20th May 2024
May news: Joseph Zeal-Henry’s modular sound system, Helen Cammock walks the Line, and Artefact’s better bricks
Our monthly round-up sees exhibitions tackling colonialism and climate from TEMPLO and Material Cultures, an open call from the Supporting Act, and walking the Line with Helen Cammock in East London.
SUPA System at Harvard University. Photo courtesy of Joseph Zeal-Henry.
Joseph Zeal-Henry
SUPA System launches at Harvard
SUPA System launches at Harvard
Designer, urbanist and curator Joseph Zeal-Henry believes architecture can be a tool for social justice, as seen through his work for the London Greater Authority, through Sound Advice and while co-curating Britain’s 2023 Venice Architecture Pavilion.
His latest project, a collaboration with Deborah Garcia as part of the ArtLab Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University, is SUPA System – a modular installation that blurs the relationship between sound, culture and architecture.
Taking inspiration from the aluminium frames of commercial billboards, Joseph has built a human-scale and movable structure that holds speakers, riffing on a plurality of architectural traditions to create a flexible installation that repurposes commercial infrastructure to foster collaboration and community.
The installation launched on 16 May, and plans are afoot for a touring programme of events that will invite other creatives, such as visual artists and dancers, to respond to the work.
Follow Joseph for more.
His latest project, a collaboration with Deborah Garcia as part of the ArtLab Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University, is SUPA System – a modular installation that blurs the relationship between sound, culture and architecture.
Taking inspiration from the aluminium frames of commercial billboards, Joseph has built a human-scale and movable structure that holds speakers, riffing on a plurality of architectural traditions to create a flexible installation that repurposes commercial infrastructure to foster collaboration and community.
The installation launched on 16 May, and plans are afoot for a touring programme of events that will invite other creatives, such as visual artists and dancers, to respond to the work.
Follow Joseph for more.
The Supporting Act
Open call for no-strings funding now live
Open call for no-strings funding now live
Not only is The Supporting Act offering €10,000 and €50,000 to artists and non-profits respectively, the foundation has been able to double the total amount of funding on offer – to €800,000 for 2024.
The grants are targeted at those using art for social change, and prioritise marginalised voices and those experiencing financial hardship. This trust-based philanthropy approach, which sees artists given money with no strings attached, is a worthy blueprint for arts funding that we’d like to see more funders adopt.
The call closes on 27 May, so we’d love for you to help us spread the word. And, for all journalists and editors, you should seriously check out the grantees, who include the East London Strippers Collective and The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.
Apply now
The grants are targeted at those using art for social change, and prioritise marginalised voices and those experiencing financial hardship. This trust-based philanthropy approach, which sees artists given money with no strings attached, is a worthy blueprint for arts funding that we’d like to see more funders adopt.
The call closes on 27 May, so we’d love for you to help us spread the word. And, for all journalists and editors, you should seriously check out the grantees, who include the East London Strippers Collective and The DisOrdinary Architecture Project.
Apply now
The Line co-founder Megan Piper with Helen Cammock by the River Lea.
The Line
Take a walk (and watch a film) with Helen Cammock
Take a walk (and watch a film) with Helen Cammock
We cannot contain our excitement about living legend Helen Cammock unveiling a brand new commission as part of The Line, London’s (best) public-art walk.
Spanning a bridge over the Lea, On WindTides is a ceramic text-based piece that reflects on ideas of migration, waterways and colonialism. Its unveiling on 23 May will be accompanied by her wonderful film The Lay Shaft Drive is Down, a meditative exploration of the area’s milling heritage, alongside an exhibition at the House Mill, featuring works created with local community groups.
May is National Walking Month and a perfect excuse to take a walk on the wild side.
Spanning a bridge over the Lea, On WindTides is a ceramic text-based piece that reflects on ideas of migration, waterways and colonialism. Its unveiling on 23 May will be accompanied by her wonderful film The Lay Shaft Drive is Down, a meditative exploration of the area’s milling heritage, alongside an exhibition at the House Mill, featuring works created with local community groups.
May is National Walking Month and a perfect excuse to take a walk on the wild side.
Photography by Ivan Jones.
Artefact
Fixing bricks: a low-carbon alternative
Fixing bricks: a low-carbon alternative
As almost 80% of new homes in the UK are built from them, it’s fair to say that the Brits love bricks. Yet the process of excavating, milling, shaping, drying and firing the clay to make conventional bricks is very carbon intensive.
