Exhibitions Programme 2020

The De La Warr Pavilion is located a few minutes’ walk from the sea, on the South Coast of the United Kingdom, facing Europe. It is an icon of modernist architecture designed by refugee Erich Mendelsohn and émigré Serge Chermayeff. Throughout 2020, set against a backdrop of increasing political division in the UK and beyond, we harness our history and location to present artists, designers and activists whose work engages imaginatively with ideas of borders, diasporic identities and the impact of colonisation across time and space.

Featuring: Zadie Xa, Marc Bauer, Holly Hendry, Rock Against Racism, Zineb Sedira.

Spring
From February 1

Zadie Xa’s Child of Magohalmi and the Echoes of Creation is a major new project conceived by Xa in collaboration with artist Benito Major Vellejo. At its centre is an origin story inspired by Korean creation myths, particularly Grandmother Mago (Magohalmi) who created the land, and whose granddaughters are said to be the first shamans. Highlighting the value and historic erasure of knowledge passed between womxn, the artist weaves Mago’s narrative together with that of Granny, a 105-year-old orca dolphin who ensured the survival of generations within her endangered pod.

Marc Bauer’s Mal Ȇtre / Performance presents a new series of drawings that explore depictions of people in boats throughout history, from 15th-century Catholic ex-voto paintings to contemporary media images of Aquarius, the boat that rescued migrants from the Mediterranean sea in 2018. Bauer’s project brings the past into the present, looking at migration and sea-travel as a fundamental aspect of the human condition.

Summer
From May 23

Holly Hendry’s exhibition is presented alongside a major new outdoor commission by the artist, realised in partnership with England’s Creative Coast as part of Waterfronts, a new series of commissions connecting the South East coast. Emphasising the Pavilion’s proximity to the coastline and its resulting vulnerability, Hendry’s presentation breaks down the boundaries between inside and outside, dissolving the Pavilion into its surroundings.

Rock Against Racism (1976-82) was a grass-roots movement that fought racism and the rise of the National Front in the UK through music and culture, underpinned by the belief that racism in the UK is a result of its colonial past. Hundreds of bands played RAR gigs, and their carnivals often began with anti-fascist marches. This exhibition, which includes posters, photography, sound and ephemera, presents RAR within the socio-political context of the time and highlights its contribution to feminist and LGBTQI+ struggles.

Autumn
From September 19

Spanning both of the De La Warr Pavilion’s galleries, Zineb Sedira’s solo exhibition will be her first in a UK public gallery since 2009. Through photography, moving image and sculpture, her work manifests an on-going investigation into concepts of modernism, modernity and its manifestations, often paying particular attention to conditions of transnational trade and migrant consciousness. This exhibition brings together works within which the industrial debris of the naval world and the sea are recurring motifs.

Our exhibitions are accompanied by Learning and Participation activities for all ages.

Please visit www.dlwp.com to join our mailing list and for more details of our programme.

Partners
Zadie Xa’s Child of Magohalmi and the Echoes of Creation is co-commissioned by Art Night, London, Tramway, Glasgow, Yarat Contemporary Art Space, Baku, and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea.

Mal Ȇtre / Performance by Marc Bauer is a collaboration between Drawing Room, London and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea.

Holly Hendry’s new outdoor commission is part of England’s Creative Coast, led by Turner Contemporary, Margate, and Visit Kent.