Art Calendar, 31 March 2022

Tentative Words Change Everything

sculptures by Turner Prize-shortlisted Nathan Coley light up Sussex.

The artist exclusively answers some questions about the project to Alethea & Art Magazine.

"You imagine what you wish for"

a slogan chosen by Nathan Coley for our time. 

April 2 to August 29, 2022 held in County of Sussex

Tentative Words Change Everything by Nathan Coley

©Keith Hunter

Six sculptures by Turner Prize-nominated contemporary artist Nathan Coley will shine in special places in Sussex beginning April 2, 2022. According to the artist, there has never been an exhibition where so many of his sculptures were in close proximity to each other.

Nathan Coley was born in Glasgow in 1967. He uses his art to explore the way architecture is charged with meaning. His practice is based on an interest in public space and how personal, social, religious and political systems structure the environment as well as people themselves.

In many of his artworks, he uses "found writing" to isolate it from its historical reality and return it as a new representation. 

"I Dont Have Another Land", for example, was graffiti he found on a wall in Jerusalem in the early 2000s. The proclamation in the sculpture in Charleston could be interpreted as a reference to the climate emergency or the current refugee crisis. But perhaps it also encourages visitors to think about Charleston as a sanctuary-a sanctuary for queer artist Duncan Grant and his friends at a time when their identity and lifestyle were being criminalized.

The work is meant to have a different meaning for everyone who sees it, which basically means the possibilities are endless.

Where:

The sculptures are located on West Beach in Newhaven, looking across the English Channel to France. Another looks down on the town of Lewes from a Norman motte. Others are in a churchyard, a vineyard and a parking lot. On March 31, another work by Nathan Coley will be unveiled in Charleston, the former home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. The full list of locations is here:

sussexmodern.org.uk/nathancoley.

Tentative Words Change Everything by Nathan Coley

©Keith Hunter

To the interview:

Alethea & Art Magazine: When commissioned with this project what inspired you most about the Sussex landscape? Do you have a connection to Sussex?

Nathan Coley: I had never been to Sussex before the project. It an interesting area to me as it's the end of the British mainland - a part of England that has always been fortified, defended and been conscious and fearful of different people across the channel. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: Can you tell me anything about the individual meanings of the artworks?

Nathan Coley: I think the meanings of the works comes about in two ways. When introduced to the landscape, the words are read in that particular situation and meaning is inferred. In addition I think the context is changed by the temporary occupation by the sculptures. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: Are you the author of your texts?

Nathan Coley: I am never the author of the texts. They are sourced from the world. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: Did the Corona period have an impact on your work?

Nathan Coley: For over two years I have not been traveling. This is something I have missed greatly; the chance encounter, the moment of reflection and the comfort of coming home. I understand clearly that the phrases don't come to me, I go to them. 

Alethea & Art Magazine: Are you also currently working on artworks that reflect the current conflict on earth?

Nathan Coley: I don't think that a sense of change should be seen as either a negative or a positive. I think it should be thought of as 'neutral'.

"You Imagine What You Desire' - a slogan for our time. 

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Tentative Words Change Everything" is funded by the UK government through the UK Community Renewal Fund, which aims to promote Sussex as a place for culture, arts and tourism.

About Nathan Coley: 

Nathan Coley was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1967. Coley has had solo exhibitions at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in Melbourne, Portsmouth Cathedral, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, and the Kunstverein Freiburg in Germany. 

His work is in major international collections, including the Tate in London, the Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh, the Government Art Collection in London, the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and the Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand. 

Environment & Art - March 7, 2022

"Topographies of Fragility"

 Ingrid Weyland is an emerging, multi-award winning Argentine artist. In her latest project, "Topographies of Fragility", she manipulates and distorts the seemingly perfect landscapes that she herself has traveled and whose environmental destruction by humans has begun. The fragility of the paper is a poetic allusion to man's relationship with his planet. Ingrid Weyland is convinced that art can emotionalize society and also the government to take commitment for climate protection. An interview.

Read more

The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change" June 1-3 in Bilbao-Biscay, Spain. 

SPARK Bilbao

an exclusive interview with Daan Roosegaarde. The Dutch artist's latest work will be a dreamscape of biodegradable sparks of light, an alternative to the much-missed fireworks tradition. SPARK will have its world premiere at "The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change" June 1-3 in Bilbao-Biscay, Spain. 

SPARK is a sustainable alternative for the traditional and polluting methods of celebration. 

Read more

©SPARK Roosegaarde

Art Calendar / Environment & Art, 27 March 2022

Pollinator Pathmaker - the largest living artwork ever created for climate change mitigation blooms in spring. Alethea & Art previously reported when Pollinator Pathmaker - a 55-foot-long living artwork by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg was planted in the fall of 2021. The project is dedicated to the vital role of pollinators and will be in full bloom for the first time this May at the Eden Project in Cornwall. The bees, moths, beetles and wasps that this artwork is all about have also arrived in the meantime.

Read more

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg as the plants were sown.

Image: Steve Tanner