Video: Banksy ‘ Alternativity’ with Danny Boyle

Following the reveal of two new street pieces earlier in Bethlehem (covered here) Banksy will be premiering  The Alternativity film on BBC Two this Sunday, the 17th of December,  an unique observational arts and documentary film directed by Danny Boyle.

This hour-long film follows director Danny Boyle on his travels to Bethlehem to capture a festive performance of the nativity, directed in collaboration between the Oscar-winning director and the local theater director, performance artist, actress and teacher at Bethlehem University, Riham Isaac.

The film premiere was announced with a new artwork from Banksy that mixes his commonly used chalk doodle style with more elaborate stencil and hand painted elements. In this particular case, the characters are doodled as simple stickmen figures, with obvious emphasis put on the drone hoovering above, one of the separation wall towers “watching” over them, and a can of CS tear gas, commonly used by the Israeli forces, laying in front of the stable. The image is a hint on the theme of the play and the movie, which places the story of nativity in the context of modern day Bethlehem, described by Banksy as “the least Christmassy place on earth.”

In advance of the screening, a short teaser presents the movie:

Also coming out this week end, an interview in the Financial Times where Banksy discusses about his many travels to Palestine and involvement in Bethlehem.

 

When asked by Financial Times Art Director Jan Dalley about the possible effectiveness of his art, Banksy mentions “There aren’t many situations where a street artist is much use,” he says. “Most of my politics is for display purposes only. But in Palestine there’s a slim chance the art could have something useful to add — anything that appeals to young people, specifically young Israelis, can only help.”

Berlin: Barbara Kruger ‘Forever’

Barbara Kruger - Forever

US artist Barbara Kruger, who initially inspired the logo for Supreme, has created an immersive installation called ‘Forever’ for the Berlin gallery Sprüth Magers. This exhibition marks exactly three decades since her first solo show at Monika Sprüth Gallery in Cologne.

The new site-specific work occupies all four walls and the floor of the gallery’s main exhibition space, with immersive room-wraps and several new vinyl works. Their boldly designed textual statements on the nature of truth, power, belief and doubt embody the distinctive visual language that Kruger has developed over the course of her forty-year career.

Barbara Kruger - Forever
Barbara Kruger - Forever

Since the late 1970s, Kruger has established herself as one of the most influential figures in contemporary art. Beginning with her earliest works, for which she combined language with mass media imagery culled from books and magazines, she has turned a critical eye toward consumerism, desire, political will, and the often-hidden mechanisms of power operating within contemporary society. In the mid-1990s, Kruger produced her first multichannel video works and room-wrappings, tapping into a long-standing interest in architecture and expanding the scale of her installations to envelop viewers in disorienting, but thought-provoking, environments. Her exhibition in Berlin extends these investigations, which are as timely as ever in a moment pervaded by pseudo-facts and alternative realities.

With ‘Forever’ Barbara Kruger takes a critical look at technology and humanity through her “bold textual statements about the nature of truth, power, belief, and doubt.” The exhibition transports viewers to contemplate iconic words typed in monochrome boxes and their connotations in relation to the wallpaper of the smartphone.

Barbara Kruger - Forever
Barbara Kruger - ForeverBarbara Kruger - Forever
Barbara Kruger - ForeverBarbara Kruger - ForeverBarbara Kruger - Forever

View the full set of pics here

Barbara Kruger – “Forever”
Until 22 December 2017
Sprüth Magers
Oranienburger Strasse 18
Berlin

Banksy’s ‘Alternativity’ in Bethlehem

Elusive artist Banksy is back at his “Walled Off Hotel” in the city of Bethlehem in Palestine with a new stunt to celebrate the festive season with a “festive spectacular” titled Alternativity, and continue to raise media awareness in one of the most troubled parts of the globe. Alternativity features a play directed by Rihaam Issac and Danny Boyle and other surprises.

As a nod to the biblical events, two versions of the Alternativity flyer feature a heavily pregnant Mary sitting on a donkey while Joseph is looking perplexed at the separation wall while the star is shining on the other side. How do they cross?

Nearby the hotel, Banksy just unveiled two brand new street pieces.

The first piece “Peace On Earth” is a text based work which reads “Peace on Earth *terms and conditions apply.” Located in front of the Milk Grotto Church. The clever text-based works juxtaposes the spiritual and universal ‘Peace on earth’ quote and religious Christmas Star with a consumerism message ‘Terms and conditions apply’, highlighting the sarcastic turn of our modern day society.

It also references to the delicate balance to maintain peace.

The second piece shows two stencilled angels, equipped with a crowbar and trying to breakthrough the separation wall. One of the angels is wearing a handkerchief to cover his face while the other has a little beanie in true vandal style to carry out their mischief. As usual with Banksy, its a perfect placement for this cute and cheeky artwork.

The piece was supposedly painted a few days / weeks ago and hidden in plain sight with a banner announcing the event.

