This may well be the busiest week in the London cultural calendar so far with SXSW taking over Shoreditch with a conference programme featuring more then 500 speakers, plus another 500 musicians and 200 filmmakers. Launched as a music and film festival in the late 80s, interactive media has since become an integral part of the programming in the Texas original. SXSW London is unique in that a visual arts strand has been added to run parallel to the main event. What’s even better, the three exhibitions are free to attend.
Beautiful Collisions at Christ Church Spitalfields and LDN Lab at Protein Studios are open now until the festival ends on Saturday. Damien Roach’s Grounding is open to the public for one day only on Saturday. All are worth integrating into a tour around the London Gallery Weekend participants in the neighbourhood that include nearby Emalin, Hales Gallery, Kate MacGarry and SLQS.
The main highlight of Beautiful Collisions is a new commission by Denzil Forrester whose large abstract needs to be seen in the great setting of this historical church that enhances the spiritual energy depicted in his dancehall and nightclub paintings. Another work commissioned for SXSW is the latest film by Zinzi Minott which is on display as part of the main exhibition in the crypt below. The artist started her Fi Dem series in 2018 and has pledged to release a video on or around the anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving in the UK on 22 June for the rest of her life, or until reparations for colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade have been made. Footage of historical and contemporary conflicts is juxtaposed with personal memories, the artist’s relatives playing dominoes next to race riots; Keir Starmer’s slogan ‘Securing Britain’s Future’ collaged with scenes of far-right extremists; as somehow everyday life carries on even in the most challenging times.
As the title implies, LDN Lab approaches human existence and heritage from a tech angle. Here, Beeple’s Tree of Knowledge illustrates the balancing act between the positive and harmful effects of technology. Visitors are able to choose the level of chaos they invite into their reality, the more the game-ier and glitchier until the nature altogether – someone even tried to press the ‘choose violence’ button that has since been disabled. Originally commissioned by the Serpentine for last year’s The Call, Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst present a digital version of a church organ that plays choral music recited by a mixture of human and AI voices – a must-see (and hear).
SXSW London’s logo is painted and pasted all over Shoreditch and you meet a lot of people rushing from venue to venue sporting pink lanyards. If you’ve saved the £500+ a ticket to the conference would have set you back, you could use part of the savings for a ticket to see Benji Reid’s Find Your Eyes which also ends on Saturday. It is a perfect fit for the SXSW claim ‘Where Culture, Creativity & Technology Meet’. Wednesday’s opening night was rewarded with standing ovations and the post-performance talk had both the artist and his audience in tears. Find Your Eyes merges autobiographical elements with historical references into what Reid calls choreo-photolism, turning the creative process itself into performance made possible only by advanced technology. While in awe of the technical finesse, it is the vulnerable exchange of pure humanity that evokes the strongest response.
While the world is in crisis, life goes on and art provides the glimmer of hope to carry on. And there’s a lot of it around this weekend. sxswlondonarts.com
Beautiful Collisions, Christ Church Spitalfields, Commercial Street, London E1 6LY Friday 6th June, 12PM-5PM Saturday 7th June, 10AM-7PM
Damien Roach, Grounding Old Truman Brewery, Ely’s Yard, Hanbury Street, London E1 6QQR Saturday 7th June, 10AM -7PM
LDN LAB Protein Studios, 31 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EY Friday 6 June, 12:00-19:00h Saturday 7th June, 10AM-7PM
Benji Reid, Find Your Eyes Sadler’s Wells East, off Stratford Walk, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 2AR Friday 6th June, 7:30PM Saturday 7th June, 7:30PM sadlerswells.com/whats-on/benji-reid-factory-international-find-your-eyes
