Art Calendar, 29 January 2023: Towner Eastbourne, the oldest gallery on the south-east coast of England, is turning 100. In addition to its own Towner 100 celebrations, it will host the Turner Prize, one of the world's leading prizes for contemporary art. An exclusive interview with director and CEO Joe Hill was granted to us. 

The Turner Prize is one of the best-known prizes for visual art in the world and aims to encourage public debate about new developments in contemporary British art. Established in 1984, the prize is awarded to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the previous twelve months. Joe Hill has worked as Director, Curator and Project Coordinator including leading the team at Focal Point Gallery, Essex, and has been Director of Towner Eastbourne since 2018. 

Towner 100

The Turner Prize will conclude Towner Eastbourne's centenary celebrations - Towner 100- in 2023 which also include an exhibition by Barbara Hepworth, and two exhibitions of works from the collection. As well as having a collection of over 5000 works, the Towner collection is also known to have the largest mural in the UK. In 2019, German artist Lothar Goetz was chosen to redesign the building exterior to mark its tenth anniversary of moving from the Old Town to a new building in Eastbourne. The artist transformed the building with his geometric trademark drawings, Dance Diagonal, into a total work of art, now known worldwide and a hallmark of Eastbourne and Sussex. 

If you don't know Eastbourne. It's a beautiful southern English town with Victorian beach hotels, the 19th century Eastbourne Pier and a 1930s bandstand. Along the coast, in the South Downs National Park, are the high chalk cliffs of Beachy Head. 

----

Also read in this interview with Joe Hill how the political instability and recession is affecting his museum and the wider art world in England.

Towner director Joe Hill ©Rosie Powell

Towner Art Gallery - Manor House Gardens-Eastbourne, 1931. Donlion Productions postcard. Towner Archive

Towner Eastborne with the famous mural by German artist German artist Lothar Goetz ©MarcAtkins

Read also

Courtesy of Valentino

Fashion Calendar, 12 January 2023

Pierpaolo Piccioli wants to define the codes of menswear.

Read more

Venice, new rules since January 2023

What major events in art, culture and society are we facing?

Alethea Mag: You have been Director Towner Eastbourne for five years. What have you been able to achieve since then that you are very proud of?

Joe Hill: Since I joined in 2018, we have worked to re-vision the organisation to create an open and inclusive community space which acts as a catalyst for positive change locally, and celebrates this unique place nationally and internationally. Now 100 years old, the gallery continues to look forward and examine what the role of galleries and museums is in shaping and reflecting the next hundred years for our community.

I am most proud of the exterior commission we installed in 2019, which wrapped the entire building in a geometric artwork by German artist Lothar Götz, Dance Diagonal. This completely shifted the relationship the gallery held with the wider community and was shared online internationally millions of times. This change in perception for the organisation and the town resulted in the gallery winning Art Fund Museum of the Year in 2020.

Towner, centenary celebrations in 2023

A.M.: Now the Turner Prize will be awarded at your museum. Is this in a way a highlight for your museum, what does it mean to you?

J.J.: The Turner Prize will close our Centenary celebrations in 2023. It is the biggest contemporary art prize in the UK and brings significant attention and audience numbers to see the exhibition. It will be an opportunity to showcase our new approach to a wider audience and celebrate the strong creative community in Eastbourne and the South Coast. Alongside the Turner Prize, we will be delivering an ambitious programme of activity which will animate spaces in the town like the station, shopping centre and seafront.

A.M.: Can you explain to international readers why the Turner Prize is so significant?

J.J.: The Turner Prize is an annual contemporary art prize which has, since its conception in 1991, is a prize that has always generated wider public interest. It is covered by the wider media in the UK and does tend to attract a non-arts audience. It is a rare moment in the UK, when contemporary art meets a mainstream media and audience. This is a key moment to build confidence with new audiences around contemporary art and allow the debate about ‘what is art?’ to inhabit the building. 

A.M.: What makes your museum stand out in the English museum and gallery landscape?

J.J.: Towner is a gallery that has always prioritised access to great art for all, supported living artists and used the unique landscape context of Eastbourne to explore wider themes of landscape and environmental change on a global front. Now positioned at one of the nearest geographic points to our neighbours in Europe, we see our role as critical in maintaining a cultural conversation internationally post Brexit.

Open free spaces where we can work together to develop a future vision for our community.

A.M.: I read a lot about the times of radical change in your country. Can you talk about this? How is the recession affecting your field?

J.J.: The country has experienced a prolonged period of political instability, which followed a decade of underinvestment across the public sector, including in the arts. This has resulted in a very divided nation, with a clear lack of long-term vision coming from the government. We now find ourselves with serious financial challenges and public arts funding increasingly looking to the private sector and philanthropy to back up an underinvestment by the state. These new funding models are very difficult to make work outside of large urban centres like London and therefore as a regional gallery we are finding it harder and harder to continue the level of ambition that was present at the turn of the millennium.

