The Shock of the Now - Issue #120
Afternoon All,
I hope you’re all well, and welcome to Issue 120 of The Shock of the Now.
This week there are ten weekly Recommended Exhibitions, as well as one fresh Artist Opportunity.
I hope you enjoy Issue 120, and if so do forward it along! As always any questions, comments or feedback are welcome, so feel free to get in touch.
All the best, and speak soon, H x
Recommended Exhibitions Opening This Week:
Nina Silverberg - ‘The Library’ Solo Exhibition - Soup, Elephant & Castle (7th March - 14th April, opening Wednesday 6th March, 6-9pm)
Soup presents Nina Silverberg’s debut solo exhibition ‘The Library’.
“Silverberg’s paintings are marked by their quiet energy, muted palette and often small scale. Characterised by both a solitary stillness and an implied intimacy, she examines ideas of isolation, sickness and the relationship between interior and exterior worlds. Following a prolonged period of illness in her early adulthood, the artist’s subjects frequently include timeless signifiers of human care and comfort.” - Soup
Cato - ‘Seen!’ Solo Exhibition - Cooke Latham, Battersea (7th - 28th March, opening Wednesday 6th March, 6:30-8:30pm)
Cooke Latham presents Cato’s debut UK solo exhibition ‘Seen!’.
“For Cato the process of making music is synonymous with the act of painting. One of his musical hero’s is Madlib the American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist and rapper. The freedom of this musical maverick in merging and mixing jazz and blues classics is akin to the aesthetic energy in Cato’s studio, in which he processes numerous and varied art historic influences to create radically new figurative works that speak to identity and black culture...” - Cooke Latham
Shu Lea Cheang - ‘Scifi New Queer Cinema: Shu Lea Cheang 1994-2023’ Solo Exhibition + Sibylle Ruppert - ‘Frenzy of the Visible’ Solo Exhibition - Project Native Informant, Bethnal Green (6th March - 20th April, opening Wednesday 6th March, 6-8pm)
Project Native Informant presents Shu Lea Cheang’s debut solo exhibition ‘Scifi New Queer Cinema, Shu Lea Cheang 1994-2023’ and Sibylle Ruppert’s debut UK solo exhibition ‘Frenzy of the Visible’.
“For over four decades, Cheang has deconstructed the consumption of images and redefined a genre of new queer sci-fi cinema. She has been variously referred to as a “cyberfeminist pioneer”, “post-porn filmmaker”, “high-tech aborigine”, “video-game hacker” and “digital nomad”. Having worked in a dizzyingly-wide variety of mediums from net art to trans punk fiction, her practice submerges desire and its commercialised expenditure back into the murky soup of sexuality from which they come.” - Project Native Informant
“Throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, Ruppert created a radical oeuvre of paintings, drawings and collages in a brutal aesthetic between dark surrealism, eroticism and an intimate but fierce processing of her own private traumas. Her large format charcoal drawings and etchings are all characterised by an extremely detailed and elaborate depiction, inspired by the writings of Marquis de Sade, Lautréamont and Georges Bataille, as well as the artistic work of Henry Fuseli, Hans Bellmer, William Blake and Francis Bacon.” - Project Native Informant
Stuart Middleton - ‘The Human Model’ Solo Exhibition - Carlos Ishikawa, Whitechapel (7th March - 20th April, opening Wednesday 6th March, 6-8pm)
Carlos Ishikawa presents Stuart Middleton’s latest solo exhibition ‘The Human Model’.
Kobby Adi - ‘Music’ Solo Exhibition - Cabinet Gallery, Vauxhall (8th March - 6th April, opening Thursday 7th March)
Cabinet Gallery presents Kobby Adi’s solo exhibition ‘Music’.
Woody De Othello - ‘Faith Like a Rock’ Solo Exhibition - Stephen Friedman, Mayfair (8th March - 13th April, opening Thursday 7th March, 6-8pm)
Stephen Friedman presents Woody De Othello’s solo exhibition ‘Faith Like a Rock’.
“Othello is best known for a multidisciplinary practice that encompasses sculpture, painting and drawing. Working across a range of mediums—including glazed ceramic, carved wood, bronze, ink and oil paint— Othello transforms everyday objects into anthropomorphic, animistic vessels. His colourful, assembled sculptures appear as animated, sentient objects, while his lush painted landscapes teem with life.” - Stephen Friedman
John Edmonds - ‘One’ Solo Exhibition - Maximillian William, Fitzrovia (7th March - 4th May, opening Thursday 7th March, 6-8pm)
Maximillian William presents John Edmonds’ debut London solo exhibition ‘One’.
