PHOTOGRAPHY: LONDON
‘For All Mankind’: vintage Nasa photographs 1964-1983
Breese Little gallery's latest exhibition, For All Mankind, may be a small star in London's galaxy of art shows but the 100 Nasa photos on display document our lofty ambitions to understand the universe. These rare images cover 20 years of Nasa missions and include the iconic Blue Marble: the first photograph of a full Earth view, taken from space shuttle Apollo 17. The exhibition is timely: outer space is making a comeback in the popular consciousness with Hollywood films such as Gravity and Richard Branson selling tickets for commercial space travel even as Nasa funds shrink, threatening scientific expeditions to Mars and Saturn.
Breese Litte, First Floor Gallery, 30b Great Sutton Street. Open Wednesday to Saturday, 12.00-18.00. Until 22 February.
breeselittle.com
FILM: NEW YORK
‘Luanda-Kinshasa’
The David Zwirner gallery in New York's Chelsea neighbourhood pays tribute to a Manhattan musical landmark with the premiere of Vancouver-born artist Stan Douglas's film Luanda-Kinshasa. Douglas reconstructed Columbia Records’ iconic 30th Street Studio where legends such as Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and Pink Floyd have all played. He then taped six hours’ worth of music improv by a band of contemporary musicians to capture the essence of the 1970s in pseudo-documentary style. To set the cultural context, fashion, instruments and news headlines from the time period are used as visual cues. By allowing a combination of various edits to play on a loop, Douglas ensures that Luanda-Kinshasa's emphasis is on the composition process rather than the final polished product.
David Zwirner, 533 West 19th Street. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00-18.00. Until 22 February.
davidzwirner.com
PAINTING: MELBOURNE
‘Reflections’
Australian father and daughter duo Martin and Zoe Hunting are currently showcasing their joint exhibition Reflections in Melbourne's Red Gallery. The artists' paintings are inspired by the principle that the entirety of objects is always perceived before their individual parts are identified. Therefore the Huntings use the geometric intersection of numerous parts to represent the idea of the whole as an integrated system. Martin, who studied and taught in the University of Sydney College of the Arts, has exhibited extensively in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane since 1995. Zoe, who is currently studying a fine arts degree at Deakin University, takes the inspiration for her acrylic works from the entirety and harmony of flocks of birds, which in their movement display interconnectedness that goes beyond the individual birds themselves.
Red Gallery, 57 St Georges Road. Open Wednesday to Saturday, 11.00-17.00. Until 1 February.
redgallery.com.au
DESIGN: TORONTO
Redesigned Medalta
It's Toronto design week and enthusiasts are busy comparing notes. While the Interior Design Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is the one-stop shop to see what established brands are up to, the fourth edition of the Toronto Design Offsite Festival (To Do) comprises 66 smaller exhibitions, window displays and events happening all over town. Our friends at Made, a Toronto-based showroom and studio that exclusively showcases Canadian designs, are inviting everyone to Redesigned Medalta, their contribution to To Do. Medalta is a pottery factory-turned contemporary ceramic artist studio facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Its artistic director, Aaron Nelson, has chosen eight artists to whip up fresh designs for mid-20th century plates that have hitherto been left neglected in Medalta's storerooms for decades. Ranging from Alberta-based Tobie Laliberte's abstract spaghetti scribbles to a neat floral arrangement by fellow Albertan Jenn Demke Lange, there’s something to suit every palate.
Made, 867 Dundas Street West. Open Tuesday to Friday, 11.00-19.00; Saturday 11.00-18.00. Until 8 March.
madedesign.ca
MUSIC: GLOBAL
I Break Horses: ‘Chiaroscuro’
Dramatically monikered electronic act I Break Horses is Stockholm-based musician Maria Lindén (occasionally with collaborator and fellow Swede Fredrik Balck). Chiaroscuro is the follow-up to Lindén’s 2011 debut Hearts and sees the songwriter shedding that record’s warmer, hazier moments to venture into icy depths of artistic solitude via that tried-and-tested medium preferred by melodramatic musical misfits the world over: synth. But when used in art critiques the term “ciaroscuro” applies to the contrast between light and dark – and there are more than enough flashes of brilliance here, from the pulsing rhythms of “Faith” to the cascading melodies of “Ascension”, to pierce through the winter gloom. And the gloomy bits are pretty good too.
‘Chiaroscuro’ is available to buy now.
ibreakhorses.se
