Whitechapel Gallery

08/01/2021

Today we kick things off for the first week of A Listening Eye with Mike Dibb's most famous work, Ways of Seeing. Now almost 50 years old, it revolutionised how millions of people saw art and its relation to society. It's surely one of the most important art documentaries ever made!

Together with Booker prize winner and programme host John Berger, Mike Dibb put big ideas into millions of sitting rooms around the world.

After Ways of Seeing Mike and John were regular collaborators, and this week we're excited to be showing three more of their powerful and innovative films on the themes of time, storytelling, and a unique perspective on our relationships to animals!

https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/a-listening-eye/

#johnberger #waysofseeing

Please note: The film clip features a replica image of the painting Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli.

07/01/2021

We're excited to launch 2021 with a world premiere retrospective! A Listening Eye: The Films of Mike Dibb, free to view globally!

Across 11 weeks, in 52 films and 3 live online conversations, we celebrate six decades of work by multi award winning documentary filmmaker Mike Dibb. Watch this space every Friday, when we will launch each week's selection of film screenings via our website.

“In a career spanning almost [six] decades, it’s possible Dibb has shaped more ideas and offered more ways of seeing than any other TV documentarian of his generation.” – Sukhdev Sandhu, The Guardian

https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/a-listening-eye/

05/01/2021

We're delighted to announce that Yinka Shonibare CBE RA will be celebrated as our 2021 Art Icon, supported by @SwarovskiFoundation. The award honours the artist's work and lifetime achievements. #YinkaShonibare

https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/support/art-icon/art-icon-2020-yinka-shonibare-cbe-ra/

30/12/2020

Exercising Freedom: Encounters with Art, Artists and Communities

The current archive show, Exercising Freedom, focuses on the Whitechapel Gallery’s community education programme from 1979 to 1989, exploring the role that art plays in society.

From establishing artist’s residencies in schools, to casting audience as participant, this artist led education programme emphasized the ‘work’ of art as being not only an object but also a collaborative process. Against the convulsive backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, this exhibition explores a transformative moment in art education.

Virtually walk through the doors of the Whitechapel Gallery in the late 1970s, and explore the wealth of arts from Bengal or immerse yourself in the environments of American artist Eva Hesse: https://bit.ly/38EMJGu

Walking through the doors of the Whitechapel Gallery in the late 1970s, visitors could find themselves exploring the wealth of arts from Bengal or immersed i...

29/12/2020

Youth Forum selects from the Hiscox collection

Considering the ways in which lockdown has affected experiences of art and culture, Whitechapel Gallery’s Youth Forum, Duchamp & Sons, presents a virtually curated display featuring artworks drawn from the Hiscox Collection.

The shared experience of lock down generated the themes for their curated display of work drawn from the Hiscox collection. Their chosen artworks either transport us to faraway destinations or compel us to look closer to home. Through these galleries we can also hear the voices of the young curators sharing their thoughts on each work of art; their writings are also available online.

Enter the exhibition virtually online via our YouTube channel to find out more: https://bit.ly/3hqKZEF

Considering the ways in which lockdown has affected experiences of art and culture, Whitechapel Gallery’s Youth Forum, Duchamp & Sons, presents a virtually c...

28/12/2020

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As 2020 draws to a close, take a look back at the timely and important live events Whitechapel Gallery hosted this Autumn. Five highlights not to miss:

The Force of Nonviolence with Judith Butler and Amia Srinivasan, shares how an ethic of nonviolence must be connected to a broader political struggle for social equality.

Big Ideas featuring the artistic director of BAK, Maria Hlavajova, explores how contemporary art and culture can respond to and engage with the urgent political questions facing us today?

In celebration of the new Health DOCA, Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz, Khairani Barokka, Pedro Neves Marques and Patricia Domínguez discuss how health intersects with sexuality, ethnicity, gender, class and coloniality

Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah are joined by two contributors to their book, Revolutionary Feminisms – Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Vron Ware – to discuss what resistance looks like, from anti-colonialism to prison abolition.

The Jarman Award Weekend brings together the six artists shortlisted for the 2020 Film London Jarman Award: Michelle Williams Gamaker, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Jenn Nkiru, Project Art Works, Larissa Sansour and Andrea Luka Zimmerman.

In case you missed them or simply want to relive these spectacular live events, head over to our YouTube channel now: https://bit.ly/37DMEn2

27/12/2020

Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?

Embodying the role of the artist as social activist, Nalini Malani gives voice to the marginalised through visual stories which often take the form of multi-layered, immersive installations, exploring themes of violence, feminism, politics, racial tensions and post-colonial legacies.

Can You Hear Me?, the artist’s first UK commission, comprises 88 animations projected on the walls of the Whitechapel Gallery’s historic interior. Made between 2017 and 2020, they feature overlapping hand-drawn images and notes, as well as fragments of quoted text.

Interested to find out more? Head over to our YouTube channel to watch the exhibition come to life online and highlight the work on display: https://bit.ly/34A4EwF

Whitechapel Gallery unveils a major new work, Can You Hear Me? by Nalini Malani (b. 1946, Karachi, Undivided India), as part of its prestigious annual progra...