Photos by John Cmakers

 

 

London: ‘Everything at Once’ at 180 Strand

Everything at Once - 180 Strand

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Lisson Gallery, the gallery is partnering with The Vinyl Factory to stage an ambitious group exhibition called ‘EVERYTHING AT ONCE‘, inspired by a quote by John Cage in 1966 “Nowadays everything happens at once and our souls are conveniently electronic (omniattentive).”

More than ever before, contemporary art, like life, assaults us simultaneously from all angles and from anywhere on the globe, existing also as multi-sensory visions of an accelerated world. Time and space are no longer rational or linear concepts and great distances can be traversed with an instantaneous click.

Through 45 new and historical works by 24 artists, ‘Everything at once’ is a multi-sensorial experience, an interconnected journey exploring effect and event, invoking immediacy and immutability in the 180 Strand building, home to the Vinyl Factory.

Participating artists include :
MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ – AI WEIWEI – ALLORA & CALZADILLA – ART & LANGUAGE – CORY ARCANGEL – TONY CRAGG – RICHARD DEACON – NATHALIE DJURBERG & HANS BERG – CEAL FLOYER – RYAN GANDER – DAN GRAHAM – RODNEY GRAHAM – SUSAN HILLER – SHIRAZEH HOUSHIARY – ANISH KAPOOR – LEE UFAN – RICHARD LONG – HAROON MIRZA – TATSUO MIYAJIMA – JULIAN OPIE – LAURE PROUVOST – WAEL SHAWKY – LAWRENCE WEINER – STANLEY WHITNEY

In parallel to the exhibition, Ryoji Ikeda’s ‘Test Pattern [No.12]’ – commissioned by Store X The Vinyl Factory – is a discombobulating experience, in which black and white bar code-like patterns pulse in the darkness. The Japanese artist and electronic composer converts data from music and photography into monochrome binary patterns, immersing gallery-goers in a dazzling kinetic environment.

Everything at Once - 180 StrandEverything at Once - 180 Strand Everything at Once - 180 Strand

To kick off the exhibition, the ground floor contains important sculptural statements from the last century by Anish KapoorAt the Edge of the World II (1998) , a UFO like installation that floats above head height, receding seemingly impossibly into space and time – while Richard Deacon presents his own takes on materiality and multidimensionality.

Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Ai Weiwei’s giant wallpaper installation stretches 50m along the building and depicts people’s continuing movement across the globe, paired with a landscape of blasted tree roots – together speaking of displacement, conflict and alienation, a reference to the ongoing global refugee crisis.

Everything at Once - 180 Strand
Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Cory Arcangel’s video projection features ‘MIG 29 Soviet Fighter Plane and Clouds’ depicting elements of a hacked video game from the early 1990s.

Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Richard Long created a 60-metre long mud work called ‘Pelopennese Line’, using his hands dipped in slip from the river Avon.

Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Stanley Whitney  is exploring the formal possibilities of colour within ever-shifting grids of multi-hued blocks inspired by music and dance.
Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Works by Ryan Gander present four metallic sentinels in dramatic postures displaying a range of emotions while remaining faceless, as well as a draped mirror and a stairway to Heaven.

Everything at Once - 180 StrandEverything at Once - 180 Strand
Everything at Once - 180 Strand

‘Minster’ totemic sculptures by Tony Cragg built from scraps of rubber, stone, wood and metal recall the spires of a cathedral .

Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Susan Hiller’s installation entitled Channels,  showcases a series of 104 analogue television screens with a collection of audio accounts and oscilloscope recordings of people who have experienced death and returned to tell the tale. These vivid stories in many different languages constitute a remarkable contemporary archive, whether the accounts are regarded as metaphors, misconceptions, myths, delusions or truths.

Everything at Once - 180 Strand

Everything at Once
Until 10 December
180 The Strand,
London, WC2R 1EA

London: Alexander Chappell – Nobody

Alexander Chappell - StolenSpace

London based artist Alexander Chappell debuted his solo show entitled ‘Nobody‘ at StolenSpace, exploring the path of anonymity in a society obsessed with being ‘somebody’.

Featuring 12 graphite portraits of graffiti writers: Astek, Bonzai, Chu, Conor Harrington, D*Face, Eine, Inkie, Insa, Joe Holbrook, Tizer and Xenz. Contrary to today’s obsession with fame, the depicted artists have led their artistic career through anonymity, using an alias and not showing their faces.

Alexander Chapell - StolenSpaceAlexander Chapell - StolenSpace
Alexander Chappell - StolenSpaceAlexander Chapell - StolenSpace

After photographing them, Alexander Chappell painstakingly recreated the portraits in fine detail using graphite and white marker. The depicted writers added their tagged signature in red on the framed portraits.
The show also features a self portrait of the artist, with a collaboration with Conor Harrington.

Alexander Chapell - StolenSpace
Alexander Chappell - StolenSpaceAlexander Chapell - StolenSpace
Alexander Chappell - StolenSpaceAlexander Chapell - StolenSpaceAlexander Chapell - StolenSpace

Alexander Chappell – Nobody
Until 19 November 2017
StolenSpace
17 Osborn Street,
London UK E1 6TD