Art Tour | East London Galleries, Spring 2016

‘Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography’. Installation view at Parasol unit, 2016. Photography: Jack Hems. Courtesy of Parasol unit.
A logo on a small sign on the wall, a heavy door and a noisy buzzer. Then a few steps, before entering a warehouse space illuminated with neon lights, all walls re-painted in a bright white, in contrast with a glossy grey floor. Since the beginning of the 1990s this image has been strongly impressed in the imagination of all gallery-goers. We can clearly identify this aesthetic, developed within the abandoned manufacturing buildings of the London’s East End, where it was introduced a few decades ago, by looking at the art scene from the other side of the Atlantic.
What has happened since then? As all the urban makeovers, this was just the beginning of a tale of transformations, where creative motivations must face sooner or later the complex and delicate processes behind the City. After the roaring years between the end of the 1990s and the dawn of the new millennium, the number of art venues increased unrestrained, leaving less and less space for experimentation and enterprising spirit. Gentrification and fast rising prices did the rest, so that, by the beginning of the new decade, London witnessed a real exodus of galleries from the East.
It has been quite shocking to hear the news that Matt’s Gallery, one of the pioneer and most influential spaces in the area, has shut its doors to relocate South. But apparently the end of this season is far away to come, considering the even now remarkable concentration of galleries and the charm that it continues to hold on the contemporary art scene. Just during these very last weeks, with renovated energies Breese Little and Kunstraum have moved across inaugurating new venues respectively in Cambridge Heat Road and Shoreditch, while at the beginning of this month we have welcomed Limone, a new artist run space in Homerton.
With a bittersweet feeling but not without expectations, we have then taken a long art tour, visiting most of the spaces gathered around East London; among the highlights of the area, we recommend Paper, Publication, Performance at Lychee One, an exhibition of artist books and works on paper, culminating in this final week, entirely devoted to performances. This is the last week also for Bad Infinity 2.0 at xero, kline & coma, an intangible assault to the gallery space by Luke Pendrell and James Trafford, who explored the hybrid temporality of GIF images. Worthy of attention is also Maria Eichhorn’s solo show at Chisenhale, who has sent the gallery’s staff on unexpected leave for 5 weeks, 25 days, 175 hours, as part of her research on contemporary labour conditions.
Photography-lovers will enjoy Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography – curated by Ziba Ardalan – featuring a selection of artworks by Sonja Braas, David Claerbout, Elger Esser, Julie Monaco, Jörg Sasse, Stephen Shore, and Joel Sternfeld – that questions the notions of reality and fiction of photographic images. Finally – not to be missed – Laura Bartlett’s group show Under a Falling Sky, featuring works by John Divola, Cyprien Gaillard, Beatrice Gibson, Michail Pirgelis, and Daniel Turner, as well as the exuberant solo show by Małgorzata Markiewicz Can I make you feel bad? at l’étrangère.
WHAT’S ON IN EAST LONDON
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Charles Mayton, Figure, until 22 May at Campoli Presti
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John Finneran, A Figure Searching Day&Night until 11 June at Arcade Gallery
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Maruša Sagadin’s, Doris Ionic Iconic, until 11 June at SPACE
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John Knight, Vacant Possession, until 28 May at Cabinet Gallery
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Jumana Emil Abbound, Haunted Springs and Water Demons in Palestine. Until 23 July at Kunstraum
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Cyprien Gaillard, Untitled (Tooth) until 5 June at Laura Bartlett
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Jimmy Merris, Die Hoffnung until 21 May at Seventeen Gallery
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Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography, until 28 June at Parasol unit. Photo: Jack Hems.
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James Pitarch, Particle Accelerator, until 4 June at the Ryder Project
- John Smith, until 28 May at Kate Macgarry
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Aviary, until 21 May at Transition Gallery
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Paper, Publication, Performance until 20 May at Lychee One
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Maria Eichhorn, 5 weeks, 25 days, 175 hours, until 29 May at Chisenhale
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Josh Bitelli, All doors and no exits, until 12 June at Cell Project Space
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Bad Infinity 2.0, until 22 May at xero.kline.coma
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Bloody Life, until 22 May at Herald Street
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#0 Rosina, until 27 May at Limone project space
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Malgorzata Markiewicz, Can I make you feel bad? until 28 May at l’ètrangére
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Oliver Osborne, Fish, until 4 June at Vilma Gold
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Pauli Nimer Pjota, Sound Landscape with gold and my memory about Northeast, until 29 May at Maureen Paley
by Manu Buttiglione
in A Walk Through The Art
May 17, 2016