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Art in the Age of Now

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Historic London building Fulham Town Hall will open its doors after lockdown for the first time in a decade as it plays host to ‘Art in the Age of Now’, a group exhibition that brings together contemporary art, live music, talks and performance art.

This deserted 51,000 sq ft Victorian space in West London, empty for over ten years, will be open to the public this May once the current lockdown is eased. Overseen by curator Ben Moore (Art Below), and co-presented by hotel operator lamington group, art in the age of now is a free event for the local community and features an extraordinary programme of installations, guest exhibitions, live performance art, music, talks, readings and screenings in the atmospheric setting of Fulham Town Hall, before owners Ziser property redevelop the building and give the iconic space a new lease of life as a creative, community hub and boutique hotel in 2022.

Many of the landmark building’s beautiful original fittings are preserved and will remain so in its future life as a hotel and entertainment space. The elegant architecture and decorative features include green marble columns, stained-glass roof lights, wrought iron balustrades, and art deco lighting. Visible deterioration adds to the character and its beauty seeps through cracks of decay and peeling wallpaper.

Built in 1890, it features a beautiful grand ballroom, a courtroom in the round with original stained-glass windows and tiered seating, civil registration and function rooms and each area will be taken over by some of London’s most exciting established and upcoming contemporary artists. The cells in the building’s basement vault beneath the court room, complete with the original bars from their time as holding chambers, will be transformed into mini art spaces for emerging talent.

The venue itself is an embodiment of local history and community; it has played host to countless marriages and christenings, and performances from legendary London bands such as The Clash and The Slits. Now this ornate grade II listed landmark will be brought to life through an engaging multidisciplinary exhibition.

 

Programme highlights:

Entrance – Sam Haggerty Front of house – Liam Hayhow

Assembly Rooms: Charlotte Colbert ‘Mastectomy Mameria’

Ground Floor: Conrad Shawcross ‘Slow Arc inside a Cube’

Grand Hall: Ben Moore ‘Los Hengeles’

Ball Room: Joe Rush ‘Theatre of Waste’

 

Ground floor – Nasser Azam, Patrick Boyd, Leila Bartell, Ricardo Cinalli, Ariadna Dane, Tim Gatenby, Eliot Haigh, Andrew Hancock, Liam Hayhow, Ru Knox, Anna Kenneally, Thomas Lumley, Peter Mammes, Rachel Megawhat, Chris Moon, Nick Reynolds,  Jeff Robb, Ernesto Romano, Conrad Shawcross, Schoony and James Vaulkhard.

 

Project spaces – Darren Coffield’s Colony Club, MC Llamas All Female Group Show, KCAW, Art Wars, Stations of the Cross, One Small Step, Missing People Portrait Project and Big Issue Guitar Project and Queen Themed.

 

Musical performances – Gaz Mayall, Katya DJ

 

Lower ground floor – Angry Dan, Ben Eine, Catman, Lucy Flynn, FORCE, Paul Insect, LUAP, Jack Laver, Dotmasters, Gary Mansfield, NERONE, REZ, SPORE, Oliver Switch, Teach, UNVRSL NMD and Matt Webb

 

The exhibition is divided across the main rooms, project spaces, individual artist rooms, the basement vaults and the town hall courtroom. Many of the works have been produced in isolation during lockdown and will be exhibited for the first time. This will be a platform to support the capital’s cultural community after a series of challenging lockdowns and a celebration of local artists and scenes.

Liam Hayhow will transform the exterior windows of the town hall with a series of experimental light installations, creating a flood of evolving coloured light. Sam Haggerty will make a statement in the ground floor entrance with Elephant in the Room. Melding a miscellany of materials, Sam’s elegantly twisted machinations make for a weird and wonderful world.