26/12/2020

Hear, Now. Episode Six: Can You Hear Me?

Whitechapel Gallery Curator Emily Butler is joined by artist Nalini Malani for episode 6 of the Hear, Now podcast series, to discuss Malani’s current commission at the gallery, Can You Hear Me?

In her new video installation, Malani explores global issues of social injustice, positioning the voiceless and the invisible alongside gods and goddesses, intellectuals and poets. Malani and Butler talk through the myriad stories and political truths in her nine channel animation and how she translates her artist’s notebooks into moving image.

Listen now: https://bit.ly/3aAC6XF

CONTENT WARNING: This episode features a reference to rape and sexual violence. In her new video installation Indian artist Nalini Malani explores global issues of social injustice, positioning the v

25/12/2020

We are enormously grateful for your continued engagement and support and wish you a happy and healthy festive season. We hope to celebrate together in the New Year!

24/12/2020

Accelerate your escape: Gary Hume Explores the Hiscox Collection

For British Artist Gary Hume, making and viewing art are a means of escape. Hume invites us to escape the everyday and to find new joys and sorrows in the myriad worlds imagined for us by the artists he has selected in the current exhibition, Accelerate your escape.

The series forms part of the Gallery’s ongoing commitment to showing rarely seen public and private collections. The exhibition contains a selection of works from the Hiscox Collection.

Watch and find out more about the works bringing the exhibition to life on our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3pgUWYc

Selected by British Artist Gary Hume, important works by renowned artists including Etel Adnan, Darren Almond, Edward Burtynsky, Keith Coventry, Willie Doher...

23/12/2020

Hear, Now. Episode 5: Something Necessary and Useful

Whitechapel Gallery Curator Emily Butler is joined by artist Carlos Bunga for episode 5 of the Hear, Now podcast series, to discuss Bunga’s recent commission Something Necessary and Useful.

Bunga creates monumental structures out of everyday materials to propose architecture as transitory and corporeal. Having destroyed the gigantic painted cardboard environment, he had created for Whitechapel Gallery, Bunga discusses structure as memory, the movement of the body in painting and the Shaker’s idea of making as a form of prayer.

Listen now: https://bit.ly/3ay9u1m

Portuguese artist Carlos Bunga creates monumental structures out of everyday materials to propose architecture as transitory and corporeal. Having destroyed the gigantic painted cardboard environment

22/12/2020

Can You Hear Me? Activity Sheet for Families - Whitechapel Gallery

If you’re looking for creative activities to do with the kids this holiday season, look no further than this activity pack inspired by the current exhibition Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?.

Designed by artist and activist Jacob V Joyce, this activity can be done at home – and at the Gallery when we reopen –to inspire kids to engage with some of the themes and ideas within Malani’s current display. This resource is aimed at families with children aged 6 and up, but you can also use the images and texts to inspire play with movement and gesture for younger children.

Download the full PDF: https://bit.ly/3rjqRJh

If you’re looking for creative activities to do with the kids this holiday season, look no further than this activity pack inspired by the current exhibition Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?. Designed by artist and activist Jacob V Joyce, this activity can be done at home – and at the Gallery whe...

22/12/2020

In case you missed it, watch out online event bringing together artists, poets, writers and musicians for live performances, readings and discussion as part of Spells and Sadness, in partnership with London Contemporary Music Festival.

Watch now: https://bit.ly/3nGBm7h

21/12/2020

‘In your twenty four hands, you hold a thunderbolt and a bell, a sword and a knife, a noose, a drum, a wheel, a shell, a gem...'

Intrigued? Current Writer in Residence, Himali Singh Soin, shares the sixth text as part of the series ancestors of the blue moon. Himali writes from the perspective of remote or forgotten deities in her series of flash fictions, taking inspiration from the Himalayas and its rituals, remedies and mystical geometries.

Read the sixth test and full series of texts on our website: https://bit.ly/2KLr5YI

16/12/2020

Visit us online! - Whitechapel Gallery

While the Gallery is closed again for a short while, we invite you to immerse yourselves in our exhibitions online. From Nalini Malani’s 9-channel Animation Chamber to a selection children’s artworks from the 1970s, head to our blog to find curatorial introductions to our autumn programme and current works on view: http://bit.ly/2KewJmh

If you're curious to find out more, you can listen to the first season of our podcast, Hear, Now, which joins Whitechapel Gallery curators in conversation with artists, writers and community leaders around our current displays and how they relate to the cultural issues of our time.

If you have booked a ticket to see any of our Free Displays, please contact us at [email protected]. A member of our Visitor Services team will be glad to discuss your options.

In the meantime, stay healthy, be kind and don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We look forward to welcoming you back soon,

Whitechapel Gallery

While the Gallery is closed again for a short while, we're inviting you to immerse yourselves in our exhibitions online.

15/12/2020

Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy - Whitechapel Gallery

‘…it is this quality of magic that I must reveal to this world of sleepers.’

