Interview with Rose English at Camden Arts Centre

29/01/16

Interview with Rose English

Rose English: A Premonition of the Act

Camden Arts Centre

12 December 2015 – 6 March 2016

Postscript

Camden Arts Centre

11 and 12 March 2016

Rose English (b1950) came to the fore on the 1970s feminist art scene, in particular with her 1975 performance Quadrille, a ballet for six horses and hoofed dancers presented at a dressage show – and her work crosses boundaries between performed installation, vaudeville, film, spoken drama and opera. She has appeared on stage and in films and has been writing, directing and performing for 35 years.

English has been working with Chinese acrobats for more than a decade now and her collaboration with them has evolved through various performances and exhibitions, including Ornamental Happiness – a show in song and circus – at the Liverpool Biennial in 2006 and Flagrant Wisdom commissioned by the National Glass Centre in 2009. Her current exhibition at Camden Arts Centre, A Premonition of the Act, is described as “reconfiguring elements of a major yet-to-be-realised performance”, hinting towards two live performances that will take place after the show has been taken down, on 11 and 12 March 2016.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is the sound work, Lost in Music, an operatic piece for 10 voices and percussion, scored by Luke Stoneham for English’s libretto. It plays in a darkened room, on the walls of which extracts from the score and English’s notes, as well as images of the acrobats at rehearsal, and glassware being blown, are displayed in lightboxes: image juxtaposed against word; sight against sound. Next door, three screens show breathtaking footage of the acrobats, performing complex and almost unimaginable feats with the specially made glass vessels – a selection of which are displayed on a table nearby. A girl carries a tiered tray of champagne flutes on her feet; a boy tosses a seemingly weightless vase lightly into the air. One slip and disaster would ensue.

The work as a whole has been described as “a meditation on the temporality of ephemeral work” and “a meditation on the correlation between word and image, inspired by the Sister Sledge hit Lost in Music and a resonant line from the writings of Walter Benjamin”. Studio International spoke to English about her inspirations, aspirations and the practicalities of producing such complex and enduring – if ephemeral – performance pieces.

Watch this interview here

Interview with Glenn Ligon

18/10/14

Glenn Ligon: Call and Response

Camden Arts Centre

10 October 2014 – 11 January 2015

Glenn Ligon (b1960) is famed for his thought-provoking works which combine text, silkscreen painting, neon and video and explore themes of identity, racism, sexuality and civil rights.

His first solo exhibition in the UK, now on show at the Camden Arts Centre, presents new works based on the plight of the Harlem Six and using footage of the comedian Richard Pryor.

A new series of enormous black and white silkscreen paintings are based on composer Steve Reich’s taped-speech work, using the recorded voice of Daniel Hamm, one of the Harlem Six, describing how he had to puncture one of his bruises to prove to the police he had been beaten. Layered up so as to obscure the text, creating a rhythm that recalls Reich’s musical piece, the works dominate the large gallery at the Camden Arts Centre.

A new neon piece takes from the same source material and demonstrates Ligon’s technique of creating ‘black’ neon.

Finally, a seven-screen video installation uses footage from the comedian Richard Pryor’s stand up show, Live on the Sunset Strip, from 1982. Removing the sound, Ligon forces viewers to observe Pryor’s lively and exaggerated body language, exploring an alternative means of communication and self-expression.

Ligon spoke to Studio International before the opening of his exhibition.

To watch the interview, please go to: http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/glenn-ligon-interview-call-and-response-camden

Video Interview with Kara Walker at Camden Arts Centre

19/10/13

Kara Walker: We at Camden Arts Centre are Exceedingly Proud to Present an Exhibition of Capable Artworks by the Notable Hand of the Celebrated American, Kara Elizabeth Walker, Negress

Camden Arts Centre

11 October 2013 - 5 January 2014

Kara Walker’s work is a dark and, at times, sinister, exploration of race, gender, sexuality and violence in American history and society. Best known for her life-size black paper silhouettes, Walker’s work is often displayed in the form of cyclorama, with light projections causing the visitors’ shadows to intermingle with the fictional (and factual) characters on the walls. More recent works include puppet films telling open-ended narratives about the abuse of power. “I don’t know how much I believe in redemptive stories,” says Walker. “Triumph never sits still. Life goes on. People forget and make mistakes. Heroes are not completely pure, and villains aren’t purely evil. I’m interested in the continuity of conflict.”

To watch the interview, please go to: http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/kara-walker