Channel is Somerset House’s new curated online space for art, ideas and the artistic process.
SERAFINE1369: We can no longer deny ourselves
PV 22 Sep, 23 Sep 2022 - 30 Oct 2022 | River Rooms, New Wing | Free | Ticket and info link here
Opening Times: Mon, Tue, Sat & Sun 10.00-18.00, Wed – Fri 11.00-20.00
Daily Activations: 12.00-15:00
“I am late, I have lost, I did not arrive
On time
In this gap, this failure,
Time is mine
And this
Is a kind of solitude
And a frequency, an offering, a kind of light” - SERAFINE1369
Somerset House Studios resident SERAFINE1369 (Jamila Johnson-Small) presents a new large-scale commission in autumn 2022.
Titled We can no longer deny ourselves this new work by the artist, dancer and bodyworker confronts systems that shape experiences and perceptions of time.
Unfolding over four spaces of the River Rooms, the installation is conceived as an ‘exploded clock’ with several interconnected elements that include a multi-channel video work, sculptural objects within an immersive audio composition, and daily activations with live dance performances.
Creating a space for the expansion, contraction and diffusion of time, We can no longer deny ourselves is a reflection on relationships between time and labour, bodies and capitalism. The work explores how these interplays can lead to working in opposition to circadian rhythms, our grief, and to the celestial bodies that connect all beings to the earth’s movements and root systems. The installation offers time as a tool of transcendence, opening up other dimensions or relations, as something non-linear, bodily, imaginary and spatial. Visitors are invited to enter and spend time in the space as a place of contemplation and reflection.
SERAFINE1369 (previously Last Yearz Interesting Negro), has been a resident of Somerset House Studio since 2016 as part of the collaborative duo Project O.
Commissioned by Somerset House, We can no longer deny ourselves is made in collaboration with Jackie Shemesh (light design) and Josh Anio Grigg (sound design) and has been curated by Rahila Haque.
Additional Events:
Performance: Thu 13 Oct 2022 | 18.45-20.00 | Free
SERAFINE1369 presents an activation of the new work, inviting visitors to enter and spend time in the space as a place of contemplation and reflection.
AGM: Fri 14 Oct 2022 | Open until 22.00 as part of AGM | £12.50
The Long Night: Sat 29 Oct 2022 | Tickets on sale in September
For the final weekend of We can no longer deny ourselves visitors are invited to The Long Night, an extended opening of the exhibition overnight on 29th October that coincides with the end of daylight-saving time. The Long Night expands the exhibition in response to subtly oscillating body rhythms with a special programme of live interventions by SERAFINE1369 and guests.
Gallery 31: Swimmers Limb
29 July 2022 - 20 Nov 2022 | Mon - Sun 10.00 - 18.00 | Free entry
Gallery 31, an intimate exhibition space dedicated to platforming the experimental practice of Somerset House Studios’ presents Swimmers Limb guest curated by Taylor LeMelle. The exhibition features contributions from two Somerset House Studios artists: Turner Prize winner Tai Shani and design studio COMUZI Lab, as well as a new site-specific commission from artist Mani Kambo who was selected via open call. On 3 October, there will be a curator's talk with Taylor LeMelle, and on 27 October, COMUZI Lab will host a workshop focused on restorative love economics as part of Grounding Practice.
Supported by The Foyle Foundation
Additional Events:
Curators talk with Taylor LeMelle: Mon 3 Oct 2022 | 18.45-20.30 | £6.00 | Ticket link here
Through a curatorial focus of connecting with their own intuition and exhibition-as-research, Swimmers Limb curator Taylor LeMelle is convinced that new possibilities emerge for joy, for longevity and for revelation when they can train their focus onto their own pleasure. For this talk, LeMelle shares insights into this curatorial approach and the ideas that reveal themselves from the works and processes that make up Swimmers Limb.
Grounding Practice COMUZI Lab: Thu 27 Oct 2022 | 18.45-20.30 | £8.00 | Tickets on sale in September
Artist-researcher Yaa Addae (COMUZI Lab) hosts a workshop focused on their practice of restorative love economics.
