Opening Times: Art Exchange is open Monday – Friday 11am-5pm and Saturday 12pm-4pm.
Admission is free.
Contested Games: Mexico 68’s Olympic design revolution
11 June 2012 - 14 July 2012
Venue: Art Exchange
Contested Games will examine how even at the time the Mexico 68 design did not go unnoticed by students protesting for change. Their appropriation of the Olympic design is one of the most fascinating but underexplored aspects of the Mexico 68 legacy.
By exploring both official and student design, this exhibition reveals what is at stake when a country hosts the Olympics, and what happens in the gap between the universal values that the Games represents and the local realities faced in the host country.
25 April 2012 - 26 May 2012
Venue: Art Exchange
“Look in a mirror and one thing’s true, what we see is not who we are.” (Richard Bach)
Seeking Beyond the Surface explores reflections, distortions and mirroring in the work of five international contemporary artists. Each artist focuses on the body, offering ways of exploring human presence, made inconsistent and hard to grasp by the reflective surface itself.
This exhibition attempts to suggest how art can seek beyond the surface and reflect on a widespread preoccupation with identity, social theory, psychological issues and self-exploration.
Artists include Oscar Muñoz, Hans Breder, Elina Brotherus, Adad Hannah, and Joan Jonas.
An MA Gallery Studies and Critical Curating exhibition.
Seeking Beyond the Surface explores reflections, distortions and mirroring in the work of five international contemporary artists. Each artist focuses on the body, offering ways of exploring human presence, made inconsistent and hard to grasp by the reflective surface itself.
This exhibition attempts to suggest how art can seek beyond the surface and reflect on a widespread preoccupation with identity, social theory, psychological issues and self-exploration.
Artists include Oscar Muñoz, Hans Breder, Elina Brotherus, Adad Hannah, and Joan Jonas.
An MA Gallery Studies and Critical Curating exhibition.
Previous Exhibitions & Events:
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Laurence Owen: The Elemental Dynamic
27 February 2012 - 24 March 2012
Venue: Art Exchange
Taking the constrictions implicit in the supposedly childish medium of felt tips to see what might emerge with their garish tones, Laurence Owen makes a series of images which are both disturbing and familiar. He presents us with a skewed rendition of the everyday, appropriating the language of advertising, photographs and holiday brochures to his own ends. Owen calls his felt tip drawings ‘a newsreel of everyday life’, resulting in images that lie somewhere between the fantastical and the mundane.
Events:Laurence Owen in Conversation
Wednesday 7 March
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 6.30 – 7.30pm
Admission free, booking essential. Book Tickets.
Join artist Laurence Owen and art critic and curator Kasia Maciejowska for a discussion of Owen’s exhibition and the ideas and inspiration behind his work.
Extracting Images Workshop with Laurence Owen
Saturday 10 March
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 11.00 – 4.00pm
Admission free, booking essential. Book Tickets.
Artist Laurence Owen leads an all-day workshop that explores the wide variety of images that surround us and the meanings we construct for them. Join us for this artist-led workshop that focuses on the miraculous in the everyday.
Artist’s Film Choice: Koyaaniquatsi
France/Godfrey Reggio/1982/86 mins/Cert U
Monday 12 March
Venue: Lakeside Theatre
Doors: 7.00pm Screening: 7.30pm
Tickets: Full £5 Concs £3. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012
Meaning ‘Unbalanced life’ in Hopi, Koyaaniquatsi is a haunting and hypnotic tone poem set to the music of Phillip Glass that juxtaposes images of technology and scientific progress to make a deeply affecting parable of life in post industrial society.
Curator’s Lunchtime Tour
Thursday 22 March
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 1 – 1.30pm
Admission free, booking essential. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012
Come along and join Jess Kenny for an informal discussion of Laurence Owen’s insightful exhibition The Elemental Dynamic.
The Wanderer
18 Jan 2012 - 23 February 2012
Venue: Art Exchange
Events:
A minibus will take us to Mersea, collecting from Art Exchange and Colchester.
Artist’s Film Choice: L’humanité
France/Benoit Dumont/1999/148 mins/Cert 18
Monday 13 February
Doors: 7.00pm Screening: 7.30pm
Venue: Lakeside Theatre
Ticket Prices: Full £5, Concs £3. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
When a girl is brutally raped and murdered in a quiet French village, a police detective who has forgotten how to feel emotions investigates the crime, which asks more questions than it answers.
Laure Prouvost in Context
Wednesday 15 February
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 6.30 – 7.30pm
Admission free, booking essential. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
A chance to watch a selection of Laure Prouvost’s films that brought her to international attention. Stay on for a discussion of this up-and-coming artist over a glass of wine.
Curator’s Lunchtime Tour
Wednesday 22 February
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 1 – 1.30pm
Admission free, booking essential. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
Come along and find out more about the extraordinary work of artist Laure
Prouvost. Join curator Jess Kenny for a tour of The Wanderer (Betty Drunk).
Margins: walking between worlds (Part 3)
01 December 2011 - 17 December 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
Part 3 explores issues of displacement and forced exile in the work of South African artist William Kentridge. We focus on ‘Shadow Procession’, a seminal work that reminds us that mobility is not always a matter of choice, but a by product of war, famine and colonial legacy. Beautifully made and with a disconcertingly celebratory sound track, this film reminds us of the complexities and contradictions bound up in the simple act of walking.
Margins: walking between worlds (Part 2)
10 November 2011 - 26 November 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
18 Jan 2012 - 23 February 2012
Venue: Art Exchange
Art Exchange presents Laure Prouvost’s The Wanderer (Betty Drunk), a newly commissioned film and installation. Based on a script by artist Rory Macbeth, who without knowledge of German translated Kafka’s The Metamorphosis into English, Betty Drunk follows characters as they undergo a series of increasingly bizarre experiences, navigating a path through situations in which reality becomes increasingly uncertain.
