Scroll down for some of our recent (and not so recent) cultural inspirations*, along with upcoming exhibitions and events on our cultural radar*.
*UK contemporary arts exhibitions and events (mostly) focused around sound and moving image
Thin Air
The Beams, London
17 March – 4 June 2023
Experience art at the boundaries of light sound and space. Thin Air explores the hidden complexities that shape the world we live in. Using digital technology and large-scale installation, international artists will transform the spaces of the Beams...find out more here
Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different
National Gallery, London
2 March – 11 June 2023
Taking her inspiration from paintings in the National Gallery and Bath’s Holburne Museum, Malani has created striking new video animations in 'Nalini Malani: My Reality is Different'. The animations, hand-drawn using an iPad, reveal and conceal different aspects of the paintings in both collections...find out more here
Isaac Julien
Tate Britain
26 April – 20 August 2023
This ambitious solo exhibition reveals the scope of Julien’s pioneering work in film and installation from the early 1980s through to the present day. The exhibition highlights Julien's critical thinking and the way his work breaks down barriers between different artistic disciplines, drawing from film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpture by utilising the themes of desire, history and culture. Find out more here
Turner Prize 2022
Tate Liverpool
The Turner Prize returned to Tate Liverpool in 2022. The four shortlisted artists for the Turner Prize 2022 were: Heather Phillipson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan and Sin Wai Kin. Find out more here
THE OTOLITH GROUP: XENOGENESIS
Irish Museum Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin
Xenogenesis, brings together a selection of works by The Otolith Group, the London-based artist collective founded in 2002 by Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun. The Otolith Group’s pioneering artworks address contemporary social and planetary issues, the disruptions of neo/colonialism, the way in which humans have impacted the earth, and the influence of new technology on consciousness. Find out more about The Otolith Group here.
A Thousand Words for Weather - Jessica J. Lee & Claudia Molitor
Senate House Library, London
A new audio experience that probes the connection between the environment, language, sound and silence, marking a unique collaboration between Artangel and Senate House Library. A Thousand Words for Weather takes place across three floors of London’s most iconic library as a sonic installation born out of a collaboration between writer Jessica J. Lee and seven other London-based poets of different mother-tongues. Find out more here.
Moving Bodies, Moving Images
Whitechapel Gallery , London
Across a range of projections and screens dispersed throughout the galleries, Moving Bodies, Moving Images brings together a selection of short films made in the last decade by contemporary artists exploring the intersection of dance, choreography and moving image. Find out more here.
In the Black Fantastic
Hayward Gallery
Eleven contemporary artists inspired by Afrofuturism consider possible futures with a hopeful, fizzing energy.
Of the many themes addressed by In the Black Fantastic, a new exhibition inspired by Afrofuturism at the the Hayward Gallery, the negotiations of the Black body is perhaps the most resonant.. Read a review here. Find out more here.
Of the many themes addressed by In the Black Fantastic, a new exhibition inspired by Afrofuturism at the the Hayward Gallery, the negotiations of the Black body is perhaps the most resonant.. Read a review here. Find out more here.
British Art Show 9
British Art Show 9 took a critical look at art produced in Britain, from 2015 up to the present moment (2022), a period that begins with Britain voting to leave the European Union and closes with the still unfolding Covid-19 pandemic. Responding to this complex time, the 47 artists in BAS9 looked at how we live with and give voice to difference, while also extending our understanding of identity to beyond the human. Their projects often blur the boundaries between art and life, and imagine alternative futures.
British Art Show 9 toured to four cities: Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester, and Plymouth. Find out more here...
British Art Show 9 toured to four cities: Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester, and Plymouth. Find out more here...
Luke Jerram - Crossings
Compton Verney
We really enjoyed 'Crossings', a work by Luke Jerram in collaboration with BBC Radio4 producer Julian May, which was commissioned by Compton Verney for the Summer of 2022. The installation consisted of 9 rowing boats on the lake at Compton Verney. Each of the boats played audio of stories from around the world. In choosing a story and rowing out into the lake for 30 minutes, you were taken on an audio journey, transported to another life and circumstance...find out more here
Surrealism Beyond Borders
Tate Modern
This landmark exhibition charts Surrealism’s global reach, revealing a movement shared by artists around the world for over half a century. This new retrospective at Tate Modern vastly expands on this Western European-concentric attention, based mainly around Paris in the 1920s, to chart the movement’s influence internationally and over a 50 year period. Find out more here...
