Gallery 31: The Voices of A Tempest
A new exhibition for Somerset House Studios’ Gallery 31, programmed by exploratory producing platform A---Z (Anne Duffau), featuring works from Babeworld x utopian_realism, Michael & Chiyan Ho, and Tarek Lakhrissi.
Archived Event
| Dates | 02 Dec 2022 - 19 Mar 2023 Closed on Sun 25 Dec |
| Times | Daily 10.00 - 18.00 |
| Space | G31 New Wing |
| Price | Free |
In response to the research of poet and politician Aimé Césaire, in particular Une Tempête, his adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest as a critique of colonialism, the works in Gallery 31's The Voices of A Tempest take classic and cult genres - from sci-fi to slashers - as references to invoke fictional activism* through their storytelling.
Artist and poet Tarek Lakhrissi’s utopian short film Out of The Blue turns the sci-fi alien invasion trope on its head to empower the Queer community, where the minority becomes the new ruler of Earth. In Empty Orchestra, multi-disciplinary duo Michael and Chiyan Ho reappropriate a music video of Paula Tsui (a Cantopop singer from Hong Kong) to address censorship via an eerie, blurry karaoke-style version of the video in which the viewer is invited to partake in the sing-along poem.
Newly commissioned for Gallery 31, Babeworld x utopian_realism’s analogue short film, soundscape and ‘bloody’ installation Derby Day is a violent investigation into the art world with a critical eye on intersectionality; defying and reclaiming this space whilst also conjuring a threshold into new potentials.
About the artists
Content guidance: This exhibition contains some graphic and disturbing artworks and therefore may not be suitable for children. Parental guidance advised.
*'the restoration of marginalised characters as central figures’, as developed and defined by Michelle Williams Gamaker.
Image credit: Still from Babeworld, Derby Day. 2022.