The Barbican Muse

The Barbican Muse is a sculpture suspended near the entrance to the Barbican Centre. Commissioned by Theo Crosby in 1993, the 6.1 metres long sculpture created by Matthew Spender, features a woman holding tragedy and comedy masks. It was installed in 1994 as to “float, glow and point the way” for visitors to get to the Barbican from the walkway from Moorgate Station. It was cast in fibreglass and gilded after.

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Ambika P3 - Alien Sex Club

Alien Sex Club was held at Ambika P3 of University of Westminster between 24 July to 14 August 2015. It is a joint collaboration between artist John Walter and HIV researcher and specialist Dr Alison Rodger. Walter shaped and crafted the visuals of the research provided by Dr Rodger on the subject, creating a Cruise Maze, which is most commonly found in sex clubs and gay saunas. The works combines the HIV with art through many varied interactions in exploring the way the subject is addressed. This exhibition contains adult themes.

Hats for Marrows are a series of sculptures satirising condom fatigue. The mini hats were knitted by the Walter’s mother and affixed on top of the Styrofoam marrows. It is intended to be cradled in your arms as you make your way around the exhibition.

Pill Burden are a series of pictures reflecting on the decrease on the need of antiretroviral therapy since the 1990s. At one point, patients had to take up to 40 pills a day in comparison to today where patients only need to take 1 pill a day to manage their HIV treatment.

The Inflatable Head is a take on Walter’s pug virus and becomes a theme in some of his works across the exhibition in drawings to 3D prints.

Juliberry’s Grave is a series of coffins that remember people of cultural significance that have died of AIDS. It is a way to help send the lost cultural information when they died into “cultural consciousness”.

Rapid HIV testing carried out by Terrence Higgins Trust are done in a blue shed that resembles a semi-virus. It’s quick and easy to do with the results shown directly after getting a spot sample of blood.

Tarot readings are done daily with mine done by the lovely Sue who took the form of Barbara Truvada. She delves into the depths of the past, present and future exploring the self, obstacles and how they entwine. My reading was down to the T with a lot of thought and afterthought to figure it out. Enlarged version of the tarot cards can be found in the maze.

The Intestinal Corridor contains images of city maps, viruses, pills, symbols and other images, providing a transcendental experience into the maze.

The Capsid Club contains structures of HIV capsids, which are the protein shells of viruses.

Video Booth shows two characters in their respected screens (Goat Guy and Bummy Pete) speaking in garbled speech as a way of looking at the slang terms used when cruising for sex. The design reflects the US adult bookstores in which pornographic films can be simultaneously watched while sex acts are done through glory holes in booths.

Shrinkies are a series of miniature drawings that were shrunk using special materials. A larger-scaled version can be found displayed elsewhere in the maze.

The Big Book, which sadly could not be flipped through, showed paintings presented as the Alien Sex Club bible, which contained 49 pages on double-paged spreads.

Two sets of drawings are displayed in the maze which dal with the language of HIV and architecture, while the second deals with the different presets that are performed to attain this architecture.

Three videos shown in the maze deals with different sides of sex and how they relate to HIV. The three videos are Strategic Positioning, Crystal Dick and Courtship Disorder, which can be viewed below.

It was overall a different experience which was fun and enjoyable with different windows of offerings to interact with and think about. I went on two occasions which included the last day of the exhibition and managed to see the artist in very colourful clothing without realising that he was John Walters. Only after when a staff said he was there on the day but he had already left when the revelation was revealed. Alien Sex Club will be coming to Liverpool later in the year as part of the Homotopia festival.

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Barbican - Roman Signer: Slow Movement

Barbican Centre’s Curve Gallery hosted Roman Signer: Slow Motion from 4 March 2015 to 31 May 2015. The simplisticity of the work explores the social interaction between his work and the audience in a way we react to the beat of the motion.

Roman Signer: Slow Motion follows a canal as it is pulled across along the ceiling through the 90 metre long gallery as if it was moving through a canal. Known for his work that have notions of cause and effect, where he views his experiments as “events” and his audiences as “actions”. This very idea plays in the installation as we and follow the path of the kayak as we become active participants in his event.

Signer’s interest in kayaks began in the early 1980s and spent a great deal for many years being an ardent kayaker. Two films show his adventures through his affirmed interest in the innovation of the different sides of kayaks. For personal reasons, he stopped kayaking but used it in his works in creating two short films: Eskimoroll (Eskimo Roll, 1995) and Kajak (Kayak, 2000). Both films were shown at either end of the gallery.

Eskimoroll showed a kayak bound to a bicycle with rope as it was being pulled along with the bicycle as it rode away, causing the kayak to spin around several times as if capsizing.

Kajak showed a kayak with Signer in it as it was pulled by a car through the Rhine Valley at high speed.

Roman Signer: Slow Motion moves out on to the Foyer and out into the Lakeside Terrace as well.

Serpentine Pavilion 2015

The Serpentine Gallery is hosting their 15th Serpentine Pavilion this year. Internationally renowned artist to create and deliver an architectural structure that will take 300 square metres in the Pavilion Space in a space of up to 6 months, which will become a space for learning, debate and recreation. No budget is required for the Pavilion as it is funded by sponsorships and through the sale of the Pavilion. The aim is to introduce contemporary artists and architects to a wider audience. This year the Pavilion was designed by selgascano (founded by José Selgas and Lucía Cano) with the practice formed in Madrid in 1998.

The Pavilion is made with steel and multi-coloured fluorine-based polymer to play on the simplest forms of "form, light, shadow and colour" which focussed on visitors' experience. This is apparent in the whole design where light comes through the structure as it plays on the forms of the architecture. The architecture takes on different forms in fluid waves to minimalistic strips, giving more to explore the very fabric and essence of creativity in the colours and layers.

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