Wayfinder: Larry Achiampong & JMW Turner curated by Larry Achiampong
Turner Contemporary, Margate
The first major solo exhibition by British-Ghanaian artist Larry Achiampong. The exhibition includes the newly commissioned feature-length film 'Wayfinder', which follows a young girl’s journey across England. Achiampong has also curated a display of paintings by JMW Turner and collaborated with Turner Contemporary to create a gaming room. Find out more here...
LET THE SONG HOLD US
FACT, Liverpool
From lullabies to the music of mourning, our lives are mapped by the songs we sing and the stories they tell. Let the Song Hold Us is a collection of new immersive artworks that reach between generations, and across geographic boundaries. The artists experiment with storytelling to consider how we might shape our own identities from the memories of those we have lost. Find out more here...
Keith Piper - Jet Black Futures
The New Art Gallery, Walsall
A major solo exhibition by artist Keith Piper featuring brand new works. Piper’s creative practice responds to specific social and political issues, historic relationships and geographical sites...find out more here.
Kehinde Wiley - The Prelude
The National Gallery, London
Through new artworks, including film and painting, Wiley looks at European Romanticism and its focus on epic scenes of oceans and mountains, building relationships with The National Gallery's collection of historical landscapes and seascapes by Turner, Claude, Vernet and Friedrich. Find out more here...
FUTURE AGES WILL WONDER
FACT, Liverpool
Future Ages Will Wonder presents an “alternative museum” of artworks that use science and technology to question our past and offer new ways of understanding who we are and where we belong. The exhibition will premier three new commissions by artists Larry Achiampong and David Blandy (UK), Yarli Allison (Canada/Hong Kong), Breakwater (South Korea/UK), a new work by Boedi Widjaja (Singapore/Indonesia) alongside works by Ai Hasegawa and Miku Aoki (Japan), and Trisha Baga (USA). Find out more here...
Ray Harryhausen - Titan of Cinema
Scottish National Gallery Of Modern Art (Modern Two), Edinburgh
Film special effects superstar Ray Harryhausen elevated stop motion animation to an art during the 1950s to 1980s. For the first time, highlights from Ray’s collection will be showcased, which will be the largest and widest-ranging exhibition of his work ever seen, with newly restored and previously unseen material from his incredible archive. Find out more about the exhibition here...
Turner Prize 2021
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry
For the first time, a Turner Prize jury selected a shortlist consisting entirely of artist collectives. Tackling pressing issues in society today, the five shortlisted collectives were: Array Collective, Black Obsidian Sound System, Cooking Sections, Project Art Works, and our favourite, the inspiring, inclusive and wonderfully creative Gentle/Radical. Find out more about 2021Turner Prize here, and the fabulous Gentle/Radical here
Artists' Film: Jarman Award Touring Programme 2021
Nottingham Contemporary, and Online
This Award showcases the incredible diversity within the world of artists’ filmmaking in the UK, with a presentation of the work of the shortlist of 2021’s Film London Jarman Award. From the individual and autobiographical to the global and political, these films draw us into their narratives through poetry, experimental sound, surreal computer graphics, performance, dance and choreography. Find out more here.
Alberta Whittle: RESET
Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
Alberta Whittle produced RESET at the height of lockdown, filming across Scotland (at Jupiter Artland and her home-town Glasgow), South Africa and Barbados and responding to the immediate context of the Black Lives Matter movement, the global pandemic and climate emergency. Find out more here.
Marina Abramović: Seven Deaths
Lisson Gallery, London
Marina Abramović opens two shows in central London this autumn presenting the culmination of her lifelong passion and empathy for the talented and tragic figure of singer Maria Callas (1923-1977). Abramović has created Seven Deaths, a new, immersive cinematic experience for the main gallery at Lisson Street, based on seven untimely demises she undergoes on screen. Find out more here
Matthew Barney: Redoubt
Hayward Gallery, London
Matthew Barney's first solo museum presentation in the UK in over a decade, featuring the UK premiere of a ‘breathtakingly beautiful’ new feature-length film. Find out more here...
Liverpool Biennial: The Stomach and the Port
Various venues and public spaces around Liverpool (2021)
Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest festival of contemporary visual art. The 11th edition, The Stomach and the Port, explores notions of the body and ways of connecting with the world. More than 50 international artists are taking part...read more here
Among the Trees
Hayward Gallery, London
By drawing attention to the beauty, scale and complexity of trees and forests, the 38 artists in this exhibition turn our vision of the natural world on its head, inviting us to see it with new eyes...find out more here
ART & MUSIC ONLINE webpage
While galleries, concert venues and most other creative spaces were closed between March and July 2020 (and again in Winter 2020.21), there was, and still is, lots of inspiring art and culture to access across the internet. During the above period, and mainly focussing on music and art, we put together a number of links to some of the FREE art and culture currently available online...
