Whitechapel Gallery

Why do public art commissions spark such controversy? The stories behind radical proposals for public sculptures in London - some realised, others thwarted – are drawn from the Henry Moore Institute’s rich collection of sculptors’ papers.

Laurence Bradshaw’s (1899–1978) iconic Karl Marx memorial (1956) became an ideological site prompting both pilgrimage and attack. Jacob Epstein’s (1880–1959) explicit nudes for the British Medical Association became a battleground for Modernism and are the subject of a new work by Neal White (b. 1966). Other featured artists include Rose Finn-Kelcey, Alfred Frank Hardiman, Paul Neagu and Oscar Nemon whose drawings and documents reveal sculpture’s passage into public life.

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sculptors-papers-from-the-henry-moore-institute-archive

Armed with chalk and a spirit level, Dutch artist Bart Lodewijks (b. 1972) draws abstract white lines on everything from residential buildings in quiet suburbs to street surfaces in bustling city centres.

As part of the abstract art takeover at the Whitechapel Gallery, Lodewijks’ new commission for London draws from workshops with local young people, wherehe found out about their relationships to the spaces around them. He is interested in how drawing can be a social process built on trust and conversations with individuals or groups. The exhibition includes a series of chalk drawings made in response to the Gallery and its surroundings, a newspaper designed in collaboration with Roma Publications and a display of material from past projects.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/bart-lodewijks-white-lines

Renowned for exploring the visual possibilities of language, British artist Fiona Banner (b.1966) chooses works of art from the V-A-C collection, Moscow, as part of the Whitechapel Gallery’s programme opening up rarely seen collections from around the world.

The display explores the blurred lines between photography and painting and includes Gerhard Richter’s Kerze (1982), a hyper realistic painting of a single, glowing candle famously used as the cover of Sonic Youth’s 1988 album Daydream Nation. While Andy Warhol’s Jackie (1964) based on photographs of Jackie Kennedy Onassis
is shown alongside Stretch (1964), an optical black & white painting by Bridget Riley which appears to shift and vibrate.

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/fiona-banner-selects-from-the-v-a-c-collection-stamp-out-photographie

A gripping new film about the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai will be screened at the Whitechapel Gallery from 14 January to 26 April 2015.

The Unreliable Narrator (2014), by London-based artist duo Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, combines footage sourced from CCTV recordings of the siege at the Taj Hotel, Mumbai, with recorded telephone conversations between the attackers and their controllers, who orchestrate the violence from afar.

In the film, televised news footage and scenes taken from a recent Bollywood movie dramatizing the event are spliced together, emphasising the complex yet pivotal role technology and the media played in the attacks. A female voiceover narrates, piecing together the story for the viewer and suggesting the violent acts were performed for the benefit of the news cameras. Highlighting discrepancies in the media coverage of the event along the way, the narrator ultimately questions the role of the artwork itself and its portrayal of an act of terrorism to the public.

Bringing together over 100 works by 80 modern masters and contemporary artists including Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Piet Mondrian, Gabriel Orozco and Aleksander Rodchenko, the exhibition traces a century of Abstract art from 1915 to today, shedding new light on the evolution of geometric abstraction.

Beginning with Kazimir Malevich’s Black and White. Suprematist Composition (1915) the exhibition explores how abstract art can both underpin socially transformative spaces and filter into all aspects of visual culture.

Exhibition highlights include an entire wall filled with photographs documenting the radio towers of Moscow and Berlin by Aleksandr Rodchenko and László Moholy-Nagy amongst others, blow-up archive photographs of iconic exhibitions running through the history of abstraction and a selection of magazines which convey revolutionary ideas in art and society through typography and graphic design.

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/adventures-of-the-black-square-abstract-art-and-society-1915-2015

This intensive three day course looks at the artistic traditions, institutions, networks and ideas that have framed a generation of artists and redefined the international art world. While addressing local histories of the region, we look at ideas of faith, displacement and myth through the work of key artist figures such as Etel Adnan, Mona Hatoum and Wael Shawky among others. We discuss the aesthetics of conflict and the contested space of art in politics, learn about patronage and cultural infrastructure including institutions, collections and biennales and in turn public perception, art markets and beyond. Chaired by Omar Kholeif, Curator, Whitechapel Gallery, he will be joined by expert guest speakers including Daniella Rose King (writer, curator),Maryam Eisler (philanthropist), Dr Anthony Downey (Director, Contemporary Art, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and Editor in Chief, Ibraaz), Sultan Al Qassemi (scholar, columnist, commentator) Aaron Cezar (Director, Delfina Foundation) and Ben Rawlingson-Plant (Partner, Brunswick Arts) among many others, for a rich programme of informative discussion and lively debate to enable a deep understanding of one of the world’s richest and most historic art scenes.

For any queries or for more information on the course, please contact courses@whitechapelgallery.org

Suitable for

• Not suitable for children

Admission

Pre-book your ticket.

Full ticket price: £599
Concessions: £540

For any queries or for more information on the course, please contact courses@whitechapelgallery.org

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/3-day-course-introduction-global-art-middle-east-north-africa/

From curating film programmes to organising festivals, producing films and developing residencies, this day explores the varied role of the institutional and freelance programmer, specialising in artist film and new media.