“Titled One, the exhibition unites Edmonds’ work in Black and white from several bodies of work made between 2016–2022. In Edmonds’ work, photography’s relationship to truth is repeatedly questioned. Describing his images as ‘quasi-documents’, the artist works almost obsessively with a number of models. These figures and friends – who become close to muses – hold, caress, and measure themselves against African sculptures in a search for subjectivity that is humanising, vulnerable and tender.” - Maximillian William
Matt Connors - ‘Finding Aid’ Solo Exhibition - Goldsmiths CCA, New Cross (8th March - 2nd June, opening Thursday 7th March, 6-9pm)
Goldsmiths CCA presents Matt Connors’ solo exhibition ‘Finding Aid’. With: Clarice Cliff, Guy de Cointet, Robert Cumming, Deondre Davis, Masahisa Fukase, Joe Gilmore, Luigi Ghirri, Daan van Golden, Jan Groover, Miyoko Ito, Suzanne Jackson, Mark Armijo McKnight, Bob Law, Siobhan Liddell, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Matt Paweski, Cora Pongracz, Kye Potter, Ryan Preciado, Patrick Prockter, Barbara T Smith, and Masaomi Yasunaga.
“Matt Connors’ abstract paintings, drawings, and sculptures sensitively and intuitively balance colour and form to create affective artworks that often respond to architectural space and have a deep connection with art history. Finding Aid – which references a meta-document produced by archivists used to navigate a collection – will feature new and existing works by Connors, alongside works by invited artists that emphasise linguistic structures, reflections, echoes, and formal connections, combining to create a poetic after-image.” - Goldsmiths CCA
‘Acts of Resistance’ Group Exhibition + Motunrayo Akinola - ‘Knees Kiss Ground’ Solo Exhibition - South London Gallery, Camberwell (8th March - 9th June)
South London Gallery presents ‘Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms And The Art Of Protest’, exploring activism and feminism through the work of artists who challenge and move beyond traditional protest photography, featuring Laia Abril, Hoda Afshar, Poulomi Basu, Nan Goldin, Guerrilla Girls, Sofia Karim, Mari Katayama, Teresa Margolles, Sethembile Msezane, Zanele Muholi, Wendy Red Star, Tabita Rezaire, Raphaela Rosella, Aida Silvestri, Sheida Soleimani, Hannah Starkey, Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel, and Carmen Winant.
Alongside, The South London Gallery’s 13th Postgraduate Artist in Residence, Motunrayo Akinola, presents ‘Knees Kiss Ground’, an exhibition exploring faith and belonging through everyday objects.
“Photography has long been associated with acts of resistance. It is used to document action, share ideas, inspire change, tell stories, gather evidence and fight against injustice. This group exhibition at the SLG, organised in collaboration with the V&A, brings together works by international artists and collectives who are using the camera to challenge and move beyond traditional protest photography.” - South London Gallery
Artist Opportunities:
The Eden Young Fellowship, Polyester. Deadline - Monday 11th March.
In 2023 Polyester were devastated to lose their close friend, podcast co-host and Managing Editor, Eden Young. To commemorate her life, they are proud to launch their fellowship program to fund a working class journalist who will get a fully paid, full time, year-long position in the Polyester team. The applicant will work with Polyester four days a week in London, with the option to work from home 50% of the week. They’re looking for someone to get involved in all facets of Polyester and learn the ropes from their team; from editorial support on the website, to writing articles, scheduling socials or editing podcasts. This is a position that will be tailored to the successful applicant and their interests, allowing them to leave the fellowship and have a successful career in the media. However, you must be interested in entering the magazine / journalism industry - please no photographers / stylists / makeup artists / hair stylists / set designers / producers or similar, this is solely for people who want to be involved in magazine journalism.
Residency open call for artists based in India, Gasworks. Deadline - Monday 11th March.
This opportunity is for an artist in the early stages of their career based in India and offers a fully funded 11-week residency at Gasworks in London from 1 July – 16 September 2024. Gasworks’ residencies are opportunities for self-led professional development, artistic exchange, and experimentation. Gasworks programmes up to sixteen residencies each year, inviting emerging and early career international artists to work alongside a community of nine London-based peers for three months. The residencies are non-prescriptive and process-based and focus on enabling artists to research and develop new work. They are made public through open studios and events, these opportunities encourage interaction, dialogue and professional networking. Gasworks provides significant pastoral and curatorial support throughout the residency, however artists are also expected to be proactive and self-motivated and lead the research and production of their work while in London.
