Art Monthly 404: March 2017

Contents

Malcolm Le Grice Horror Film 1 1971

Interview

The Music of Time

Malcolm Le Grice interviewed by Sophia Phoca

The British artist and experimental filmmaker who co-founded the London Film-makers' Co-op discusses feminism, collaboration, improvisation and time.

It is about the orchestration of colour, time and dramaturgy, but I was against narrative. There is a temporal structure that is nearer to music.

Adam Curtis The Hecklers 2010

Feature

Cultic Cultures

Morgan Quaintance reflects on cults and collectivism

The post-Brexit attack on perceived elitist individualism in the arts misunderstands the nature of both art and activism. So how does the work of artists such as Manon de Boer, Anna Bunting-Branch and Maria Eichhorn reveal the radical potential of self-reflection while avoiding the dangers of a slide to the far right?

A distorted view of collectivism has laid fertile ground for the growth in prominence of what British sociologist Colin Campbell calls the cultic milieu, a 'cultural underground of society' that is composed of and conducive to the creation of cults.

Comment

Editorial

On the March

The rise of nationalism and the mob-rule mentality associated with it must be challenged, yet collective action is more effective when combined with creative direction – so is this where artists come in?

Instead of confronting the neo-Nazi marchers, the citizens welcomed them with open arms, urging them on with cheers, banners and confetti because, for every metre they marched, local businesses and residents had pledged to donate the equivalent of £10 to EXIT-Germany, a non-profit deradicalisation organisation.

Artnotes

Barbaric Violence

An exhibition in Kiev is laid waste by a mob of nationalist thugs; nationalist protesters threaten Dresden's mayor over support for art that is sympathetic to refugees; a gallery in Jerusalem is closed by the municipality for hosting a veteran's group discussing transgressions in the occupied Palestinian territories; the impeached South Korean president is sued by blacklisted artists; galleries rework their displays to protest against President Trump's travel ban; visits to UK museums drop; the University of Kent plans to close its Fine Art course; plus the latest news on galleries, appointments, prizes and more.

Obituaries

Jannis Kounellis 1936-2017

Martin Holman

Alex Baczynski-Jenkins The tremble, the symptom, the swell and
the hole together 2017

Exhibitions

The Place is Here

Nottingham Contemporary

Maria Walsh

Lubaina Himid: Invisible Strategies / Navigation Charts

Modern Art Oxford / Spike Island, Bristol

Jennifer Thatcher

Of Other Spaces: Where Does Gesture Become Event?

Cooper Gallery, Dundee

Adam Benmakhlouf

Curve of a hill like the curve of a green shoulder

Mary Mary, Glasgow

Catherine Spencer

Emily Speed: Body Builders

Phoenix, Exeter

Lizzie Lloyd

Integration Alone is Not Enough: Selected Works of British Concrete Poetry 1960-1980

Richard Saltoun Gallery, London

Mark Prince

Condo

various venues, London

Chris Fite-Wassilak

London Round-up

Chisenhale • Gasworks • Jerwood Space

Laura Allsop

Birmingham Round-up

Eastside Projects • Grand Union • Centrala

Tom Emery

Rhineland Round-up

Konrad Fischer Galerie • NRW-Forum • Museum Ludwig • Galerie Karsten Greve

Paul Carey-Kent

Reviews

Performance

Venice International Performance Art Week: Fragile Body – Material Body

Bob Dickinson

'It's like a gathering or reunion in a beautiful city, in our city, where artists can experiment.'

Reviews

Books

British Black Art: Debates on Western Art History

David Dibosa

Western art history is one of the key critical contexts to which Sophie Orlando's book seeks to return the work produced by British black artists in the postwar period.

The Nuclear Culture Source Book

Jamie Sutcliffe

How could the unseen physical and cultural processes of nuclear fission be made legible, comprehensible and debatable in a popular sense? Furthermore, what role might artists play in such a project?

Reports

Joaquín Aras Tears Always Fall in Slow Motion 2016

Letter From Buenos Aires

City of Makers

Colin Perry

Almost inevitably, this energy is being harnessed by the city's neoliberal administration for urban regeneration. The working-class La Boca neighbourhood, a portside area most famous for the football stadium where Diego Maradona played, is being touted as the city's future cultural quarter.

KM Madhusudhanan History is a silent film 2007

Letter From India

Modi-fication

Virginia Whiles

The art observed on my recent journey throughout India reflects the polarisation of a country split economically and politically. Play between absolute and relative truths informs the resistance of Indian artists to the rising 'corporatocracy' of the populist 'Modi-fied' regime.

Bhinna Vinyasa Multiple Assemblages 2017

Letter From Bangalore

Foreign Bodies

Skye Arundhati Thomas

Critical discourse is perhaps what is lacking most in the metropolitan cities of India, particularly in the arts. The question of how to generate critical discourse within the city is thus an interesting one, and one perhaps at the root of several independent art spaces that exist as a result.

Reports

Afterword

Art Education and Mental Health – Mark Fisher Remembered

Ashiya Eastwood

If we understand Mark's depression and resulting death to be political, we must challenge the system within which we exist.

Artlaw

Contracts

Secondary Sales Risks

Henry Lydiate

Pei-Shen Quian sold each of his fakes for a few thousand dollars to Glafira Rosales, who resold them for millions of dollars each to the Knoedler gallery, which in turn resold them to clients for a reported total amount of $70m.

Listings

Events

Calendar

The updated events and exhibitions calendar can also be viewed online.

Exhibitions

Exhibition Listings

Art Monthly's exhibition listings can be viewed online.