A bit Berlin and little of London

I've got some curation things underway. The prints I curated for absolutart.com have launched online - and a selection are on display in the Absolut Art Apartment at Moritzplatz in Berlin Until Dec 6. (and for those who like liquid there is free coffee in the day from 11 and free cocktails between 5 an 7pm daily). Top Floor, Prinzenstrasse 84, Berlin. Artists include Gregor Hilderbrant, Hanna Schwarz, Thomas Helbig, Juliette Bonneviot, Matthias Bitzer and Ei Cortinas. Londoners save the date -December 17 for #officeparty 7pm-midnight The last party with a DJ set by Dave MacLean (Django Django), dance class by Joelle D'Fontaine, and free photocopy artworks by Aaron Angell, Alexandre da Cunha, Jeremy Deller, Benedict Drew, Celia Hempton, Allison Katz, Oscar Murillo, David Noonan, Athena Papadopolos, Peles Empire, Prem Sahib, Daniel Silver, Marianne Spurr, Julie Verhoeven, Jesse Wine, Bedwyr Williams and more...

#officeparty GIF by Ben Sansbury, 2015. Courtesy the artist

A Year in Art (my column from current issue of House magazine)

The Dark Cube closing party

The Dark Cube closes Monday night and it should be a blinder (though hard to beat 5000 people coming for Nuit Blanche at the opening...). Leslie Kulesh (and myself) are DJing. Thanks to a 400 watt black light cannon the works are in full hardcore glow. Above is a sneaky look at much of the sowkr (i'll upload the whole lot after the show closes) and details of the closing party for all and sundry.

Coming Soon! The Dark Cube at Palais de Tokyo

THE DARK CUBE curated by Francesca Gavin

Juliette Bonneviot / Harry Burden / Antoine Catala / Anne de Vries / Jeremy Deller / Thomas Dozol / Oliver Laric / Clunie Reid / Ben Sansbury / Jeremy Shaw / KasperSonne / Scott Treleaven

Vernissage: October 6 2012 6pm-12am DJ Emma Sutton (FuseBOX)

Finissage: October 15 2012 Public 8pm-12am Virtual DJ set by Dave Maclean (Django Django)

A black or UV light emits ultraviolet radiation and little visible light. It creates an effect of fluorescence on colours and materials. ‘The Dark Cube’ exploits this effect by showing paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures in darkness, illuminated only by these purple glowing lamps.

The show was initially inspired by 1960s Black Light posters, initially created as representations or aids to hallucinogenic drugs. Alongside references to failed rebellion, this group exhibition touches on wider ideas around illumination and darkness, veiling and unveiling. Part of the aim is to demonstrate the relationship of contemporary ideas and aesthetics with defunct or less used forms of technology.

The Dark Cube is also a response to the cavernous nature of the Palais de Tokyo, and the flipside to the Garden of Eden’s idea of a forbidden space. In northern European art The Garden of Eden was depicted as a lush forest glade, while in the south a desert oasis. In our modern times creating a landscape of electronic phosphorescence is our new utopian Eden. The exhibition switches the normal viewing experience under day or white light on its head. It becomes an X-ray of the white cube.

The Dark Cube is part of a series of exhibitions and events GALERIE UTOPIA / THE FORGOTTEN BAR PROJECT: The Garden of Eden presented by Tjorg Douglas Beer being held at the Palais de Tokyo September to November 2012 (http://www.galerie-utopia.com) 

https://palaisdetokyo.com/en/exhibition/modules-fondation-pierre-berge-yves-saint-laurent/galerie-utopia-forgotten-bar-project 

Image: Harry Burden 'Dirty Fucking Hippies' (UV) 2012

E-Vaporation

The past 8 days have been so busy its ridiculous. I am so pleased with how E-Vapor-8 turned out (with mentions on New York magazine, Artinfo, Phaidon, Purple Diary, Rhizome and my Dazed piece). Such a huge turn out at the opening. The show is open until May 18, Thurs-Sun 2-6pm. Go see.

Frieze also was great - esp Tanya Leighton's booth of Oliver Laric and Aleksandra Domanovic's works, Samara Golden at the Night Gallery and the pop up Soho House where we hung out for about 5 hours.

While hallucinating with jet lag (the close up image above from Travess Smalley's large vinyl piece is a fair representation of my brain) these are the people in particular that I would like to thank in an Oscar-style for making the week so fun:

All the artists - esp Lucy Stokton, Rhys Coren, Hannah Perry, Travess Smalley, Christian Petersen, Jeffrey Gibson, Alexandra Gorkczynski for travelling across the globe to be there. All at 319 Scholes - Lindsay Howard, Igal Nassima and the tech god that is Sam Hart. DOorDINE for letting us all turn up there en masse post opening.

My boys Ben Sansbury and Nicola Pecoraro who are in 4 person show at The Bowery Hotel which runs until May 21. Seana Gavin (whose work is on show at The Other Art Fair from tomorrow!) and Aurora Aspen - who are so part of me they are like extra limbs.

Kadar Brock for being amazing in general, Kaspar Sonne, Alban de P, Steve Clark, Dave Hoyland and Tim Steer from Seventeen (May 17 opening of Motion in the diary), Laura, Ned, Aaron and Mette Moulton for their surprise karaoke appearance amongst many others, Ruby Warrington, Brendan Fowler (finally in person), Alex Duve etc etc etc.... and last but definitely not least Jay.

Show of the Month: Ben Sansbury

Ben Sansbury gets a worthy whole page in my art pages this month in Dazed. I've been looking forward to this show for a long time. (Its accompanied by a dose of old rave from Gavin Watson. Its a great name Gavin....)

Preview Thurdsay 6-9pm (with afterparty). Exhibition run May 14 - June 19 at SPACE Studios http://www.spacestudios.org.uk/

NEU! BEN SANSBURY: AMAXAMA

Marked by Sansbury’s consciously clunky and totemic aesthetic, AMAXAMA is a mash-up of forms and thoughts centred on a single monumental hub. Housed in a large-scale walk-in structure built by Sansbury over a three week period leading up to the exhibition, sculpture, painting, photography, collage, film and sound will coalesce to form a single complex installation.

An expanded referential field underpins AMAXAMA as a whole. Sansbury is seduced by that which is old and Other; symbolic registrations drawn from myth and tribe merging with an archival passion for Old Europe and its many alchemic oddities to form the baseline of his exhibition.

AMAXAMA is Ben Sansbury’s first major solo exhibition. He studied at St Martins and The Royal College of Art. He lives and works in London.

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ANNEXE /// GAVIN WATSON: RAVING ‘89
Raving ’89 is an exhibition by celebrated British photographer Gavin Watson. Documenting the subterranean rave and acid house culture that emerged across the UK in the late 80s, Raving ’89 is a captivating chronicle of a grassroots social and cultural movement.