SELECT THE IMAGE BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE (we can't promise that all of these links are still live, but many still are...)
While galleries, concert venues and most other creative spaces were closed between March and July 2020 (and again in Winter 2020.21), there was, and still is, lots of inspiring art and culture to access across the internet. During the above period, and mainly focussing on music and art, we put together a number of links to some of the FREE art and culture currently available online...
SELECT THE IMAGE BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE (we can't promise that all of these links are still live, but many still are...)
Steve McQueen
Tate Modern
The first major exhibition of his work in London since he won the Turner Prize in 1999, featuring 14 major works spanning film, photography and sculpture. Find out more here...
Elizabeth Price: A LONG MEMORY
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Bringing together many new and acclaimed works, this exhibition engages with Price’s pre-occupations of technology, history, politics and pop music. A new trilogy of video works, SLOW DANS, will be premiered...read more here
Nam June Paik
Tate Modern
This major retrospective will feature work from throughout Paik's five-decade career – from robots made from old TV screens, to his innovative video works and all-encompassing room-sized installations such as the dazzling Sistine Chapel 1993. Find out more here...
Other Spaces and TRANSFORMER: A Rebirth Of Wonder
180 The Strand, London
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Other Spaces is a multi-sensory exploration of light and sound, featuring three large-scale installations by the multi-disciplinary collective UVA; Curated by Jefferson Hack, TRANSFORMER features newly commissioned and debut works by: Doug Aitken, Sophia Al-Maria & Victoria Sin, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Donna Huanca, Juliana Huxtable, Evan Ifekoya, Dozie Kanu, Quentin Lacombe, Lawrence Lek, Jenn Nkiru, Chen Wei and Harley Weir & George Rouy. Find out more here, read a review here
Mark Leckey: O' Magic Power of Bleakness
Tate Britain
Composed of new and existing work this exhibition 'is an atmospheric, theatrical experience of spectral visions, sound and video...' read more here
Olafur Eliasson: In real life
Tate Modern
A 45-metre tunnel of blinding fog through which less than a handful of people are able to walk at any given time is now installed at the Tate Modern as part of an exhibition by the artist Olafur Eliasson. The exhibition brings together more than 30 works from nearly three decades of Eliasson’s works....read more here
modern and contemporary art meanderings
A visual record of some of the modern and contemporary art exhibitions we've been to over the last few years...follow the link to the blog via the image below
A visual record of some of the modern and contemporary art exhibitions we've been to over the last few years...follow the link to the blog via the image below
Shezad Dawood: Leviathan
Bluecoat, Liverpool
Shezad Dawood’s epic film series Leviathan came to Bluecoat in summer 2019 as part of a season examining society and migration....read more here
Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition
The Design Museum, London
Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition offered an insight into the director's vast archive through original props and costumes, set models and rare photographs, while tracing the design story behind Kubrick’s body of work. His fascination with all aspects of design and architecture influenced every stage of all his films. Read a review here...
Mimesis: African Soldier
Imperial War Museum, London
John Akomfrah's new multimedia installation remembers the millions of Africans and people of colour from across the globe who fought and took part in the First World War. Find out more here
Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho: News From Nowhere
Tate Liverpool
South Korean artists Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho’s new film commission 'Anomaly Strolls 2018' is an extension of their project News From Nowhere 2009, and uses science fiction to question the role and importance of art to our present day society...read more here
Haroon Mirza: reality is somehow what we expect it to be
IKON, Birmingham
The most comprehensive exhibition of work by Haroon Mirza in the UK to date (March 2019), that filled the IKON’s exhibition spaces with moving imagery, sculptural installation and electronic sound. Read more here...
Penny Woolcock: Fantastic Cities
Modern Art Oxford
Fantastic Cities was the first major art exhibition of artist and director Penny Woolcock (b. 1950, Buenos Aires). As well as bringing together pivotal works from the artist’s career since 2015, the exhibition presented three new moving-image commissions...read more here
Charlotte Prodger's 'Bridgit'
Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London
2018's Turner Prize winner's short film made using an iPhone...read more here
Christian Marclay: The Clock
Tate Modern, London
A long time favourite work - see the An introduction to artist moving image post below - this 24-hours long installation is a montage of thousands of film and television images of clocks, edited together so they show the actual time. As the Tate website suggests, it's 'a thrilling journey through cinematic history as well as a functioning timepiece'! Read more here...
