Backlit is pleased to announce that it has a new and diverse visual arts programme that will be launched May 31st 7pm. We will be offering you contemporary art, workshops, screenings and more!

Friday May 31st 

Opening Talk – Artist Simon Callery discusses landscape in contemporary art 5pm – 6:30pm.

Gallery – Alignment curated by Leila Al-Yousuf 7pm-10pm. This exhibition will be the first solo curatorial work by Leila Al-Yousuf and explores her current artistic interests. Alignment will present work from local, national and International artists whose works map an incidental line from the gallery and beyond. Featuring artwork by; Andrew Brown, Christian Camacho – Reynoso, Martin Lewis, Dean Mooney, Krystina Naylor, Anna Salamon, Oliver Tirre, Jonathan Trayte.

Project Space – Its not quite how i imagined it curated by Rebecca Scofield 7pm-10pm.

Saturday June 8th 

Workshop – Andrew Brown will lead a 3 hour performance workshop.

Wednesday June 12th

Critical Session in Performance facilitated by Rhiannon Slade.

Friday June 14th 

Critical Session in Visual Art facilitated by Andrew Brown.

Screening – Kino Klub present Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg’s Performance starring Mick Jagger. 7pm-10pm.

Please click here to book tickets to events.

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The post Its Here…..Museums at Night 2013 with Mat Collishaw appeared first on BACKLIT.

BBC Radio Nottingham

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Critically acclaimed artist Mat Collishaw will return to his home town of Nottingham this Saturday (18th May) to lead a special workshop at a Backlit gallery as part of the national Museums at Night festival.

Mat Collishaw will be working with local artists and members of the public to build a series of unique 3D zoetropes – a modern twist on the old Victorian technique. He will also take part in a question and answer session.

Collishaw works predominantly in photography and is one of the Young British Artists – a group of artists including Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst. Mat Collishaw said:

Backlit gallery is a fantastic artist-run studio and exhibition space. Last week I met the artists that have studios there and the people that run the gallery, and they are all fantastic. I’m looking forward to coming down to the gallery again to run the workshop and meet more creative people in Nottingham.

The zoetrope is something that I’ve employed in my work before. It’s basically an old Victorian, pre-cinematic optical illusion of movement using images and light. But what I have done – and what I’ll be doing at the workshop – is develop this by replacing the static pictures with sculptural objects, using record decks and strobe lights to create a visually wonderful effect.

Mat is visiting Backlit because the gallery won a national competition in March called Connect10, which saw a total of 38 venues go head-to-head to host one of ten successful artists over Museums at Night festival. The gallery won the national online public vote by a staggering 45%, beating three other venues across the country.

Matt Chesney, founder and director of Backlit, said:

I’m really looking forward to Mat’s workshop. The studio members here are all really excited about the workshop. It’s a great opportunity for them to work alongside a top artist. As an artist who is from Nottingham and has gone on to achieve international critical acclaim, Mat is a huge inspiration for them. The question and answer session will be really interesting, and at the end of the night we’ll be displaying the zeotropes in the gallery.

The event is open to the public, although places are limited. But for those who can’t make it, there will be a live TV stream of the event on White Collar Zoo – Nottingham’s online video channel for the creative sector.

Museums at Night 2013 takes place in hundreds of museums, galleries and heritage sites across the UK during the evenings of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 16-18.

Mat’s workshop starts Saturday 18th at 7pm and ends at 10pm. The question and answer session will take place at 8–8.45pm. The showcase event begins at 10pm and will finish late.

If you would like to attend the opening, visit Backlit’s Eventbrite page here –  www.eventbrite.com. Places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

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Bruderschaft des Lichtes

Preview May 2nd 7:30pm. Exhibition runs 3rd – 10th May 12-5pm.

This exposition reviews an underground collective based across Western Europe who convene primarily in the Bavarian territories of Germany. Bruderschaft des Lichtes, literally meaning ‘Brotherhood of Light’ is a covert group whose principal focus is directed towards the veneration of incandescent light and objects. These ideas are often manifested through production of images, unique environments, and actions.

