Gasworks presents it 2023 exhibition programming.
Ingela Ihrman: Nocturne
February 2–April 30, 2023
Preview: February 1, 6:30-8:30pm
Ingela Ihrman, a Malmö-based artist, has her first solo exhibition in London at Gasworks. Her work explores the interwoven coexistence of seemingly insignificant life-forms such as invading weeds, intestinal flora, extinct amphibians, and nocturnal birds, moving freely between performance, sculpture, and video.
Ihrman shows both new and previous pieces at Gasworks, incorporating them into a mythological arc inspired by Swedish nature filmmaker Jan Lindblad’s life (and supposed death). Green Paradise (2009), an early video work, opens the exhibition with a gastroscopy-like journey into the meandering digestive tract of a giant snake, imagining what Lindblad would have seen from inside the anaconda he famously wrestled during one of his filming expeditions to the South American rainforest.
By incorporating Lindblad’s partially digested remnants after his near encounter with an anaconda, a newly commissioned wearable artwork will allow spectators to merge—quite literally—with nature. In addition to these pieces, Ihrman will exhibit a new version of Oilbird with Nestling (2021), a work created in self-isolation during the pandemic. Ihrman will transform the gallery into a pitch-dark nesting cave, encouraging viewers to become nocturnal creatures and learn to traverse the exhibition area by echolocation.
Gasworks commissioned and organized Ihrman’s exhibition, which was made possible by IASPIS, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s worldwide program for visual and applied arts.
Kent Chan
May 25–September 10, 2023
Preview: May 24, 6:30-8:30pm
Kent Chan, a Singaporean artist based in Amsterdam, has his first solo exhibition in the UK at Gasworks. His practice, which he shares with other artists, authors, and musicians, use speculative fiction to investigate the tropical fantasy, past and future linkages between heat and cultural identity, and the legacy of colonial modernity in the face of climate change.
Chan’s work takes real-world data of climate change and applies them to a fictitious scenario of a future global tropic. The show at Gasworks strives to broaden our geoclimatic imagination about the impending future by addressing hypothetical yet urgent concerns such as: “If the entire world become tropical, what would it mean to have an Old and New Tropics? In a monoclimatic planet, how will global culture and geopolitical relations be reshaped?”
Chan’s moving-image works will be shown as part of an immersive installation that tries to reproduce, rather than simply portray, the tropics experience inside the museum. The installation will produce a dynamic micro-climate across the venue, mimicking tropical monsoons, while quietly choreographing the audience’s navigation of the exhibition area.
Gasworks commissioned and produced Chan’s exhibition.
Trevor Yeung
September 28–December 17, 2023
Preview: September 27, 6:30-8:30pm
Trevor Yeung, a Hong Kong-based artist, has his first solo exhibition in the UK at Gasworks. His study delves into the fundamental logics of power systems, examining how these set the stage for desire and subjectivity to arise. The lives of plants and animals become a medium in his meticulously constructed installations to subtly confront issues of control and normativity within social relations.
Yeung’s work is centered on gardening and generative care methods. While investigating human dominance and the domestication of nature, his practice creates a space for caring encounters and living beings to negotiate their coexistence. His delicate sculptures and installations are imbued with intimacy and fragility, and are frequently presented as reflections of the human condition in the guise of controlled surroundings.
The installation is centered around a large-scale soap cast of Hampstead Heath’s infamous “fuck tree,” the bark of which is notoriously polished due to decades of nightly use by the homosexual cruising population.
Using light and scent as key elements in his sculptural work, Yeung will transform the gallery to explore his emotional connection to Hampstead Heath, a park popular with cruisers since the 19th century, while exploring the fluid interplay between night and day, public and private life, hiding from others and being seen.
Gasworks commissioned and developed Yeung’s exhibition in collaboration with Para Site, Hong Kong.
Catherine Petitgas and Gasworks Shows Supporters provide funding for all Gasworks exhibitions.
Residencies programme
Gasworks’ residencies programme offers studios to international artists for a fully-funded three-month residency to develop new work and research on site. Confirmed artists for 2023 include: Ivy Brandie Chemutai Ng’ok (Kenya) Supported by Mercedes Vilardell; Leslie-Anne Cao (Philippines) Supported by Mercedes Zobel and Outset; Christian Salablanca Díaz (Costa Rica) Supported by the Shelagh Wakely bequest, administered by the Elephant Trust; Francis Offman (Italy) Supported by Fondazione Memmo; Cheong See Min (Malaysia) Supported by the Institutum; Agrade Camíz (Brazil) Supported by Gasworks’ Brazilian Residency Patrons’ Circle; Clara Esborraz (Argentina) Supported by Erica Roberts and developed in partnership with URRA and arteBA; Blanca Gracia (Spain) Supported by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and Dafe Oboro (Nigeria), winner of the Access ART X Prize.
Participation programme
Bryan Giuseppi Rodriguez Cambana is our current Participation Artist in Residence, working collaboratively with Latin American communities in our neighbourhood.
In early 2023, Cambana will present the outcome of his 8-month residency, stemming from a series of free English classes and workshops with local community groups. This residency is funded by the City Bridge Trust.
Gasworks is supported by Arts Council, England.
Gasworks
155 Vauxhall Street
London SE11 5RH
United Kingdom
Hours: Wednesday–Sunday 12–6pm
T +44 20 7587 5202
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