Whats On At Spike Island August - September 2016
Posted on: 11 Aug 2016Whats on at Spike Island this summer? Well, the answer is: a LOT. If there was ever a time to check out the independent arts space nestled in the Floating Harbour, it’s now! See below for a quick guide to the current exhibitions and installments.
Stuart Whipps, Isle of Slingers: 9 July to 18 September 2016
Isle of Slingers draws together multiple strands from the work of the British artist Stuart Whipps in his largest, most comprehensive exhibition to date.
Whipps trained as a photographer and while his work now ranges more widely, the processes and history of photography underpin much of his thinking. Fixing – the photographic process of setting an image, of preventing any further change by exposure to chemicals – here becomes a motif through which Whipps explores the formation of ideas. Throughout the exhibition Whipps questions how things come to be realised in a certain form and points to the paradoxical effort of attempting this when both ideas and the physical world are in a constant state of flux.
The exhibition takes as its starting point and structuring principle three types of stone – Portland stone, slate and shale – colour coding them to guide the viewer through a series of unexpected narratives that the artist has researched for each of them. A mass of archival information, photographs and objects trace these stories, while the film at the heart of the exhibition attempts to draw out connections between these seemingly isolated trajectories.
Find out more HERE.
Xavier Antin, The Eternal Network: 9 July to 18 September 2016
For his first solo exhibition in the UK, French artist Xavier Antin presents a series of newly commissioned works that take as their starting point the independent publishing and printing house Beau Geste Press (BGP). From 1971 to 1976, BGP operated from a remote farmhouse in Devon where its founders – the Mexican artist couple Felipe Ehrenberg and Martha Hellion and the art historian David Mayor – gathered around them a ‘community of duplicators, printers and artisans’.
Xavier Antin’s recent work examines the functioning of technical devices – more specifically image reproduction devices such as printers or scanners – as manifestations of time-specific modes of representation. His project for Spike Island addresses BGP’s heritage by using archival material as a score for a speculative history of the printing press. The resulting presentation, however, is keen to depart from its initial premise and free itself of the burden of history. A series of dysfunctional sculptural machines are scattered in a darkened space to form an idle printing workshop, where only traces of a past or suspended (re)productive activity can be seen. Each element of this mechanic landscape either produces light or is itself lit, as if scrutinising something or being put under scrutiny itself. Fragments from typewritten letters, excerpts, quotes, and clues from the BGP archive are displayed on these mechanical bodies, which are also used to put back into circulation bootleg versions of BGP publications, true to Antin’s confessed belief in reanimation through copy – and copy only.
Find out more: HERE.
I am Making Art: Monthly Art Sessions
These monthly activity sessions are led by artists and take place in the Spike Island Café. Visitors of all ages and abilities can try out new techniques and approaches to making art, from drawing and painting to collage, sculpture and animation and are invited to drop in any time during the session. We usually have more details of these on our What’s On page so keep an eye out, as although they are free, booking is always advised.
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Find out more HERE.
Tania Hershman, Flash Fiction Workshop: Sunday 4 September 2016
Taking inspiration from the current exhibition: Stuart Whipps, Isle of Slingers, which weaves its way from Mexican sculptures to ballet and Welsh gardens, come unleash your imagination and write some flash fiction — the shortest short stories — with poet and short story writer Tania Hershman.No previous experience required, just pen and paper.
Find out more HERE.
Film screening: Coco Fusco, Tuesday 13 September 2016
In TED Ethology: Primate Visions of the Human Mind (2015), Fusco revives and embodies the chimpanzee animal psychologist Dr. Zira from the original Planet of the Apes films of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The screening lasts approximately 50 minutes.
Find out more HERE.
Spike Island also boasts a lovely cafe for like-minded people to get together, or just to enjoy a warm coffee and something to eat. Spike Cafe is a local, organic and sustainable approach to cooking and enjoying food at the heart of the artspace, brought to you by the makers of Bristol’s award-winning Folk House Café. More information about Spike Cafe is available at http://spikeislandcafe.co.uk.
Spike Island is situated at 133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UX
Article by:
Miri is an English literature student at the University of Bristol who enjoys folk-punk & math-rock music, trailing round art galleries, and playing video games. She is a keen follower of politics and will read any science fiction you throw her way. Having lived in and around Bristol for many years she has developed a keen interest in the Bristol underground music scene and independent restaurants.