Strange Days: Memories of the Future
The Store X, 180 The Strand, London
Vinyl Factory’s latest collaboration with New York's New Museum presents a greatest-hits selection of video works shown at the museum in the last decade - watch the trailer by selecting the image above or find out more here
Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art
Galleries and public spaces across Liverpool (2018)
Liverpool Biennial is the UK biennial of contemporary art. Taking place over 15 weeks across the city in public spaces, galleries, museums and online, Liverpool Biennial commissions artists from around the world to make and present work in the context of Liverpool. 2018's 10th edition Beautiful world, where are you? invites artists and audiences to reflect on a world of social, political and economic turmoil with free exhibitions and events across the city. We’re particularly keen to check out a number of moving image-related works - French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda's new installation of Ulysse at FACT, Madiha Aijaz’s ‘These Silences Are All the Words’, Aslan Gaisumov’s ‘People of No Consequence’ and Taus Makhacheva’s ‘Tightrope’.
Francis Alÿs: Knots’n Dust
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Ever since his brilliant retrospective at Tate Modern in 2010 , Francis Alÿs has been a long-time favourite of two of MediaActive's Directors - this exhibition reflected the artist's long-term interest in current affairs in the Middle East and his frequent travelling to that part of the world, especially Iraq and Afghanistan. Featuring new work in a mix of animation, drawing, film, painting and photography - find out more about Francis Alÿs here
Isaac Julien: Ten Thousand Waves
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Rooted in the Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, in which 23 Chinese cockle-pickers drowned off the coast in northwest England, this cinematic multi-screen installation explores contemporary experiences of desire, loss and separation...find out more about the work here...
Rosalind Nashashibi: 'Vivian's Garden' and 'Electrical Gaza'
Feren's Art Gallery, Hull
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We realy enjoyed Rosalind Nashashibi's two films at the 2017 Turner Prize in Hull - the gentle, reflective, visually sumptuous 'Vivian's Garden' along with the equal visually rich, but complex and multi-layered, 'Electrical Gaza' - you can find out more about the two films and Rosalind's work here.
Everything at Once
Store Studios, 180 The Strand, London
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To celebrate their 50th anniversary London's Lisson Gallery, in partnership with The Vinyl Factory, staged EVERYTHING AT ONCE, a group exhibition (see right-hand image above) inspired by John Cage's comment: “Nowadays everything happens at once and our souls are conveniently electronic (omniattentive).”. To find out more read here...
ABANDON NORMAL DEVICES (AND): New Cinema, Digital Culture & Art
Castleton
AND is 'a catalyst for new approaches to art-making and digital invention, commissioning ground breaking projects which challenge the definitions of art and moving image...' Find out more here
Now Wakes the Sea: Contemporary art and the ocean
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, Ireland
As much as we'd like to, we're probably not going to make documenta 14 or this year's Venice Biennale. However, a couple of the team happened to be in Cork this Summer when this exhibition was on - read more here...or see some images from the exhibition on our visual arts blog
LLAWN05
Various public spaces, Llandudno
LLAWN is a free arts festival that celebrates and explores the North Wales seaside resort of Llandudno through art, artefact, sound, comedy, performance and participation. Our good friends TAPE were also involved in the festival screening 'Creature Features' (above image) at The Tabernacle. To find out more about LLAWN read here...in partnership with TAPE, MediaActive curated the 2018 Film Programme for LLAWN #06 - find out more via our Anim18 page on this website
Mat Collishaw: Thresholds
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Using the latest in VR technology, Thresholds re-staged one of the earliest exhibitions of photography...read more here
Altered Landscapes, Juan delGado
The Art-House, Wakefield; New Art Exchange, Nottingham
Altered Landscapes is an immersive multimedia installation; a combination of video, photography, light and sound are used to trace the journeys of migrants and refugees across Europe. Juan delGado was awarded an INSIDE commission from New Art Exchange and DASH. INSIDE is a Disability Arts commissioning programme led by our wonderful near-neighbours DASH. Find out more about Altered Landscapes here...
Fish Story
a short film Directed by Charlie Lyne
Sometime in the 1980s, Caspar Salmon's grandmother was invited to a gathering on the Welsh island of Anglesey, attended exclusively by people with fish surnames. Or so he says. Thirty years later, filmmaker Charlie Lyne attempts to sort myth from reality. We first saw this at this year's Flatpack Film Festival; and we loved it! Select the image above to view...
