FOCUS VI
Out of The Ordinary: Spectacular Craft @ the V&A
Anne Wilson, 'Topologies' 2002 - ongoing
Catherine Bertola, 'Everything And Nothing'
I don't know if I have become brainwashed by landscape architecture but some of the pieces shouted 'map' at me. What exactly the pieces were mapping is open for debate but you could say the artists mind... Also interesting to look at photos of the artists studios.
Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft here
Fusion Now! @ the Rokeby
Roger Hiorns, Untitled, 2007
http://withyou.co.uk/
"At a time when we are told that our excessive use of fossil fuels threatens the environment itself, environmentalism advocates that the only solution is restraint and reduction. FUSION NOW! asks what art and society might look like if we thought positively about a world based on more energy, not less."
Rokeby here
Breaking The Rules @ the British Library
De Stijl
"Mainly through the medium of print, Breaking the Rules throws new light on Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Suprematism, Constructivism, Surrealism and other movements; on the artists who changed the face of modern culture for ever; and on the cities that experienced their work, from Brussels to Budapest, Vienna to Vitebsk."
How many 'Isms' can the avant garde produce? 129783619283198367770222222. Maybe an exaggeration but it seemed that at the turn of the last century society was rebranding itself with unabashed enthusiasm. Graphic design especially was explored, manipulated and challenged creating styles that are still in use today. Personally I liked the "two fingers to the establishment" attitude at the turn of the century and how that became a catalyst for change.
De Stijl. Edited by Theo van Doesburg. Leiden, 1917-1932. 8 volumes (90 numbers). All online here
