Around The World In Eighty Days
24 May-16 July 2006
Jananne Al-Ani, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Alexandre da Cunha, Godfried Donkor, Ivan Grubanov, Mona Hatoum, Runa Islam, Janice Kerbel, Oswaldo Maciá, Rosalind Nashashibi, Uriel Orlow, Zineb Sedira, João Penalva, Hiraki Sawa, Raqib Shaw, Yinka Shonibare, Erika Tan, Francis Upritchard, Nicole Wermers
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH
Phone: 44 20 7930 3647
www.ica.org.uk
South London Gallery
65 Peckham Road
London SE5 8UH
Phone: 44 20 7703 6120
www.southlondongallery.org
Presented simultaneously across two London arts institutions, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and the South London Gallery (SLG), Around the World in Eighty Days is a unique exhibition that takes Jules Vernes popular novel Around the World in Eighty Days as a starting point to investigate the increasing internationalism of the London art world. Around the World in Eighty Days marks the first in a new series of exhibitions developed by the ICA that takes a novel, a short story or other written narrative as a point of departure.
Published in 1872, Around the World in Eighty Days marked a divisive historical moment that is still being played out. Many of the issues that it touches upon rapid technological change, the emergence of non-commercial international travel and tourism, the height of the colonial era and the beginning of cultural and economic globalisation – continue to have resonance with the way that we approach and experience the world today.
While the original story presented a restricted colonial interpretation of the world through its focus on the main trading routes of Victorian England, this exhibition looks to an expanded list of countries in order to represent a more current world viewpoint. Around the World in Eighty Days concentrates specifically on artists who were born abroad but now live and work in London.
The nineteen participating artists will either exhibit a new piece that has been especially conceived in response to the novel, or present an existing work that relates to a theme or topic outlined by the narrative. The artworks on view will encompass sculpture, film, video, drawing and photography and explore notions of travel, movement, identity, migration, race, class and politics. The exhibition uses both a narrative and historical framework to inspire and inform the artworks displayed with the eighty days of the novel forming a timeline that begins at the ICA and finishes at the SLG.
Around the World in Eighty Days is co-curated and produced by the ICA and the SLG and especially conceived to play on the geographical relationship between the two venues underlining the themes of travel and destination. With the ICA positioned in central London and SLG situated in the south of the city, this exhibition examines how location can define and influence both artistic programming and its reception.
Am extensive programme of screenings, lectures and discussions will accompany Around the World in Eighty Days as well as a publication, which will function as travel book, reader and exhibition catalogue. Together with illustrations including historic maps, drawings and statistics, the book will also feature an essay by Jens Hoffmann, ICA Director of Exhibitions. This publication will be co-published by the ICA and the SLG and distributed by Revolver.
Around the World in Eighty Days is based on an idea by Jens Hoffmann and has been jointly curated by the ICA (Jens Hoffmann, Director of Exhibitions; Claire Fitzsimmons, Curator of Exhibitions) and the SLG (Margot Heller, Director; Kit Hammonds, Curator).
Exhibition supported by:
Bloomberg
With additional support from:
The Henry Moore
Foundation
Institute of Contemporary Arts
Open daily 12 – 7.30pm
The Mall
London SW1Y 5AH
Phone: 44 20 7930 3647
Fax: 44 20 7306 0122
Email: info@ica.org.uk
www.ica.org.uk
South London Gallery
Open Tuesday – Sunday 12 – 6pm
65 Peckham Road
London SE5 8UH
Phone: 44 20 7703 9799
Fax: 44 20 7252 4730
Email: mail@southlondongallery.org
www.southlondongallery.org
Institutions core funding from:
