Calvert 22 Foundation
22 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP.
Calvert 22 is an exhibition and event space dedicated to contemporary art from Russia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. Their curatorial programme is wide-ranging and committed to facilitating creative and engaging dialogues that cross cultural disciplines and national boundaries. Their most recent exhibition (co-curated by South London Gallery) was a retrospective of work by Sanja Ivekovic. It was inspiring and informed, affirming the critically engaged ethos of the Foundation. Their next project, ‘…how is it towards the East?’, opens on May 1st. It is five-week season of commissions, talks, walks and screenings tracing Russia and Eastern Europe in the East End.
Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Road, N1 7RW.
Victoria Miro relocated from Cork Street to Shoreditch in 2000. The gallery represents renowned and internationally acclaimed artists, such as William Eggleston, Grayson Perry, Yayoi Kusama and Chris Ofili. Victoria Miro 14 opened in 2006 as an additional viewing space open to the public for special projects. Alongside the main space, there is a landscaped garden that overlooks a restored stretch of Regent’s Canal. This natural environment adds an extra dimension for site-specific and installation works. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to see Grayson Perry’s tapestries The Vanity of Small Differences last summer. They were exhibited in association with his Channel 4 documentary ‘All in the Best Possible Taste’. Victoria Miro are currently showing an exhibition of new narrative paintings by Verne Dawson.
Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art
16 Wharf Road, N1 7RW.
Parasol Unit is located adjacent to Victoria Miro. It is a not-for-profit organisation that supports international contemporary artists through challenging and creative quarterly exhibitions. They are showing sculptural work by the Iran-born Dutch artist Navid Nuur until May. Nuur explores the transformative potential of everyday objects in unusual and engaging ways. The events programme at Parasol Unit is dynamic and wide-ranging; it varies from cinema and poetry events to family workshops, curator talks and artist lectures.
Bloomberg SPACE
50 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1HD.
A 360-degree video installation by Charles Atlas is on show at Bloomberg until March 30th. The film is made up from a collection of found footage from the Bloomberg digital archives alongside a multitude of other sources. Unlike more conventional corporate collections, Bloomberg has created a dynamic space beneath their European headquarters. Open to the community at large, the space has collaborated with over 300 artists in the last ten years as part of their philanthropic pledge to provide new opportunities for artists, curators and institutions. A commissioned installation, NEST, by Tobias Rehberger hangs in the atrium area. It hosts 888 spheres that light up in response to the number of people logged in to the computer network at any one time. Rehberger’s work embraces and reflects the technology at the heart of Bloomberg’s business.
Hales Gallery
7 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA.
Hales Gallery is located in the Tea Building. It was originally opened in Deptford and launched the career of popular British artists such as the Chapman brothers and Mike Nelson. I discovered the gallery as a teenager and was particularly inspired by an installation created by Tomoko Takahashi in 2007. The gallery also sells and produces a selection of interesting exhibition catalogues and publications. An exhibition of ceramic works by Richard Slee is now on show in the space.
Words by Philomena Epps (http://philomenaepps.tumblr.com/)
