzie-Smith | Feature image: Pierre Bonnard, Family Scene (Scène de famille), 1892 (via Pinterest)