Featuring a drawing by Anthony Gormley and a monoprint by Tracey Emin, alongside work from 29 other international artists, student curators at the Courtauld Institute have pulled out all the stops for this year’s East Wing biennial, boldly titled 'Artificial Realities'.
Founded in 1991 by art impresario Joshua Compston, the biennial continues to celebrate contemporary and emerging artists. The Courtauld's East Wing usually houses the working art school, and the exhibition offers a rare insight into the backstage spaces of the Institute, including the basement, staircases and seminar rooms. These cleared-out, threadbare areas are now filled with a jumble of contemporary sculpture, art works and installations.
Pungent scent installations by Anastasia Brozler add to the immersive, bohemian effect. The scent in Seminar Room 1 is the most interesting – and arguably the most unpleasant. Dubbed Courtauld 1932, it imagines how the seminar rooms might have smelt at the time of the Institute’s conception, with notes of damp walls and ancient brickwork – largely evoking student digs.
The ramshackle nature of the space provides a contrast to the polished, minimalist quality of many of the works; in particular, the delicate paper and bamboo sculptures by Jacob Hashimoto, and the slim porcelain vases of Edmund de Waal.
The exhibition’s transitional spaces mark another highlight. Winding staircases display in-situ commissions from Venice Bienniale representative Marco Maggi. Blink and you’ll miss these micro-paper creations, which provide reason to pause between seminar rooms. The creations are stuck directly to the paintwork; some are already peeling off. This approach offers a reprieve from the West Wing Gallery opposite, with its tightly organised chronology and no-touching glass cabinets.
The show's philosophical title, along with the names of each room ('Traces of Memory', 'Falsehood & Fiction', 'Selected Paths', 'Alterations in Light') could be seen as over-reaching, with tenuous links to what is actually displayed. But if anything, this adds to the joy of the exhibition: that progressive, high-end artworks are held-up inside rooms where usually they would only have appeared in textbooks.
The exhibition showcases work from 31 international artists, including Jacob Hashimoto, Edmund de Waal, Anthony Gormley and Tracey Emin. Pictured: Gossamer Cloud, by Jacob Hashimoto, 2006. Courtesy Studio la Città, Verona
De Waal's minimalist, elegant sculptures provide contrast to the ramshackle seminar rooms they are being presented in. Pictured: In Berggasse, by Edmund de Waal, 2015. Courtesy the artist
into four rooms, dubbed 'Traces of Memory', 'Falsehood & Fiction', 'Selected Paths' and 'Alterations in Light'. Pictured: Untitled Sculptures, by Ignacio Valdes. Courtesy the artist
The exhibition makes use of unconventional spaces around the Institute, such as staircases and the basement. Pictured: Karosta Kube, by Gilles Retsin and Isaie Bloch, 2013. Created by the artists for Artificial Realities. Courtesy the artists
Marco Maggi's intricate, miniscule works in paper line the walls of the main staircase. Pictured: Language Descending a Staircase (detail), by Marco Maggi, 2016.
INFORMATION
’East Wing Biennial: Artificial Realities’ is on view until 30 June 2017. For more information, visit the East Wing Biennial website
ADDRESS
East Wing Biennial
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House
London, WC2R 0RN
-
Tokyo’s most cinematic stay reopens as an exercise in architectural self-controlPark Hyatt Tokyo and Studio Jouin Manku demonstrate how design can evolve without erasing memory, balancing modernist heritage with contemporary comfort
-
Korean designer Yoonjeong Lee tells ordinary stories in extraordinary waysWallpaper* Future Icons: Yoonjeong Lee's work is based on a fascination for utilitarian objects, from pencils to nails, recreated with innovative casting methods
-
Inside architect Andrés Liesch's modernist home, influenced by Frank Lloyd WrightAndrés Liesch's fascination with an American modernist master played a crucial role in the development of the little-known Swiss architect's geometrically sophisticated portfolio
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week'Tis the season for eating and drinking, and the Wallpaper* team embraced it wholeheartedly this week. Elsewhere: the best spot in Milan for clothing repairs and outdoor swimming in December
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFar from slowing down for the festive season, the Wallpaper* team is in full swing, hopping from events to openings this week. Sometimes work can feel like play – and we also had time for some festive cocktails and cinematic releases
-
The Barbican is undergoing a huge revamp. Here’s what we knowThe Barbican Centre is set to close in June 2028 for a year as part of a huge restoration plan to future-proof the brutalist Grade II-listed site
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s wet, windy and wintry and, this week, the Wallpaper* team craved moments of escape. We found it in memories of the Mediterranean, flavours of Mexico, and immersions in the worlds of music and art
-
Each mundane object tells a story at Pace’s tribute to the everydayIn a group exhibition, ‘Monument to the Unimportant’, artists give the seemingly insignificant – from discarded clothes to weeds in cracks – a longer look
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekThis week, the Wallpaper* team had its finger on the pulse of architecture, interiors and fashion – while also scooping the latest on the Radiohead reunion and London’s buzziest pizza
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s been a week of escapism: daydreams of Ghana sparked by lively local projects, glimpses of Tokyo on nostalgic film rolls, and a charming foray into the heart of Christmas as the festive season kicks off in earnest
-
Wes Anderson at the Design Museum celebrates an obsessive attention to detail‘Wes Anderson: The Archives’ pays tribute to the American film director’s career – expect props and puppets aplenty in this comprehensive London retrospective
