Over the weekend i went to see the exhibition 'Aquatopia' at the Nottingham Contemporary Gallery in Nottingham. There was a really wide range (as ever at his gallery) of works.
My favourite pieces were a series of atmospheric works by contemporary artist Dee Ferris which could be seen as a modern day reflection, or continuation, of Turner’s style.
They were displayed in a room alongside a video installatio by Mikhail Karikis ...Sea Women (2012). This is a very consuming sound and video installation. It artfully documents the work of a small population of sixty – seventy year old women who make a living by diving to the depths of the ocean surrounding a small South Korean island. Like some of the oceans creatures the haenyeo community is on the brink of disappearing. This piece is a clever exploration of multiple uncharted factors, the unknown haenyeo culture, the women’s lives and inconceivable diving skills, and of course the ocean.
The sound from the installation alongside Dee Ferris atmospheric paintings was amazing - really adding to the overall experinece. Interesting from a female perspective of the roles these women and their lives.
'The imaginary of the ocean deep'
Ninety percent of the earth’s oceans remain unexplored. Science knows outer space better than the ocean deep. Scores of new species, weirder than any fiction, are found each time a submersible descends to the ocean’s deepest trenches.
In the absence of knowledge the deep is a site where imagination has full rein. The ocean has always bred monsters, and like outer space has been a setting for science fiction since Jules Verne. But unlike outer space, the oceans are part of our own planet – and by extension a part of us too.
Throughout recorded history the deep has been the site of shared myths, subconscious fears and unnamed desires. Aquatopia, then, is less about the ocean as it actually is – it is about how it lives in our heads.
This major exhibition brings together over 150 contemporary and historic artworks that explore how the deep has been imagined through time and across cultures. Sea monsters, sirens, sperm whales, giant squids, octopi, submarines, drowned sailors and shipwrecks are all portrayed here by many of art history’s “greats” JMW Turner, Odilon Redon, Hokusai, Barbara Hepworth and Oskar Kokoshka among them. Steve Claydon, Wangechi Mutu, Juergen Teller, Alex Bag, Christian Holstad and Mikhail Karikis are some of the many celebrated contemporary artists amongst whose oceanic – inspired artworks are shown here too.
The exhibition is a collaboration with Tate St Ives in Cornwall, where it will be shown from 12 October to 26 January 2014.
Throughout recorded history the deep has been the site of shared myths, subconscious fears and unnamed desires. Aquatopia, then, is less about the ocean as it actually is – it is about how it lives in our heads.
This major exhibition brings together over 150 contemporary and historic artworks that explore how the deep has been imagined through time and across cultures. Sea monsters, sirens, sperm whales, giant squids, octopi, submarines, drowned sailors and shipwrecks are all portrayed here by many of art history’s “greats” JMW Turner, Odilon Redon, Hokusai, Barbara Hepworth and Oskar Kokoshka among them. Steve Claydon, Wangechi Mutu, Juergen Teller, Alex Bag, Christian Holstad and Mikhail Karikis are some of the many celebrated contemporary artists amongst whose oceanic – inspired artworks are shown here too.
The exhibition is a collaboration with Tate St Ives in Cornwall, where it will be shown from 12 October to 26 January 2014.
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/art/aquatopia