William Kentridge: Thick Time
Exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery
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An exhibition by the South African artist William Kentridge - Kentridge is known for his animated expressionist drawings and films exploring time, the history of colonialism and the aspirations and failures of revolutionary politics...Read a review here OR have a look at some more images and video clips 'captured' from our visit to the exhibition on our visual arts blog here
THE INFINITE MIX Sound and Image in Contemporary Video
180 The Strand, London
Taking place at The Store, a new creative space at 180 The Strand, THE INFINITE MIX brings together major audio-visual artworks from ten leading international artists. For more info read here For a review of the show read here
Ragnar Kjartansson
Solo exhibition by the Icelandic artist at the Barbican Art Gallery
Bringing together live performance, music, film, painting, sculpture and drawing, a solo exhibition from the internationally acclaimed Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson - for more info read here For more images (etc) 'captured' from our visit to the exhibition have a look at our visual arts blog - link above (modern and contemporary art meanderings)
We’re Here Because We’re Here
Jeremy Deller’s eerily moving commemoration of the soldiers of the Somme
Jeremy Deller’s eerily moving commemoration of the soldiers of the Somme
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In collaboration with Rufus Norris, the artistic director of the National Theatre in London, and theatres throughout the UK, Deller created a ‘human memorial’ of the first world war battle, sending silent soldiers into cities and towns across the UK. To watch a video related to the project select the left-hand image above and to find out more read here
Sculpting Time: Andrei Tarkovsky retrospective
Screening from new digital prints, the Russian filmmaker's ground-breaking seven films were screened at selected cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Mid-2016. For more info and to watch the gorgeous trailer for Sculpting Time select the above image.
Flatpack Film Festival
Have a look at what some of our Team got up to at 2016's Flatpack Film Festival in Birmingham on our Adventures in Alternative Cinema blog
Have a look at what some of our Team got up to at 2016's Flatpack Film Festival in Birmingham on our Adventures in Alternative Cinema blog
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John Akomfrah's Vertigo Sea
An installation view of John Akomfrah's beautifully poetic, and politically apposite, multi-screen installation Vertigo Sea - recently seen at the Arnolfini in Bristol - watch the artist discuss Vertigo Sea here
An installation view of John Akomfrah's beautifully poetic, and politically apposite, multi-screen installation Vertigo Sea - recently seen at the Arnolfini in Bristol - watch the artist discuss Vertigo Sea here
Bill Viola at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
An exhibition by the American video and installation artist Bill Viola at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Developed in collaboration with Viola, this was the most extensive exhibition in the UK by the artist for over 10 years - for more information about the exhibition have a look here For more info about Bill Viola have a look at Artsy’s Bill Viola page
An exhibition by the American video and installation artist Bill Viola at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Developed in collaboration with Viola, this was the most extensive exhibition in the UK by the artist for over 10 years - for more information about the exhibition have a look here For more info about Bill Viola have a look at Artsy’s Bill Viola page
Ragnar Kjartansson’s The Visitors
Finally got an opportunity to see Ragnar Kjartansson’s wonderful multi-screen A/V installation ‘The Visitors’ at Brewer Street Car Park/The Vinyl Factory in London. Didn't want to leave....read more about the work here
Finally got an opportunity to see Ragnar Kjartansson’s wonderful multi-screen A/V installation ‘The Visitors’ at Brewer Street Car Park/The Vinyl Factory in London. Didn't want to leave....read more about the work here
Ragnar Kjartansson’s ‘The Visitors’
Independent Cinema Office Screening Day
A couple of members of the team, along with two of our Adventures' Young Programmers, went to the Independent Cinema Office's Autumn Screening Days at The Broadway in Nottingham - these were our stand-out films...
A couple of members of the team, along with two of our Adventures' Young Programmers, went to the Independent Cinema Office's Autumn Screening Days at The Broadway in Nottingham - these were our stand-out films...
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'An Introduction to Artists' Moving Image'
We put together a 70 minute 'Introduction to Artists' Moving Image' - aimed at young people (15-25 years old) - images from some of our favourite favourite's below...
We put together a 70 minute 'Introduction to Artists' Moving Image' - aimed at young people (15-25 years old) - images from some of our favourite favourite's below...
Sufjan Stevens
ahhh Sufjan Stevens...glorious as ever...live in Manchester 31st August 2015
ahhh Sufjan Stevens...glorious as ever...live in Manchester 31st August 2015
Golem at the Young Vic
The MediaActive Team went to see Golem at London's Young Vic - A 1927 / Young Vic production, created by 1927. The latter are an experimental theatre company 'experimenting with what happens when performance, live music with animation come together...'. Have a look at the Golem Trailer here
The MediaActive Team went to see Golem at London's Young Vic - A 1927 / Young Vic production, created by 1927. The latter are an experimental theatre company 'experimenting with what happens when performance, live music with animation come together...'. Have a look at the Golem Trailer here
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