Left: “The Cool Universe” by Angel Rose. Right: “Healing With Wounds” by Matthew Stone. Images Courtesy of The Artists
As the political tension in the UK lingers and uncertainty fails to dissipate, young artists in Britain are responding the best way they can: with new utopian visions. “Utopian Voices Here and Now” is a series of performances and installations at Somerset House that encourage analysis, reflection and action. Bringing together an absorbing group of new wave contemporary artists, curator Shonagh Marshall showcases their individual utopian visions which in turn strengthen collective concepts of societal improvement.
We’ve selected the five UK-based artists and collectives who are making our creative juices flow in time of austerity.
[vimeo width=”830″ height=”360″]https://vimeo.com/142238574[/vimeo]
ANGEL ROSE
“The Cool Universe” is an interactive installation of video, sound, and graphics that will help you understand what “coolness” is. Coolness will be viewed as a facet of both social inclusion and as a form of subcultural capital. Rose, being part of the London subculture, aims to understand and challenge younger generations’ overwhelming fixation with being cool.
“2026” by Ibrahim Kamara & Kristin Lee Moolman. Images Courtesy of Ibrahim Kamara
IBRAHIM KAMARA & KRISTIN LEE MOOLMAN
The artists’ collaboration “2026” challenges heteronormative attitudes to fashion while probing the understanding of the concept of being African by decentralising its approach. Namely, to improve awareness of the differences and similarities amongst African Americans, Latin Africans, Africans born in Africa, and British Africans.
“UK Gay Bar Directory” by Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan Anderson. Image Courtesy of The Artists
ROSIE HASTINGS & HANNAH QUINLAN
“UK Gay Bar Directory” is a collaboration analysing the ephemerality of LGBTQI issues in the UK. Their film questions the notion of the “gay bar” across the UK, through footage from 170 different gay bars across 13 cities in the country.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHcCNR-jdXH/?taken-by=artshaman&hl=en
MATTHEW STONE
Stone’s work explores the body and how individuals are aware of the position and movements of their different body parts, to then analyse the kinaesthetic possibility in societies. “Healing With Wounds” is an exhibition of digital paintings developed with leading technology by the founder of !WOWOW!, the renowned London-based art-squat.
“Native Instincts: Psychic Labours” by Alexandrina Hemsley & Jamila Johnson-small. Photo by Katarzyna Perlak
ALEXANDRINA HEMSLEY & JAMILA JOHNSON-SMALL (PROJECT O)
The duo’s performance act “Native Instincts: Psychic Labours”stems from their shared a desire to voice their own experiences as black, female, and mixed race individuals. With intimate and urgent choreography that make visible positions of otherness, the artists imagine ways of no longer seeming “other”, while questioning society’s appetite for the nation’s colonial past.
“Utopian Voices Here and Now” is at Somerset House, London, until 29 August 2016