Backlit Gallery; Nottingham will introduce reenactments taken from archive documentation of the Brotherhoods congregations over the last sixty two cycles. To date, the group has been attributed to assemblies and/or inductions  in Berlin, London, Mount Athos, Munich, Nuremberg, Karlsruhe, and Tokyo.

The Bruderschaft works as singular agents, collaborating in small groups, and at times with members who have no records of existence. The covert nature of the Brotherhood is underlined by its reluctance to reveal identities and themes, or in most cases the existence of the group at all. All works made by members individually are credited to the entire Bruderschaft.

Photographic images (in pairs)

£5

Moving images

£7 per reproduction DVD

All works can be exchanged for knowledge in the form of personally produced art works.

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ARTNOT. LATES. Late night art.

Why not discover Nottingham’s local art scene after hours?
Cultural listings guide ‘Artnot’ plays host to evening art events on the 2nd of May and invites a cluster of Nottingham’s independent galleries open their doors until Late.

Artnot Lates: ATTIC, Backlit, Barney’s Yard, Bohunk Institute, Bonington Gallery, Mrs Rick’s Cupboard, Primary, Surface Gallery, Syson, Trade!

For more information on the venues and events click here

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Postcard Narratives: Jeremy Cooper & Invited Artists

4^th – 27^th April 2013, 12-6pm

www.roomartspace.co.uk

As the Bank Holiday weekend slowly approached, I found myself counting down the hours let alone the days before it was time to jump in the car and race home for a well-deserved break from the pressures of my final year. Reunited with my family, friends and Diet Coke – after a horrific 40 day dry spell for lent – I was fully enjoying the comforts of home, buried in Easter eggs.

But once again, the lure of London was too difficult to ignore, and I was quickly googling away like a madwomen for the latest exhibitions and shows opening over the Easter period. For anyone in touch with the London Gallery event scene, you’ll know that on the first Thursday of every month over 170 galleries and museums open their doors later than usual for a host of free events, talks and exhibitions across the city.

As creatives across Nottingham are soon following suit; with Backlit, Surface and One Thorsby all set to open their spaces on Thursday 2^nd May, I decided to single out the latest show to open at the ROOM artspace from the many exhibitions and shows that debuted in London from the 4^th April.

Postcard Narratives features a vast collection of artist postcards collected by artist and art writer Jeremy Cooper, alongside a number of invited artists including Susan Hiller, Gavin Turk and Tracey Emin amongst others, and their interpretation of the postcard as an artistic medium. Having never previously encountered the artist nor the space before, I jumped off the tube at Baker Street station and headed in search of Manchester Street with no idea what to expect.

I easily found the space, with subtle gold lettering signalling its entrance and as I wandered up the steps I couldn’t help but take in the elegant surroundings the gallery was set amongst. I buzzed at the door and was greeted by a very friendly woman, welcoming me into the space, offering me a guide to the show. Although open to the public, the event seemed to be a more private function than an open exhibition, and when the lovely host was called away by a constant flow of new visitors, I was left to navigate my way through the twisting corridors, stairways and groups of chatting visitors.

I made my way to the room on the left first, which housed a selection of Cooper’s postcards from a range of disciplines; including sculpture and photography, text and painting selected from his vast archive. The work seemed to resist a theme, and appeared to represent a range of different practices. However I thoroughly enjoyed peering into the small display cases and shelves which showcased the tiny cards.

A small doorway towards the back of the room started to intrigue me as people continually wandered in and out, so I made my way through the crowd and stepped down in two the second space. The room itself was quite peculiar. It seemed like a basement room, with bare brick walls and temporary lighting dotted around the space; as if it had been gutted of all its previous interior. The only objects in the space were a small collapsible chair and three delicate black frames mounted on the wall. The faces of classic portraiture have been delicately obscured by stitch, appropriating the colours from the postcard.

I found it difficult to understand the relationship the space had with the nature of the work; apart from using a roughly assembled interior to over emphasise the value and delicacy of the stitch – but I really enjoyed the short collection. I ventured back through the previous room, and noticed through the crowd a damaged fire place and peeling walls, and wondered whether this building was perhaps being given a new purpose, the mediation between construction and the white walled art gallery.