AGM 2022
Fri 14 Oct 2022 | 19:00 – 23:00 | New Wing | Early Bird: £10.00, General Admission: £12.50 | Link: here
Somerset House Studios celebrates six years of its resident artist community with its yearly access all areas AGM party. The late-night event is programmed with DJs, art installations and live performances with the building takeover offering rare access to the usually off-limits areas where the Studios’ artists-in-residence make their work.
Reimaging the building like never seen before, this year’s edition of AGM embraces the 'slow burn' as a means to restore latent intimacy. Taking place without a rigid schedule, the audience can drift with ease across Somerset House’s New Wing at their own desire with the building becoming a space to unfurl and indulge in curiosity and reconnection.
Somerset House’s ground floor will host installations and movement-based works including a late opening and live activation of SERAFINE1369 time-deconstructing "We can no longer deny ourselves" exhibition that leads to a ‘room within a room’ created by Tony-nominated designer Tom Scutt (KitKat Club, Christine and the Queens, The Pet Shop Boys), whose staging design is playfully inspired by construction site channelling devices used to divert and control traffic flow. This lies with intent of bringing the outside in. Scutt’s structure will house a slowly evolving durational dance piece from multi-disciplinary artist Rowdy SS will take place over the evening.
Descending into the lower levels of the building, a level to the building’s mid-basement will see DJ and broadcaster Lil C and friends take over in the Snooker Rooms as well as Sin Wai Kin’s Somerset House Channel commission The Story Cycle in the Rifle Range. Vault 12 will see BORN::FREE present an edition of its flagship literary events night, Veranda. The evening will pack in spoken word, live music and readings for an informal blend of insight, inspiration and deep laughs. The basement will host more music and live performances from international special guests.
Further programming TBA.
THIS BRIGHT LAND
01 - 29 Aug 2022 | 12.00 - 22.30 daily | Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court | Free - £22.50 | Link: here
Somerset House invites visitors to step inside the magical world of This Bright Land, a new cultural celebration in the heart of the capital, championing the spirit and strength of community.
Created by Somerset House Studios artists Gareth Pugh and Carson McColl, in collaboration with Somerset House, This Bright Land will transform Somerset House’s open-air courtyard into a welcoming wonderland, open to all, with day-and-night programming featuring performances, music, dance, talks, workshops and more, platforming both established creatives and grassroots communities.
Opening This Bright Land’s series on 5 August of Friday Night Parties is Nine Nights, a creative initiative developing and platforming Black creative talent, who bring a set of live performances, including an appearance from Studios artist Gaika.
Elsewhere in the programme, Studios artist Tyreis Holder curates an evening showcase of the roller-skating community and its culture, featuring a panel discussion, workshop and DJ set, celebrating roller-skating in the UK.
Alongside the daily programme, This Bright Land will feature a sensory journey through the Wonder Garden created in partnership with Jo Malone London, complimentary make-up services in the futuristic custom-built Clubhouse in partnership with M·A·C Cosmetics, and a ride on a 35m Observation Wheel offering new views of London’s skyline featuring a new soundscape installation telling stories from Londoners from all walks of life.
Jerwood Somerset House Studios Residency
enorê, Leila Dear and Ufuoma Essi have been announced as the recipients of the Jerwood Somerset House Studios Residency, a new programme to support early-career visual artists over a period of 18 months commencing September 2022. Running as two concurrent 18-month residencies the programme welcomes the artists to the Studios and will support their time on site with mentoring and bursaries. enorê is a London-based-Brazilian 3D printing artist who uses 3D scans and digital data to establish links between physical and digital realms. Leila Dear is a British-Iranian artist and educator whose multidisciplinary practice looks at ways of engaging with the structures of the natural world, often working with geometric techniques from the Islamic tradition. Ufuoma Essi, a video artist and filmmaker from South-East London works predominantly with film and moving image. Her work revolves around Black feminist epistemology and the configuration of displaced histories.
The Jerwood Somerset House Studios Residency is supported by Jerwood Arts
For more information, please contact Isis O’Regan - isis@tsf-pr.com
For general Somerset House queries, please contact press@somersethouse.org.uk