I fear the recent energy crisis will have a very large impact on our sector and could see a number of galleries and museums being forced to close completely. As a sector, we have developed very strong community programmes and our buildings have become key local resources as other spaces like libraries, youth and community centres continue to be under threat. These are open free spaces where we can work together to develop a future vision for our community.

A.M.: Are you a visual artist yourself? 

J.J.: I did go to art school, however I no longer make work myself, but I do hope to return to it at some point.

A.M.: Thank you very much for this interview.

Read also

Moodboard Pierpaolo Piccioli Courtesy of Valentino

Fashion Calendar, 26 January 2023

By Marlene Fedi

Can haute couture be cool and simple? Yes it can, and how it works was on show at the Valentino Le Club Couture show. 

Read more:

Criss Canning in her atelier in Lambley Nursery ©Criss Canning

Art Calendar, 15 January 2023

Smith & Singer, Melbourne: The exhibition of one of Australia's most important contemporary artists, Criss Canning, has just closed. Also read Criss Canning statement on the occasion of the exhibition.

Read more

Lifestyle Calendar, 1 January 2023

The extraordinary museums of Florence in 2023. If you are in the Renaissance city of Florence in 2023, you will probably visit the David in the Accademia Gallery, Botticelli's in the Galerie degli Uffizi, and you have already been to the Duomo. But there are many many more treasures that we want to show you in this article. 

Read more.

Muelle de la Batería s/n, A Coruña, Galicia

"Steven Meisel 1993 A Year in Photographs en A Coruña"

©Justin Paquay

Art Calendar, 5 December 2022

New exhibition of the Marta Ortega Pérez Foundation: "Steven Meisel 1993 A Year in Photographs en A Coruña". Until 1 May.

Read more: 

Der Moment

The Visit of Trash People Circular Valley Forum Ansgar Van Treeck

Art Calendar / Environment / Business, 19 November 2022

HA Schult's Trash People at the Circular Valley Forum in Wuppertal on 18 November 2022."Check the thing you want to throw away and don't give it away. It is the mirror of yourself. Don't betray your soul." 600 decision-makers from business and politics came together, including environmental activists from the early days such as HA Schult and former Federal Environment Minister Klaus Töpfer, described by the Forum as the "father of the circular economy". The participants were surprised by the Trash People, many of whom had never seen the artworks up close before. But the performance also shows what role artists play. They are not among the decision-makers, but art has the power to unite and emotionalise people, as it did on this evening.

Read more:

Portrait Francesco Cavallo ©Francesco Cavallo

Lifestyle, 11. January 2023

Can a recipe book talk about the relationship between love and food? Certainly, especially when the recipes are called "Cooking Moonlight Risotto". Francesco Cavallo, the well-known Florentine personality and owner of the Hotel Cellai has launched his first literary work, the cookbook „Cucina d‘amore e libertà“. His invitations in Florence are legendary, where he sometimes stands at the cooker himself.

Read more

Freedom Quilt, currently on display at the International Slavery Museum ©Pete Carr

Art Calendar, 29 December 2022

Freedom Quilt - a story of resilience. 

On display at the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool is the Freedom Quilt, an art project of the Sophie Hayes Foundation. Survivors of human trafficking and abuse created an art project using fabric from UK department store Liberty. In an exclusive interview, CEO Red Godfrey-Sagoo talks about the great response to the project, but also explains the scope of human trafficking. Also learn how the Sophie Hayes can help trafficked people or how you can support the Foundation.

Read more

Do you already know Düsseldorf? The most important dates from Lifestyle, Art, Fashion, & Gourmet in 2023. Let yourself be surprised by what the city in North Rhine-Westphalia, located directly on the Rhine, has to offer. In Germany, Düsseldorf is considered chic and rich, but the city is also young, diverse and rebellious, and the Düsseldorf Art Academy has its share of that. Discover the dates for the Invictus Games, ProWein, Art Düsseldorf, Classic Days, Gourmet Festival and much more. As well as a small photo series.

Read more

Stuart Semples colour Placebo ©Stuart Semple Studio

Art Calendar, 4 December 2022

Rock band Placebo X Stuart Semple: limited-edition vinyl and an entirely new colour. An exclusive interview!

The British rock band Placebo has released a limited vinyl edition "Placebo Paint", designed by the exceptional British artist Stuart Semple. Stuart Semple, also known as the "pigment activist", was the first to raise the issue of the intellectual property of a paint. Also in the media was his legal dispute with the English artist Anish Kapoor, in which he criticised the so-called monopolisation of "Vantablack". His new colour creation "Placebo", a beautifully changing shade of purple, is available to everyone.

Read more:

HA Schult in Matera ©HA Schult

Art / Art Calendar / Environment, 1 November 2022

HA Schult and Christa Steinle - we can influence people's thoughts, but not their actions. HA Schult at Circular Valley in Wuppertal on 18 November 2022. Alethea Magazine has the honour of reproducing an Artist Talk that HA Schult had with the Austrian art historian and then director of the Graz Joanneum Museum, Dr. Christa Steinle on 7 October 2006 at Palais Herberstein.

Read more