The Dark Monarch: magic and modernity in British art

This major curated exhibition, publication and events builds on Rowlands’ curatorial research. Working in collaboration with co-curators Martin Clark, Artistic Director, Tate St Ives and Michael Bracewell, cultural historian, the exhibition sought to explore new narratives within British art. The innovative curatorial methodology developed from a fiction found in the infamous novel, The Dark Monarch by Sven Berlin, Gallery Press 1962. The research sought specific archival and collection work that allowed thematic strands to emerge that represented influences across generations. The exhibition features two-hundred artworks, from the Tate Collection, archives and other significant British public and private collections. It examines the development of early Modernism, in the UK, as well as the reappearance of esoteric and arcane references in a significant strand of contemporary art practice. Historical works from Samuel Palmer, Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore and Paul Nash are shown alongside contemporary artists including Derek Jarman, Cerith Wyn Evans, Eva Rothschild, Linder and John Russell. The exhibition includes a key work by Damien Hirst ¬ the first time he has been shown at Tate St Ives and a number of contemporary commissions. The Dark Monarch publication extended the discourse of the research critically examining the tension between progressive modernity and romantic knowledge, the book focuses on the way that artworks are encoded with various histories - geological, mythical and magical. Essays examine magic as a counterpoint to modernity’s transparency and rational progress, but also draw out the links modernity has with notions such as fetishism, mana, totem, and the taboo. Often viewed as counter to Modernism, this collection of essays suggest that these products of illusion and delusion in fact belong to modernity. Drawing together 15 different writers commissioned to explore magic as a counterpoint of liberal understanding of modernity, drawing out links that modernity has with notions of fetish, taboo and occult philosophy. Including essays by Marina Warner, Ilsa Colsell, Philip Hoare, Chris Stephens, Jennifer Higgie and Morrissey.

Rude Britannia: British Comic Art

Group exhibition, including six copies of The BANK tabloid (1997) BANK [Bedwell/Thomson/Russell/Williamson]

Tiny objects writ large: the private world of ice age art made public

Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind was an exhibition at the British Museum from 27 February to 2 June 2013 exhibiting sculptures and engravings from the Ice Age of Europe and Eurasia, 40,000–10,000 years ago. It was accompanied by a lavishly illustrated book by Jill Cook with the same title, published by the British Museum Press. The exhibition was a sell-out, attracting considerable coverage in the press. Here I reflect critically on some aspects of the exhibition, exploring what such a display might tell us about ice age life, the modern mind and our present-day approach to displaying such objects.

Thin place exhibition

Thin Place is an interdisciplinary project which aims to find connections between the fields of art, archaeology, astrophysics, astrology, alternative therapy, poetry and theology. The nature of this project goes beyond the exhibition and incorporates a symposium, catalogue and education programme which will attempt to dissolve the boundaries that separate fields of knowledge and, in so doing, create a thin place at Oriel Myrddin. The five exhibiting artists and the other contributors to this project have produced work that is concerned with or responds to two particular locations: West Wales and the West of Ireland. In ancient times it was believed that the West was where departed souls easily entered Otherworlds. This is because the delineation between worlds was more permeable along these coasts. Archaeological excavations reveal that West Wales and the West of Ireland were thought by some to be ‘thin places.’ In considering the notion of a ‘thin place’, this exhibition addresses the ways in which we value our relationship with Place, particularly in landscapes where human and non-human relationships are well established.

Les fleurs du mal: new art from London

Group exhibition curated by Cedar Lewisohn

Monuments should not be trusted exhibition

Monuments Should Not Be Trusted brings together over 30 leading artists and groups from the “golden years” of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - the period between the early 1960s and the mid 1980s. Over 100 artworks and artefacts illuminate the key contradictions of this single party state – built after WWII on socialist principles, yet immersed in “utopian consumerism.” This is the first time in the UK that the art of this period, which has attracted increasing attention, has been shown in the context of the social, economic and political conditions that gave rise to it. It draws on new and innovative research on this period, and features many of its most celebrated artists. The exhibition begins with the rise of consumerism, midway through President Josip Broz Tito’s 37 year presidency, and ends a few years after his death in 1980. As well as artists’ works in moving image, collage, photography, sculpture and painting, the exhibition encompasses music, TV clips and fascinating artefacts, such as gifts made by workers for President Tito’s birthday, and relay batons which were carried across the country and ceremonially presented to him.

Lofoten international art festival 2015: disappearing acts

Group exhibition, 3 commissioned back-lit prints, curated by Matt Packer and Arne Skaug Olsen.

“Conflito de interesses” nas sociedades anônimas: análise do art. 156 e sua eficácia jurídica

O presente estudo objetiva analisar, sob o ponto de vista doutrinário e jurisprudencial, a redação da disposição legal do art. 156, contida na Lei 6.404, de 1976, “Lei das Sociedades Anônimas, acerca do conflito de interesses de administrador que, por conter um conceito jurídico indeterminado ainda não aclarado por lei nem pela Comissão de Valores Mobiliários, é objeto de decisões divergentes quanto a sua aplicação fática, gerando impactos em sua eficácia jurídica. Inicialmente serão explicitadas as teorias doutrinárias que referendam o tema e cuja aplicação encontram terreno na jurisprudência. Em seguida, será contextualizado historicamente o surgimento do conflito de interesses de administrador no direito pátrio. Após esta exposição, tratar-se-á do conceito de eficácia jurídica a ser utilizado nesta análise, para que se possa alcançar sua verificação no art. 156.

Identifique-se: Exposição de Mail Art, uma poética compartilhada

This work refers to a cut of my artistic creation path with some reflections on the subject other. Mail Art has been an alternative trend of art / avant-garde, where communication between artists networks is the goal to be achieved, therefore, from this statement, was approached some historical and particular aspects regarding the post and its contingencies in the art / forefront. Share this moment of academic completion with a postcard exhibition that will take place through the agency of other participating artists. To do so, were invited artists from the theme IDENTIFY UP to send work in postcard size with the exclusive use of the Post Office. The exhibition event will take place in the Gallery of the Art Institute. Participant of other similar projects, I believe I experienced a new role: who calls, organizes and rules.

Identifique-se: Exposição de Mail Art, uma poética compartilhada

This work refers to a cut of my artistic creation path with some reflections on the subject other. Mail Art has been an alternative trend of art / avant-garde, where communication between artists networks is the goal to be achieved, therefore, from this statement, was approached some historical and particular aspects regarding the post and its contingencies in the art / forefront. Share this moment of academic completion with a postcard exhibition that will take place through the agency of other participating artists. To do so, were invited artists from the theme IDENTIFY UP to send work in postcard size with the exclusive use of the Post Office. The exhibition event will take place in the Gallery of the Art Institute. Participant of other similar projects, I believe I experienced a new role: who calls, organizes and rules.