2020 Commissions Programme

Chisenhale Gallery’s Commissions Programme for 2020 comprises four new exhibitions by artists Imran Perretta, Yu Ji, Thao Nguyen Phan and Abbas Akhavan. Working with video, sculpture, painting and installation they explore the influence of the environment, be it natural, urban or political, on the individual and social body.

Chisenhale Gallery commissions and produces contemporary art supporting international and UK-based artists to pursue new directions and make their most ambitious work to date. The gallery has an award winning, 37-year history as one of London’s most innovative forums for contemporary art and operates as a production agency, exhibition hall, research centre and community resource.

Research and public discussion are central to Chisenhale Gallery’s Engagement Programme, which is informed by artistic practice and acts as a site for collective learning. The programme includes a series of talks and events devised in collaboration with each commissioned artist, a programme for young people and local school and community partnerships.

Imran Perretta
January 17–March 15, 2020
Opening: January 16, 6:30–8:30pm

the destructors (2019) is a new film commission by London-based artist Imran Perretta. Shot on location in Tower Hamlets, east London, the destructors takes the figure of alienated male youth as its cue to explore “coming of age” and the complexities of adolescence for young Muslim men living in the UK. The film is produced by Chisenhale Gallery and Spike Island, Bristol, and commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery; Spike Island; the Whitworth, The University of Manchester; and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead.

Yu Ji
April 3–June 7, 2020
Opening: April 2, 6:30–8:30pm

Chisenhale Gallery presents the first solo exhibition in a UK institution by Shanghai-based artist Yu Ji. Comprising sculpture, video, print and performance Yu Ji’s work often responds to a specific context or location to examine the interplay between the human body and space. For her new commission, Yu Ji looks to London as a site to explore tensions between urban development and the natural environment. Yu Ji’s commission acts as a “living sculpture,” where the use of the body, liquids and concrete explore a site in transformation.

Thao Nguyen Phan
June 26–August 30, 2020
Opening: June 25, 6:30–8:30pm

Chisenhale Gallery presents the first solo exhibition by Ho Chi Minh City-based artist Thao Nguyen Phan in a UK institution. Phan’s new film commission Becoming Alluvium, builds on her ongoing research into the Mekong River. The work observes environmental changes that have affected downstream of the river due to the expansion of agriculture, overfishing and the economic migration of farmers to urban areas. Becoming Alluvium is produced and commissioned by Han Nefkens Foundation in collaboration with: Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona; WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; and Chisenhale Gallery.

Abbas Akhavan
September 18–December 6, 2020
Opening: September 17, 6:30–8:30pm

In autumn 2020 Chisenhale Gallery presents a new commission by Montreal-based artist Abbas Akhavan. Akhavan’s work ranges from context-specific installations to drawing, video, sculpture and performance. His works pay close attention to the historic, architectural, natural and social structures of a given space. Previous works have examined the garden, the backyard and other domesticated landscapes as a site to explore the boundary between hostility and hospitality.

Chisenhale Gallery is a registered charity and part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio. All of the gallery’s exhibitions and the majority of events are free.

Chisenhale Gallery’s 2020 Commissions Programme is supported by Shane Akeroyd; Joe and Marie Donnelly; the Chisenhale Gallery Commissions Fund; and Chisenhale Gallery Friends and Patrons. Chisenhale Gallery’s Engagement Programme 2020 is supported by Brian Boylan and Sarah Lee Elson. Programme commission and production partners include: Spike Island, Bristol; the Whitworth, The University of Manchester; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; Han Nefkens Foundation; Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona; WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; and Delfina Foundation as part of their artist residency programme.

Chisenhale Gallery’s current exhibition Welcome to End-Used City, by Sidsel Meineche Hansen, continues until December 8, 2019.

For further information please contact:
Ellen Greig, Curator: Commissions: T +44 (0) 20 3328 1964 / media [​at​] chisenhale.org.uk