Curators Gareth Evans and Karen Alexander explore a range of areas including:

• Initial research approaches
• How to develop networks and partners
• How to curate events – both within institutions and off-site
• Critical writing
• Film production

Gareth Evans is a writer, curator, presenter and Film Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery. He programmes PLACE, the annual cross-platform festival at Aldeburgh Music in Suffolk and has curated numerous film and event seasons such as ‘Romany’ and ‘JG Ballard’, ‘John Berger: Here Is Where We Meet’ and ‘All Power to the Imagination! 1968 and Its Legacies’.

Karen Alexander is former senior tutor in the Royal College of Art’s Curating Contemporary Art department. She has worked as a freelance curator and consultant on film exhibition and distribution and has contributed to several books including Women and Film: Sight & Sound Reader (1999), and If Looks Could Kill (2008) amongst others.

The Art Fund is supporting the series by offering a number of fully funded places per course for curators and museum and gallery professionals. Applications will open in January 2015.


For any queries or for more information on the course, please contact courses@whitechapelgallery.org

Suitable for

• Not suitable for children

Admission

Pre-book your tickets.

Adult Ticket, £195
Concessions, £150

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/careers-visual-arts-film-events-programming/

What does it take to operate as an independent curator and to work effectively and creatively within established arts organisations?

Expert curators Charlotte Bonham-Carter and Sarah McCrory investigate:

• The processes behind planning exhibitions
• Commissioning new work in challenging spaces
• Touring exhibitions and biennales
• Critical writing
• How to navigate networks and institutions as an independent curator

Charlotte Bonham-Carter is Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at Richmond University, London. She was Curator of Art on the Underground and previously at ICA, London, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and Barbican Art Gallery, London. She is also an art critic and regular contributor to Flash Art, Art in America and is co-author of The Contemporary Art Book (Goodman, 2009,2011 and 2013), a survey of the most influential artists working today.

Currently the Director of Glasgow International, Sarah McCrory worked as curator of Frieze Projects and Film, for the London 2012 Festival and at Studio Voltaire. She was curator of self-publishing fair Publish and Be Damned and was a Director of Vilma Gold, London. She is on the jury of the 2014 Turner Prize.

The Art Fund is supporting the series by offering a number of fully funded places per course for curators and museum and gallery professionals. Applications will open in January 2015.


For any queries or for more information on the course, please contact courses@whitechapelgallery.org

Suitable for

• Not suitable for children

Admission

Pre-book your tickets.

Adults, £195
Concessions, £150

Website

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/careers-visual-arts-exhibition-organisation-commissioning/

We focus on the challenging and vital role of the Development professional, offering essential guidance that could be applied to working in small and large-scale organisations. Led by Stephen Escritt and Darryl de Prez the day will look at different strategies and models of working, funding bodies and their priorities, successful applications, key networks and contacts, capital projects, supporter programmes, commercial activity and corporate engagement.

Partner at Counterculture, Stephen Escritt provides business planning and financial management services to the arts and creative industries. He has worked at the British Museum and the Whitechapel Gallery, where he was Director of Strategic Development and delivered a successful model partnership between a cultural organisation and its local, national and private sector partners.

Head of Development at the Whitechapel Gallery, Darryl de Prez has over 20 years’ experience in fundraising and development, having worked at a range of charities and arts organisations including the National Trust, the Serpentine Gallery and English National Opera. Darryl is Alumni Ambassador at the Courtauld Institute, advising students on careers in arts development.

The Art Fund is supporting the series by offering a number of fully funded places per course for curators and museum and gallery professionals. Applications will open in January 2015.

For any queries or for more information on the course, please contact courses@whitechapelgallery.org

Suitable for

• Not suitable for children

Admission

Pre-book your tickets.

Adult tickets, £195
Concessions, £150

Whether you’re setting up a small, self-led arts organisation or working within a major museum – knowledge of the ever-evolving field of communications is fundamental to audience engagement and to the critical reach of an organisation and its programmes. Rachel Mapplebeck and Jane Wentworth Associates take a look at brand, vision, values and developing effective communications strategies across digital and print.

You will learn about:

• The how, what and why of cultural branding
• Maximising cultural organisation retail: how to use your assets to bring in revenue
• Internal branding and how to live the brand

Rachel Mapplebeck is Head of Communications at the Whitechapel Gallery. A cultural communications specialist focused on building audiences, brand and profile for arts organisations, she leads on strategic brand and communications campaigns for over 30 exhibitions and 200 events a year.

Jane Wentworth Associates is a communications consultancy and international leader in brand for the cultural sector. They work with organisations to become more visible, more focused and more engaging, their expertise lies in brand strategy, identity and communications.

The Art Fund is supporting the series by offering a number of fully funded places per course for curators and museum and gallery professionals. Applications will open in January 2015.

For any queries or for more information on the course, please contact courses@whitechapelgallery.org

Suitable for

• Not suitable for children

Admission

Pre-book your tickets.

Adult tickets, £195
Concessions, £150