For a new installation on show during Clerkenwell Design Week, Artefact is demonstrating how ‘unloved stone’ can be transformed into small-format bricks, with a remarkable reduction in carbon consumption – 75% less than the standard process. The work will be playfully placed on the street, inserted between two iconic red London telephone boxes on Clerkenwell Green and constructed from a variety of different stones. With a nod to the local history of the site, Artefact is creating a new low-carbon vernacular for masonry buildings, marrying the enduring qualities of natural stone with the hand-made qualities of brick.
Get fired up
For a new installation on show during Clerkenwell Design Week, Artefact is demonstrating how ‘unloved stone’ can be transformed into small-format bricks, with a remarkable reduction in carbon consumption – 75% less than the standard process. The work will be playfully placed on the street, inserted between two iconic red London telephone boxes on Clerkenwell Green and constructed from a variety of different stones. With a nod to the local history of the site, Artefact is creating a new low-carbon vernacular for masonry buildings, marrying the enduring qualities of natural stone with the hand-made qualities of brick.
Get fired up
Ellen Pong’s sculptural mirror, Intrusive Thoughts. Photo by Adrianna Glaviano.
Hem
Iconic glass, crafted chair and artful mirror feature at New York Design Week
Iconic glass, crafted chair and artful mirror feature at New York Design Week
Hem has three remarkable pieces launching this week at NYCXDesign, showcasing forward-looking designs from some of the most exciting voices in design, between 16–23 May.
First, there’s the exclusive launch of Fars Glass, an iconic wine-glass design by one of the great names in the history of Swedish glassware and glass art, Erik Höglund. Next, previewing ahead of the official launch in September, there’s the Bullnose, a striking, transparently constructed lounge and dining chair design by London-based Italian designer Marco Campardo. And finally, Ellen Pong’s Intrusive Thoughts is a series of two sculptural mirrors from the first US-based creative to feature on Hem X, Hem’s platform for boundary-pushing limited editions.
Story-rich designs
First, there’s the exclusive launch of Fars Glass, an iconic wine-glass design by one of the great names in the history of Swedish glassware and glass art, Erik Höglund. Next, previewing ahead of the official launch in September, there’s the Bullnose, a striking, transparently constructed lounge and dining chair design by London-based Italian designer Marco Campardo. And finally, Ellen Pong’s Intrusive Thoughts is a series of two sculptural mirrors from the first US-based creative to feature on Hem X, Hem’s platform for boundary-pushing limited editions.
Story-rich designs
Installation imagery courtesy of Richard Round-Turner.
Andu Masebo
Material innovation on show in new group exhibition at Aram Gallery
Material innovation on show in new group exhibition at Aram Gallery
Andu Masebo features in the recently opened group exhibition Now 4 Then by Aram Gallery and Max Radford Gallery, running until 15 June at 110 Drury Lane.
In the picture above, tables and incense holds from Andu are put into conversation with recent creations from some of the most exciting designers working today, including Amelia Stevens, Charlie Humble Thomas, Eddie Olin, EJR Barnes, Freddy Tuppen, Isabel Alonso, Jaclyn Pappalardo, John Henshaw and Lewis Kemmenoe.
Follow Andu for more
In the picture above, tables and incense holds from Andu are put into conversation with recent creations from some of the most exciting designers working today, including Amelia Stevens, Charlie Humble Thomas, Eddie Olin, EJR Barnes, Freddy Tuppen, Isabel Alonso, Jaclyn Pappalardo, John Henshaw and Lewis Kemmenoe.
Follow Andu for more
Action on Empty Homes x Shelter
Campaigns publish joint plan for social housing
Campaigns publish joint plan for social housing
There are 261,000 long-term empty homes in England. There’s almost the exact same number of families in need of housing.
Action on Empty Homes and Shelter are ringing alarm bells about this untenable situation, and have recently published a research-led plan of action.
The 10-City Plan sets out how a new government could invest £1.25bn in central grant funding to rapidly convert empty houses into social-rent homes in the first three years of a new government.
Read the report
Action on Empty Homes and Shelter are ringing alarm bells about this untenable situation, and have recently published a research-led plan of action.