As I made my way back into the original corridor, there were a number of actual artworks by Cooper lining the walls; postcards that had been manipulated by text or grouped by a particular common theme, in large collective frames or individual cases. The stairwell directly opposite the entrance had postcards grouped by colour and cultural origin, bending and twisting down the walls of the staircase. It was difficult to appreciate the cards as the space was so busy to stop for long, but being surrounded as you walked down the staircase had quite a dramatic impact.

As I made my way through the lower floor, spotlights along the wall led you to further rooms where the exhibition continued. To the right, above another empty fireplace was a large sculpture which mirrored the frame of an open window. Cut and dismantled postcards were balanced within the empty panes, either side small white frames showcase the work of graduate Rebecca Loweth; who has physically manipulated and folded the cards on themselves, re-organising the image’s original narrative.

I really engaged with the final room of the show, in which a central plinth expels postcard after postcard from its base, with a teacup seemingly over spilling with tea balanced on the top. But the thing that really caught my attention was the series of frames by Christina Garrido which lined the back wall. Each postcard had been delicately edited with acrylic paint to remove its central focus, so only the texture of the paint highlighted that something was preciously there – a ghost like residue which suggests a shape.

Overall the work caught my interest for a number of reasons. The private nature of the collectors archive and the public spectacle created in its display makes the work available for everyone to interpret – each artists practice represented by a single card. I think on reflection I would love to return at a quieter time, as the purpose of a small communicative card is lost here, drowned out by the vast number of visitors.

Feeling slightly on the side lines I manoeuvred my way back towards the office and continued my conversation with the gallery attendants about the show. Conscious of time, I said my goodbyes and slipped away, heading on to the next show on my list of drop in events for the night.

For more information, visit www.roomartspace.co.uk.

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Friday 15 February 2013 – Sunday 26 May 2013

Manchester Art Gallery

“They are really nice to look at, but when you look closer there are monkeys eating each other. I mean look at that monkey there! It’s eating a head!” this was my cousin of twelve, her observations at the Raqib Shaw exhibition, at Manchester Art Gallery. During the Easter break I returned home, up north to Lancashire, and during one of those days I took my younger cousin along with me to see the current show at the gallery. Having done no research beforehand I was in for quite a shock to see the heavily adorned, painstakingly detailed and on closer inspection quite grotesque paintings of Raqib Shaw.

Walking into the huge space that is the top floor of Manchester Art Gallery I felt as though I had entered a minimalistic Indian temple. The space gave the paintings the grandeur they demanded. Walking around the room I began to close in on the paintings- wanting to see every detail. As a viewer you are drawn in, mesmerised by the beauty you see before you. You are charmed by the beauty of the crystals and the splendour they possess. You are aware that the paintings must possess a narrative but the immediate response is to praise Shaw on the detail of his drawing and give in to the magnificence of the Swarovski crystals.

Referring to the exhibition as a temple and remarking on its outstanding beauty hardly sounds grotesque I imagine you’re thinking. However underneath that glitz and glamour lies the deeply disturbing imagination of Raqib Shaw. Distracted by the beauty, I was a few paintings in before I first noticed the violence and terror that the paintings narrate. Shaw narrates a bizarrely mythical world where flying monkeys, horses with the heads of birds and baboons wearing military uniform exist. These creatures fire arrows, inflict torture and create terror on the other seemingly bizarre creatures. The crystals act as a distraction from this fantasy world of pain. In the materialistic society of our western culture it’s easy to put two and two together and see that Shaw is mocking our ever expanding greed. He is noting our ability to gloss over and adorn the dangerous world we live in.

Adorning is what Shaw does best. He didn’t stop at just the exhibition room either. On entering Manchester Gallery I commented saying- “It’s like a Jungle out here!” I was yet to find out that in fact Shaw had paid for the gallery to be decorated inside and out with an enormous amount of twisting branches and flowers. These plants took over the space, creating a decorative space in what is usually a bare entrance hall. Plants and flowers were draped around the banisters of the hall, and at the top of the staircase surrounded by foliage was the sculpture of Narcissus (White). The plant life became the distraction here; like that of the crystals in the paintings upstairs, the plants distracted you from the terror beneath. Underneath the foliage Narcissus portrayed the vicious creature of a swan with blood coming from its mouth. The swan was apparently coming up from stabbing a being that somewhat resembled a human- a shocking image I’m sure you’ll agree.