Laure Prouvost is winner of the Max Mara Art Prize 2011.
Events:
Find me out in the country
Saturday 28 January
Venue: Art Exchange and Company Shed Mersea
Time: 1 – 6.30pm
Ticket prices: £5 Concs: £3. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
Lunch not included in price.
Join artist Laure Prouvost for a trip to Mersea’s famous Company Shed for lunch, followed by an afternoon talk and reception to celebrate The Wanderer (Betty Drunk) coming to Art Exchange.Saturday 28 January
Venue: Art Exchange and Company Shed Mersea
Time: 1 – 6.30pm
Ticket prices: £5 Concs: £3. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
Lunch not included in price.
A minibus will take us to Mersea, collecting from Art Exchange and Colchester.
Artist’s Film Choice: L’humanité
France/Benoit Dumont/1999/148 mins/Cert 18
Monday 13 February
Doors: 7.00pm Screening: 7.30pm
Venue: Lakeside Theatre
Ticket Prices: Full £5, Concs £3. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
When a girl is brutally raped and murdered in a quiet French village, a police detective who has forgotten how to feel emotions investigates the crime, which asks more questions than it answers.
Laure Prouvost in Context
Wednesday 15 February
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 6.30 – 7.30pm
Admission free, booking essential. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
A chance to watch a selection of Laure Prouvost’s films that brought her to international attention. Stay on for a discussion of this up-and-coming artist over a glass of wine.
Curator’s Lunchtime Tour
Wednesday 22 February
Venue: Art Exchange
Time: 1 – 1.30pm
Admission free, booking essential. Bookings go live Monday 9 Jan 2012.
Come along and find out more about the extraordinary work of artist Laure
Prouvost. Join curator Jess Kenny for a tour of The Wanderer (Betty Drunk).
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Margins: walking between worlds (Part 3) 01 December 2011 - 17 December 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
Part 3 explores issues of displacement and forced exile in the work of South African artist William Kentridge. We focus on ‘Shadow Procession’, a seminal work that reminds us that mobility is not always a matter of choice, but a by product of war, famine and colonial legacy. Beautifully made and with a disconcertingly celebratory sound track, this film reminds us of the complexities and contradictions bound up in the simple act of walking.
Margins: walking between worlds (Part 2) 10 November 2011 - 26 November 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
Part 2 focuses on the extraordinary collaboration between Tacita Dean and writer Marina Warner, ‘Footage’, an exploration of shamans in myth and legend who walk between worlds on our behalf.
Margins: walking between worlds (Part 1)
24 September 2011 - 05 November 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
An exhibition in 3 parts, ‘Margins: walking between worlds’ creates a platform for bringing together work that registers the often complex issues inherent in the simple act of walking.
Part 1 investigates how mobility, resistance and power can be explored through the simple act of walking. This exhibition focuses on artists who insert themselves into everyday life on the streets. Some subtly absorb the world around them, while others walk in an overtly political direction. Yet all reference place, all utilise the natural narrative of going on a journey - and all recognise that the absurdity of our situation is never far away.
This exhibition brings together the work of internationally renowned artists Francis Alÿs, Regina José Galindo, Emily Jacir, John Smith and Richard Wentworth.
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09 July 2011 - 23 July 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
The painters in this exhibition all share an irresistible compulsion to paint. Their desire is obsessive, all-consuming and often intangible. Communicating through paint, brush and canvas, they create their own language to interpret of the world around us.
James Metsoja finds inspiration from newspapers and magazines and the world of imagery that we are immersed in everyday. Businessmen, soldiers, celebrities and entrepreneurs all find their way into his paintings. Rebecca Roscorla paints scenes of leisure; such as parks where fountains take centre stage, their rococo opulence perhaps relating to the indulgence of painting itself. Robin Webb’s paints swiftly from one canvas to the next, often influenced by the previous painting or events that take place in between. Neil Keith Baker uses devices such as curtains and screens to both hide and reveal his subject matter at the same time.
The title of this exhibition O Painters! My Painters! suggests adoration and lament in equal measure; echoing the role painting in the 21st century.
All artworks are for sale.
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TimeFrame
28 April 2011 - 11 June 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
TimeFrame attempts to expose the invisible construction of the museum and gallery as eternal spaces within which time appears naturally suspended.By bringing together a collection of works which foreground art’s ephemeral qualities, TimeFrame invites visitors to question the rhetorical stance of traditional white room art spaces as being removed from the influence of time’s passing.
Presented by students from the Centre for Curatorial Studies at the University of Essex, this exhibition features works by internationally renowned artists Liz Ballard, Michel Blazy, Ori Gersht, Carla Guagliardi and Robert Smithson.
Presented by students from the Centre for Curatorial Studies at the University of Essex, this exhibition features works by internationally renowned artists Liz Ballard, Michel Blazy, Ori Gersht, Carla Guagliardi and Robert Smithson.
Image shown: Ori Gersht, Time After Time, Blow Up no. 12, (2007) University of Warwick Art Collection. image copyright the artist. Courtesy Mummery + Schnelle
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Intimate Bureaucracies: Art and the Mail
25 February 2011 - 26 March 2011
Venue: Art Exchange
Venue: Art Exchange
> Read curator Zanna Gilbert's Blog
Intimate Bureaucracies explores the roots and development of mail art and the ways in which artists employ different methods of circulation to open up unexpected spaces in society and seek wider participation in their work.
Intimate Bureaucracies explores the roots and development of mail art and the ways in which artists employ different methods of circulation to open up unexpected spaces in society and seek wider participation in their work.