Three dedicated spaces celebrating women in art will be curated by MC Llamas featuring Holly Allan, Pauline Amos, Edie Baker, Kiera Bennett, Elodie Carrel, Arietta Chandris, Catherine Eldridge, Abigail Fallis, Nancy Fouts, Jessica St James, Chloe Karayiannis, Bip Ling, Jil Mandeng, Marion Mandeng, Sarah Maple, Savannah Mcmillan, Tuesday Riddell and Nettie Wakefield.

Joe Rush, whose sculptures have helped shape Glastonbury down the years is transforming the ballroom, complete with stage and sculptures recycled from salvaged material including F15 bombers and Soviet tanks.

Participating artists have come together to produce Los Hengeles. Situated in The Grand Hall and positioned as the exhibition’s communal hub, Ben Moore’s ’Los Hengeles’ is a scaled down astronomically-aligned replica of Stonehenge, one of the UK’s most recognisable heritage sites and brings together a wealth of collaborative creative skillsets incorporating sculpture, lighting, sound and grass. The ambitious new sculptural installation is part made from plaster of Paris which is the same plaster used in the construction of the Fulham Town Hall and follows on from other Stonehenge inspired artworks by Moore including ‘Phone Henge’ (2019, made of iPhones).

Charlotte Colbert’s Mastectomy Mameria is a mass of breasts that on closer inspection reveals some nipples are missing, sewn up as after a mastectomy. Since the birth of her children, and own personal experience of hospital maternity units, Charlotte’s creative output has reflected her sense of life postpartum.

A moving exhibition of portraits of missing persons by contemporary artists will also be presented at the town hall Titled unmissable and produced in partnership with the Missing People charity, it features beautiful original works by artists including Charming Baker, Nina Fowler and Mark Metcalfe. It is curated by Ben Moore and features a portrait of his brother Tom who has been missing since 2003.

Arts Wars is an exhibition of customized Stormtrooper helmets by leading contemporary artists including Retna, Philip Colbert, Joe Rush and unskilled worker. This showcase has toured Dubai, Sweden, Miami and Los Angeles and is curated by Ben Moore. one small step is an exhibition featuring leading artists including Jake & Dinos Chapman, Mr Brainwash and Chris Levine who have transformed astronaut helmets into works of art in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings.

Angry Dan, Ben Eine, Catman, Lucy Flynn, FORCE, Paul Insect, LUAP, Jack Laver, Dotmasters, Gary Mansfield, NERONE, REZ, SPORE, Oliver Switch, Teach, UNVRSL NMD and Matt Webb form a collective of street artists who will be taking over the building’s basement, transforming the labyrinth of former holding cells.

Art in the Age of Now will partner with The Net Gallery who will digitally map the exhibition for online audiences. Bladesman will produce a series of short films to document the exhibition.

Curator Ben Moore is the founder of art below, a London-based contemporary art organisation that uses billboard space to showcase art and has shown the works of thousands of artists in London, Tokyo, Berlin and Los Angeles. On display around the venue will be Art Below’s archive of posters that have been exhibited in the London Underground over the last 15 years featuring artists such as Ben Eine, Sarah Maple, Billy Childish and Alison Jackson. Art Below will also be taking over nearby Fulham Broadway Tube station with a series of posters for two weeks in May including the work of Charlotte Colbert and Conrad Shawcross.

Ben comments, “Curating the programme at Fulham Town Hall is a dream come true, even in these challenging times.  With a positive outlook, a collaborative spirit and a shared love and passion of the work we do (myself and the artists involved), I am confident that we will be able to give West London a much-needed art event that will revive and boost its cultural heartbeat.”

 

Opening Information:

Art in the Age of Now

Open to the public 20 May 2021, 11am-6pm

 

Visitor Information

Fulham Town Hall

553-561 Fulham Rd, Fulham, London SW6 1EX

Nearest tube: Fulham Broadway

@fulhamtownhall | www.fulhamtownhall.com

 

Contact Information: 

@fulhamtownhall | www.fulhamtownhall.com

Faye Cottrill , PR Assistant

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