The 10-City Plan sets out how a new government could invest £1.25bn in central grant funding to rapidly convert empty houses into social-rent homes in the first three years of a new government.
Read the report
Listening All Night To The Rain at the British Pavilion 2024. Courtesy of the British Council.
TEMPLO x John Akomfrah
Unmissable British Pavilion now open in Venice
Unmissable British Pavilion now open in Venice
TEMPLO’s partnership with the British Pavilion at Venice is a fantastic example of creative collaboration. The design studio previously teamed up with the dynamic curatorial team of Jayden Ali, Joseph Zeal-Henry, Meneesha Kellay and Sumitra Upham, and now they’ve worked with a legendary force within Black British art, John Akomfrah.
The pavilion has opened to great critical acclaim, and it’s hard to think of another studio so perfectly poised to translate John’s exploration of listening and the politics of colonialism into a visual format.
Learn more from TEMPLO
The pavilion has opened to great critical acclaim, and it’s hard to think of another studio so perfectly poised to translate John’s exploration of listening and the politics of colonialism into a visual format.
Learn more from TEMPLO
Yasmeen Lari outside Darya Khan Village Women's Centre in Pakistan.
Create London
Yasmeen Lari and Material Cultures team up to facilitate flood barriers for the future
Yasmeen Lari and Material Cultures team up to facilitate flood barriers for the future
A commissioning body with bold ideas and a passion for social change, Create London is behind some of the most moving, impactful architectural projects around. Coinciding with the London Festival of Architecture, they have commissioned Material Cultures and Yasmeen Lari to conduct a seven-day workshop in May, creating flood barriers from bio-based materials, as an exploration of climate change, sustainability and industrial heritage. The outcomes will be exhibited at the festival throughout June.
“There’s so much money in disaster relief,” Yasmeen Lari said, “but we need to put much more effort into disaster preparedness.”
Follow Create London for more
“There’s so much money in disaster relief,” Yasmeen Lari said, “but we need to put much more effort into disaster preparedness.”
Follow Create London for more
Loom image courtesy of ISHKAR.
ISHKAR
Afghan women resist the Taliban to create new handmade carpet collection
Afghan women resist the Taliban to create new handmade carpet collection
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, female weavers have struggled to keep working as they face a curtailment of their rights. Determined to step up and show solidarity, ISHKAR is launching a new capsule collection designed by artist Louis Barthélemy, aiming to provide much-needed support to these women while also celebrating the rich craft culture of the country.
Each carpet emerges out of a collaborative process, as the artist asked the weavers to create drawings to reinterpret the idea of the Garden of Paradise, an important theme within Afghan culture. A feat of craft excellence, each piece takes approximately six months to complete. The results are wonderfully reminiscent of the warm-hued pavilions and lush vegetation of the Babur gardens in Kabul.
From Afghanistan, with love
Each carpet emerges out of a collaborative process, as the artist asked the weavers to create drawings to reinterpret the idea of the Garden of Paradise, an important theme within Afghan culture. A feat of craft excellence, each piece takes approximately six months to complete. The results are wonderfully reminiscent of the warm-hued pavilions and lush vegetation of the Babur gardens in Kabul.
From Afghanistan, with love
Giles Tettey Nartey’s Communion table is designed to facilitate and celebrate the preparation of cassava dough, elevating an everyday ritual.
Giles Tettey Nartey
Communion table creatively explores the rituals of domestic life in Ghana
Communion table creatively explores the rituals of domestic life in Ghana
The British-Ghanaian designer Giles Tettey Nartey created Communion to explore culture, culinary tradition and the rituals of domestic life in Ghana.
The piece is designed for the making of fufu – a West African staple food made by pounding cassava into a dough – and features a strikingly textured surface of dents, grooves, bowls, and bumps that enhance the preparation and cooking process.
Created from maple wood as part of a commission from AHEC, Giles’ piece is a creative statement that reimagines this practice as a communal performance, in which everyone comes together in the shared act of making food.
Sit down with Giles
The piece is designed for the making of fufu – a West African staple food made by pounding cassava into a dough – and features a strikingly textured surface of dents, grooves, bowls, and bumps that enhance the preparation and cooking process.
Created from maple wood as part of a commission from AHEC, Giles’ piece is a creative statement that reimagines this practice as a communal performance, in which everyone comes together in the shared act of making food.
Sit down with Giles
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E8 4QN
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London
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