Upstairs in the gallery without the plants or the use of heavily bejeweled crystals was Shaw’s sculpture Adam. Without the distractions, the work had a larger impact on me. I saw his work for what it really was- very strange and vulgar. The sculpture portrayed two mythical creatures, one possessing the legs of a human and another had a head of a lobster. The sculpture alarmingly suggested behaviour of bestiality. It was at this point I began to think; without the decoration covering up the images of brutality that maybe Shaw is going a little too far. As my cousin said at the beginning it’s nice on the surface but look beneath and Raqib Shaw is portraying some rather gruesome imagery that isn’t for the faint hearted and maybe not the most appropriate exhibition for a twelve year old.

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The Backlit Project space presents performances in response to the current exhibition Ensemble. 15th March 7.00pm - Late!! Project Space Following an index finger with an Eye - Martin Lewis, Thomas Woodcock, Jon Pask. A large structure exists in the project space. The interior is inhabited by a man whose sole purpose is to draw his index finger across the entire surface of its interior. Following its movement with his eye, the sound is transmitted through contact mikes, amplifiers and speakers. This new collaboration brings together the works of studio members; Tom Woodcock and his exploration through notions of an empty space. Martin Lewis’ live experiments in repetitive, futile movements, and Jon Pask’ interactive, sonic collages. A woman thinks alone in a space - Becky Matter. A durational site specific performance whereby a woman sits solitarily in a space. Becky Matters work explores Brechtian approaches to contemporary live arts through physical and emotional endurance.   ’9 to 5′ - POST (20 mins) ‘9 to 5’ is the part one to a trilogy of performance works by resident theatre company POST. Four performers sit at a desk, synchronised, recounting a daily ‘9 to 5′.  Mechanical movements set a pulse as they attempt to disrupt their endless cycle.  Plus our current exhibition.. Ensemble Choreographed by Ben Judd and Dave Charlesworth. Ensemble examines the commonalities and tensions between large-scale cellular, choreographed works such as those by Busby Berkley and George Gurdjieff and more individual explorations by Yvonne Rainer, and Gillian Wearing. In all the works, the audience is implicated in different ways by a rhythm and restlessness; however a fundamental compulsion to move with the crowd is offset by a desire to stand back and observe its patterns and forms.  The current exhibition Ensemble, Features pioneering work by; Sarah Baker Busby Berkley David Blair Lucy Clout Maya Deren George Gurdjieff Oliver Laric Mark Leckey Yvonne Rainer Jim Shaw Jonathan Trayner Becca Voelcker Gillian Wearing Richard Whitby We welcome you in joining us for performances, and drinks on Friday 15th March, 7.00pm – Late. Exhibition runs until – Sunday 24th March 2013. Gallery Opening times, Monday to Sunday 12pm – 5pm (Tuesdays & Wednesdays by appointment only)

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MAT’S COMING BACK! 

Backlit have successfully won the vote to host Museums at Night 2013 with British artist Mat Collishaw.

Backlit was one of four venues in with a chance of a visit from Mat Collishaw as part of the national competition Connect10 which saw a total of 38 venues going head-to-head to host one of 10 successful artists at the Museums at Night 2013 festival.

Mat Collishaw is a critically acclaimed artist working predominantly in photography and is one of the Young British Artists – a group of artists including Tracy Emin and Damien Hurst. He was born in Nottingham and attended Trent Polytechnic, now Nottingham Trent University, between 1985 and 1986, before he graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College London in 1989.

Museums at Night 2013 takes place  in museums, galleries and heritage sites across the UK during the evenings of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 16-18.

Local arts organisations got behind the ‘Bring back Mat’ campaign. Nottingham Trent University’s School of Art and Design, Nottingham Contemporary, Lakeside Arts Centre, Dance4, New Art Exchange all urged the public to vote for the gallery to win.

Backlit is a small contemporary art gallery that also offers studio space to local artists and art students at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Art and Design. Backlit was in competition against the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, Northern Print in Newcastle and Landhydrock House in Bodmin.

The Connect10 competition is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

For more information visit http://www.culture24.org.uk.

http://www.independent.co.uk/

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