Derek Hill Foundation Scholarship 2024-5, British School at Rome. Deadline - Friday 15th March.
An exceptional opportunity for an artist based in the UK or the Republic of Ireland, whose practice centres on the use of paint and/or drawing, to spend two months in a purpose-designed residential studio at the British School in Rome beginning in January 2025. The fellowship offers: A monthly stipend of £1500 for two months; A travel grant of £500; Support provided by the BSR Visual Art Residency and Programme Curator; Facilitated access to archives, sites, and museum collections not normally open to the public; Weekly Italian language lessons on site; 24/7 access to the BSR library; Regular site visits, workshops, seminars, public events programme; and Opportunities to collaborate with local artists and groups.
Residency open call for artists based in Ecuador, Gasworks. Deadline - Monday 18th March.
This opportunity is for an artist in the early stages of their career based in Ecuador and offers a fully funded 11-week residency at Gasworks in London from 1 July – 16 September 2024. Gasworks’ residencies are opportunities for self-led professional development, artistic exchange, and experimentation. Gasworks programmes up to sixteen residencies each year, inviting emerging and early career international artists to work alongside a community of nine London-based peers for three months. The residencies are non-prescriptive and process-based and focus on enabling artists to research and develop new work. They are made public through open studios and events, these opportunities encourage interaction, dialogue and professional networking. Gasworks provides significant pastoral and curatorial support throughout the residency, however artists are also expected to be proactive and self-motivated and lead the research and production of their work while in London.
Upgrade Yourself: Creative Industry Placements, Somerset House. Deadline - Monday 18th March.
Now in its fifth year, the Upgrade Yourself: Creative Industry Placements programme is open for 5 young people, ages 18 – 24 from underrepresented backgrounds to be part of a paid 1-year placement specifically designed to develop, nurture and grow emerging talent. This one-year professional programme will give participants an insight into how a creative business is run, from day-to-day management through to programming and operations. For this year's programme, Somerset House are offering a two-phase (two x 6-months) placement for 4 participants within two arts organisations and a one phase (one x 12-months) placement for 1 participant on placement with Somerset House Studios. Split over two 6-month phases, or one 12-month phase for the Studios Placement, participants will have hands on experience of working within two different arts organisations and have opportunities to connect with trailblazing creatives within Somerset House and our resident community. All placements take place at Somerset House and participants are paid the London Living Wage of £25,624 per annum.
‘south open 2’ Open Call, OHSH Projects. Deadline - Monday 18th March.
Open call to artists who are either studying at or alumni of South London institutions (graduation year 2023, 2024, or 2025). Please send your application, as a single pdf, to open@ohshprojects.com including: CV; Artist Statement; Portfolio of recent works (up to 10). South London Institutions: Camberwell College of Arts (UAL), City & Guilds of London art School, Goldsmith’s (University of London), Morley College, Royal College of Art (Battersea Campus), and Turps Art School. South London Definition: The boroughs of Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Richmond, Kingston, Merton, Croydon, Sutton, Bromley and Bexley
Wysing Arts Centre, Eastside Projects, New Art Exchange, PS2, Spike Island, Studio Voltaire and TACO! invite applications from artists for Syllabus VII. Syllabus is a collaboratively produced alternative learning programme in its seventh year that will support ten artists across ten months. Syllabus offers time to come together with artists from across the UK to discuss ideas, work, life and approaches to practice. Starting in June 2024 the Syllabus VII curriculum will be built around a series of six intensive in-person weekend gatherings and an online programme, which the ten selected artists will collaboratively develop with curators and artists who work with the partner organisations. As part of Syllabus VII, selected artists will receive a bursary of £1,000 for accommodation and travel, and the option of an access budget, for those who need it.
Open Call, Surreal Art, Phantasmal Gallery. Deadline - Sunday 24th March.
Phantasmal is inviting artists to submit their work to a captivating art exhibition centred around the theme of Surrealism. This exhibition aims to celebrate the uncanny and unconscious. Inviting artists to express the dreamlike through a diverse range of mediums. From painting and sculpture to digital art and mixed media, all forms of artistic expression are welcomed. The exhibition seeks to transport viewers into the mysterious and dreamlike space. Artists are encouraged to delve into the strange, beautiful and unconventional. The exhibition will take place at 44ad ArtSpace in Bath Spa, UK. Spanning over two rooms in the Ground floor exhibition space from the 9th to the 14th of April 2024.
Call for Submissions, New Contemporaries 2024. Deadline - Monday 25th March.
