in/flux 80 Kingsland Rd, E2 8DP (next to Flowers East)
3-14 September 2009
Hackney Transient Art Project (HTAP) is pleased to announce in/flux, an exhibition of new works of art and design exploring everyday experience as a catalyst for critical/creative practice.
Presented in a former furniture showroom on the Hackney thoroughfare of Kingsland Rd., in/flux considers ways of living, working and playing in this London borough. The title and many of the exhibition’s themes take their inspiration from Hackney as a place/space in transition.
Distinguished by a rich history of class and cultural diversity, the borough is now preparing to host the 2012 Olympic Summer Games. in/flux not only considers customs, habits, mores and other ways of living practiced by local residents over the last fifty years, the exhibition also examines Hackney’s contemporary cultural context as it meshes the histories and imaginaries of artists and/or immigrants from all over the world.
in/flux brings together works by twelve selected artists based in or around Hackney. Juxtaposing sculptures, paintings, graphic design and moving image work, the exhibition resists sweeping generalisations about the area’s cultural identity. The experiences of individual residents are instead explored: how their daily routines, personal recollections, family histories, community activism and so on constitute this part of London. Ten video interviews with selected locals anchor the exhibition, with many of the artists directly referencing these recordings in their artworks.
Produced as an oral history archive, the interviews show individuals, couples, friends and families reflecting on what it is to call Hackney ‘home’. Combining human geographic and artistic research, in/flux contests normative notions of the ‘group show’ as a dispassionate scheme for exhibiting the work of individual artists and designers. The exhibition instead situates the works and interviews in a larger community of Hackney enthusiasts intent on understanding this complex cultural context through sustained engagement. In addition to the new works and the oral history archive, in/flux will also (re)present research conducted at Pattern Makers for Beginners, HTAP’s contribution to Hackney Wicked 2009 (August 1, 2009). Finally, the exhibition is accompanied by a series of free forums that compliment and further explore issues arising from the project’s development.
Full details of the discussion program can be found at www.htap.co.uk These are open to everyone; divergent perspectives welcome.
Curated by Marsha Bradfield and Miriam Kings, in/flux presents works by Alison Barnes, Marnie Baumer, Matt Blackler, Clemmie James, Matthew Krishanu, Tamara Lesniewska and Kim Alexander, Christine Mitrentse, Barry Gene Murphy, Christoph Steger, Lucy Tomlins and Charlotte Young.
The oral history archive is produced and edited by Marsha Bradfield, Marnie Baumer, Evan Brindle, Miriam Kings, Slade Lamey and Lucy Tomlins. It includes interviews with Marnie Baumer; Vivi and Rod Boucher; Joyce Carroll and Elsie Hows; Miron Farmus, Gaspar
Karczewski, Tamara Lesneiwska and Joanna Lesniewska; Rui and Ines Freitas, Dino Granielloand Donaldo Figueroa, Jean Philippe Gerard, Yasar Ismailoglu, Kaday Rose Kamara and Lise Munro (otherwise known as ‘Killpussy’).