Whether dancing on the rooftops in Paris, sharing ideas with Pablo Picasso, or gathering starfish on the beaches of Cornwall, Eileen Agar transformed the everyday into the extraordinary.

Opening in February 2021, Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy, charts the artist’s ground-breaking career from the 1920s to the 1990s. Her work combines order and chaos, fusing vivid abstraction with imagery from classical art, the natural world and sexual pleasure.

Please note: Whitechapel Gallery will be temporarily closing from Tue 15 Dec, 6pm.

Find out more and pre-book your tickets: http://bit.ly/2IPSate

Whether dancing on the rooftops in Paris, sharing ideas with Pablo Picasso, or gathering starfish on the beaches of Cornwall, Eileen Agar (b.1899 Buenos Aires – d.1991 London) transformed the everyday into the extraordinary.

11/12/2020

We are more grateful than ever to be #HereForCulture. The government’s #CultureRecoveryFund has made a substantial contribution to the Gallery being able to re-open on 3 December.

The grant we received recognises the significant role Whitechapel Gallery plays in the cultural landscape of London, the UK and internationally, and will ensure that we can continue to engage with our local communities, visitors, artists, members and partners for years to come.

As Director Iwona Blazwick says, the fund “offers a vital lifeline of support for Whitechapel Gallery and a further 1,384 artist organisations across the UK”. With the funds we received, we are able to secure the Gallery’s future, whilst maintaining our historic building, innovating our programmes and sharing art with you from the heart of East London.

Find out more about our current exhibitions on our website, made possible in part by the generous grant we received in October: https://bit.ly/3gAlCjx

#HereForCulture
#CultureRecoveryFund
#dcmsgovuk
#aceagrams

07/12/2020

Spells and Sadness - Whitechapel Gallery

What are text scores but spells?

This premise – which lay at the heart of London Contemporary Music Festival’s ‘Witchy Methodologies’ extravaganza of 2019 – was also the impetus behind a series of new commissions, linking the text score to the talismanic world of mantras, recipes and guides to awakening and conjuring.

Two will materialise in sound and visuals for the first time in this online event: https://bit.ly/39RFkpw

What are text scores but spells? Works that ‘unmake the world around them so that it might be remade anew’, to quote Sarah Shin and Rebecca Tamas’s ‘Spells: 21st-Century Occult Poetry’ (Ignota Books).

05/12/2020

Tomorrow at midnight applications close for The London Open 2021 Call for entries.

Since 1932 the open submission exhibition has been a launch pad for leading contemporary artists in the early stages of their career...and you could be next!

Apply now: https://bit.ly/2IiIlny

04/12/2020

London Open 2021 Call for entries - Whitechapel Gallery

It's the last few days to apply for The London Open 2021 Call for entries! This is your opportunity to exhibit your work in an exhibition that showcases the vibrancy and diversity of the capital’s art scene.

Check your eligibility and apply here: https://bit.ly/2IiIlny

This is your chance to submit your art to The London Open 2021, Whitechapel Gallery’s triennial exhibition that showcases the most dynamic work.

04/12/2020

Enjoy Whitechapel Gallery on the go.

Download our free digital guide, available on the Bloomberg Connects app, and engage with art and culture wherever you are.

App Store: https://apple.co/3lHrQz0
Google Play: https://bit.ly/36GdtXh

03/12/2020

Whitechapel Gallery - The artists’ gallery for everyone

We are delighted to welcome you back to the Whitechapel Gallery today!

We believe that arts and culture play a vital role in our emotional wellbeing and sense of community. Experiencing great art can be healing and we hope the Gallery can offer some solace and a much-needed space for reflection and inspiration.

Inviting you into a dreamlike space, our autumn exhibitions continue in celebration of different ideas, mediums​, and methods. ​Our archive show, Exercising Freedom​, explores the role that art plays in society​; a series of displays drawn from the Hiscox Collection reflect​ on joy, sorrow​, and escape​; Kai Althoff’s exhibition pays tribute to ceramicist Bernard Leach​, and Nalini Malani’s commission Can You Hear Me? envelops you within an Animation Chamber.

The protection of our staff and visitors is of the utmost importance and we have implemented key measures so you can reconnect with our much-loved building in a safe environment.

Book your free tickets on our website and familiarise yourself with our Health & Safety measures to ensure your visit is both safe and enjoyable: https://bit.ly/3oeegEI

Exhibitions, Talks & Events, Whitechapel Gallery Archives, Education, Limited Edition Prints, Films, Publications, Documents of Contemporary Art

01/12/2020

Only 3 hours left to browse and buy 25 artists' editions for under £250 (limited numbers available), in the 2020 Festive Flash Sale! Go, go, go!

Festive Flash Sale: https://bit.ly/3ooHEZl

01/12/2020

Stuck on what to to buy from the Festive Flash Sale? Head over to Whitechapel Gallery Editions Instagram for highlights of the sale. If you have any questions, the team will be on hand to help!

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3fROMu7