New Contemporaries welcome submissions from emerging and early career artists who are final year students, recent graduates and post-graduate students from UK art schools and alternative learning programmes. Being selected for New Contemporaries programme includes: exhibiting as part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2024. Selected artists are offered an artist’s fee and reasonable travel and accommodation costs covered for the private view of both exhibitions; participating in New Contemporaries Artist Development Programme, which includes 1 to 1 mentoring; Peer Networking Sessions; Workshops, Talks and other artist development opportunities; contributing to the Digital Programme and the opportunity to present work on their channels including the online platform which complements the exhibitions; being eligible, as NC alumni, for Studio Bursaries, Residencies, Fellowships, Scholarships and other opportunities
Open Call for Exhibitions 2025, San Mei Gallery. Deadline - Tuesday 26th March.
San Mei Gallery is looking for exhibition proposals from artists, creatives, designers, architects and makers (solo or groups) with research-based practices to stage an exhibition in our Brixton-based gallery in 2025. San Mei Gallery is a not-for-profit independent space for contemporary art in South London, committed to research-led, educational and collaborative exchanges. Operating with an artist-led approach, we support artists and curators to experiment with new ideas. The gallery promotes and facilitates emerging artistic practice, through exhibitions, residencies, studios and events. This open call is looking for three exhibitions to be held at San Mei Gallery in 2025, which will be selected by the San Mei Gallery curatorial team.
Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 31st March.
The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award is the most significant award for emerging artists working in the field of sculpture in the UK. The award offers £10,000 in financial support towards the production of new work, plus a funded solo exhibition to an exceptional sculptor. The award also includes a national touring programme, taking MTSA artists to partner venues across the UK. MTSA seek to reward outstanding and innovative practice in the field of sculpture and is particularly interested in work that demonstrates a commitment to process and materials. There is no age limit, applicants will be judged on the quality of their work and the ability of the award to make beneficial impact on their practice and future development.
The Waverton Art Prize 2024. Deadline - Sunday 31st March.
The Waverton Art Prize is a platform for emerging talent, offering the winning artist the opportunity to invest time and resources into developing their vocation. The prize was founded in 2022 by Waverton, Ranald Macdonald, Founder and Owner of Boisdale Restaurants, and Mark Connolly, Founder and Director of Paint Talk, and is an open submission with a single prize of £10,000.
The prize is open to artists under the age of 40 and based in the UK. The prize is open to all 2D media, Drawing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Collage, Textiles, Collage, Digital Print. Artists at any stage of their career can apply. Submitted works must not exceed 50x40cm, inclusive of frame. (The shortlisted works must be ready to hang on delivery). The shortlisted submissions will be exhibited in The Gallery Room at Boisdale of Canary Wharf, London. The longlisted submissions will be hosted on Boisdale's website.
WIP Space Residencies. Deadline - Monday 1st April.
WIP Space Residencies offer a free 24/7 studio space for 3 months or 6 months to creative practitioners. WIP Space Residencies support the participating practitioners by offering space and time to produce new work as well as a public platform to share and develop their ideas. WIP would like to prioritise those who are in most need of a studio. They ask those applying to reflect on the opportunities that have been available to you in education, income, overall financial security, occupation, living conditions, resources, and opportunities afforded to you within society. WIP offer 2 individual studio spaces (1 studio for the 3 month, 1 studio for the 6 month) with an adjoining shared project space. The studio space are suitable for most practices apart from any processes needing hot work or firing.
The Drawing Year, Royal Drawing School. Deadline - Wednesday 3rd April.
The Drawing Year is a full scholarship postgraduate-level course offering up to thirty students the opportunity to focus on drawing from observation for one year. There are no tuition fees for The Drawing Year – all students are awarded a full scholarship and receive a free studio space. Every course offered at the School is taught at postgraduate level by distinguished artists and teachers from leading institutions including the Royal Academy, the Royal College of Art and The Slade. In addition to a minimum of 21 hours tutor contact time each week, students are also offered tutorials with visiting tutors.
The Exhibitions Hub is pleased to launch its third Alumni Commission Award, in partnership with the Live Art Development Agency (LADA) and Forma. The commission invites Department of Art Alumni to develop new work in response to or inspired by LADA’S archive that will be presented at Forma in November 2024. Following a period of research and development with LADA’s archive, the selected artist will develop new performance work to be presented at Forma in November 2024. The outcome is intentionally open to allow for creative experimentation and engagement approaches. The award is only open to Goldsmiths Department of Art Alumni. You should have graduated from the Department of Art between 2019-2023.