The City Gallery Exhibitions: Archive 3

Sine Language 

Hetain Patel and Jason Singh

20 January – 24 February

Hetain Patel’s new site-specific installation work looks at how he can locate a sense of displaced Indian heritage within himself through sound and physical interaction. Developed from a collaborative partnership between Patel, a visual artist and Jason Singh, musician and DJ, Sine Language examines how cultural dialogue can emerge from the complex rhythms of drumming, the movement of performed actions and the environmental noise of a gallery space.

Hetain Patel, who won a Decibel award in 2005, has previously explored the physicality of cultural expression by marking his skin to self-tattoo and photographing the results. He then started to learn tabla drumming, a traditional Indian form of music which is governed by the specific time cycles of all Indian classical music. His recent works including the DVD diptych Performance Box experiment with the idea of instilling a sense of Indian-ness through the physical action of drumming to the rules of these time cycles.

A partnership project with Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham, London Printworks Trust and The Collection, Lincoln. 

Speaking Soul - Ellen Bell

20 January – 24 February

Ellen Bell is an artist who produces exquisitely crafted objects from paper ephemera. This involved the construction of items of clothing out of paper texts and images, often taken from popular magazines, which were presented by the artist as symbolic stand-ins for everyman and everywoman, commenting on family and community narratives.

In her latest, Bell explores the relationship between place, language and cultural translation by looking at the experience of using a second language and by examining how translation impacts on our identity. This will culminate in a site-specific installation that will use the transitory qualities of paper texts together with stories, memories and observations collected by the artist from men and women from other countries that have come to live in Leicester. The fashioning of symbolic templates for both the garments that clothe us and the speech we use to communicate come together in an environment fashioned out of words.

Things We Lost in the Fire

7 March – 14 April

This group exhibition curated by artist Gordon Dalton brings together works by six acclaimed UK artists, Ruth Claxton, Gordon Dalton, Lloyd Durling, Mark Gubb, Merlin James and  Cecile Johnson Soliz. The exhibition title Things We Lost in the Fire is taken from an album by American rock band Low and hints at regrets and loss. Dalton is interested in artists who make works that refuse to fit into any grand gestures or statements, but instead remind us of the quiet of existence of things we take for granted. Ruth Claxton alters and subverts cheap ornaments; Cecile Johnson Soliz’s ceramic installations are an examination of the sculptural properties of functional, often domestic objects. Dalton’s installations often look at lost ideals and Lloyd Durling’s biro drawings of landscapes juxtapose innocence and catastrophe.

Things We Lost in the Fire is also about the advantages of working slowly and revisiting old ideas. The exhibition was shown first at the Transition Gallery and is re-presented for The City Gallery. Merlin James’ landscape paintings are often poetic and moody, but also highly artificial in their re-working of the conventions and techniques of painting. Mark Gubb’s projects take many forms and re-visit his own fascination with popular culture, including ‘inappropriate films’, popular history and rock and roll.

The Poetics of the Everyday
7 March – 14 April

This group exhibition of international artists working in metal, is curated by Jerwood Prize winner Simone ten hompel. Artists Wiebke Meurer, Cathy Miles, Vladimir Böhm, David Clarke, Asato Kamiyama, Chien-Wei Chang and Ji-Hyun Yoo all make works that examine different cultural responses to the use of silver and its role in everyday life, including the daily rituals of eating, drinking and entertaining.

A touring exhibition from the flow Gallery, London.

cutout – motiroti/dbox
25 April - 26 May

cutout is a video triptych filmed in six cities of the world by internationally acclaimed arts organisation motiroti in collaboration with dbox. Filmed in Auckland, Cape Town, London, Mumbai, New York and Singapore, cutout tells us about people, urban life and cultural identities in the 21st century.
 
cutout unfolds a dialogue between the urban fabric and new cultural influences, and plays with the private sphere, the expression of the human body and public space. Figures swirl against deconstructed images of their cities, each with its unique palette of light, colour, sounds and semiotics.

cutout was launched at the ICA in 2005, and will be shown at The City Gallery as an installation. The single screen version cutout II has been shown on BBC big screens in prominent public spaces, and has been projected on the National Theatre’s Flytower.

Director Ali Zaidi; Original concept Keith Khan and Ali Zaidi in collaboration with dbox; Video Ali Zaidi, dbox; Animation dbox; Editor Daniel Saul.

motiroti is a London based award winning arts organisation led by Artistic Director Ali Zaidi. Progressing ideas on identity, motiroti's work is led by participation, new technology and design. Working with a range of collaborators, motiroti deliberately blurs art-form specialism to encourage cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural dialogues. www.motiroti.com  

dbox is a studio of artists, illustrators, photographers, interactive designers and visual thinkers based in New York, who together produce both commercial and independent visual arts projects in varied media. www.dbox.com

Entice 2007

25 April – 26 May

Design Factory, in partnership with The City Gallery, is proud to present Entice 2007, the latest in a series of exhibitions that showcase selected Design Factory members at a range of prestigious venues across the East Midlands. Entice 2007 is an inspiring and eclectic selling exhibition showcasing 12 contemporary designer/makers from the East Midlands. Entice 2007 includes innovative jewellery by Alex Williamson and Shona Marsh, colourful ceramics by Finola Delamere and Katrin Moye, vibrant textile drawings by Corrina Rothwell and sculptured glass by Margaret Troli.


Design Factory is the East Midlands’ leading design organisation that supports and promotes the regions’ top innovative designer/makers and manufacturers.