The Moving Museum is coming to London to present Open Heart Surgery, an exploration of contemporary art from London. From 13 October the exhibition brings together some of London’s most urgent artistic voices, contextualizing their approaches and identifying a new direction of art in a climate of rapid change. Working from an epicenter of creative, financial, technological and migrational activity, the artists methodically draw from, dissect, re-imagine, and ultimately rise above historical movements, geographies and references, displaying an extraordinary ability to absorb and reinterpret a world that is fractious and in flux.
Open Heart Surgery will feature over 200 artworks through 30 solo presentations, presented along 35,000 square feet of sprawling exhibition space including artworks across painting, sculpture, multimedia, installation, video, and performance. Most of the exhibited artworks, large-scale installations, projects and performances have been specially commissioned by The Moving Museum. The Moving Museum is partnering with The Vinyl Factory to inhabit part of a 400,000 sq ft space on The Strand. One block away from Somerset House and overlooking the Southbank, the 3 acre iconic Brutalist building, which has been derelict for nearly a decade will host The Moving Museum’s exhibition, education programme and artists residencies.
Covering a full range of practices and media, the artists in Open Heart Surgery are inspired by living in one of the most diverse and provocative centers of cultural activity in the world. With a selection of the emerging and established artists at the epicentre of this creative flux, the exhibition offers a rare insight into the individual practices that are developing London’s cultural landscape and laying the groundwork for its future. These artists have galvanized London’s current unique vibrancy; working together, alongside and often in collaboration with each other, their individual practices have benefited from the combined perspectives and shared pool of knowledge that has come to define artistic processes and exchange in London today.
The Moving Museum is also hosting a three-month artists residency for all participating artists. Taking place within a 40,000 square foot part of the venue, the residencies will activate the exhibition space into a site of active information production and mediation. Underscoring the spirit of collaborative exchange that contextualizes the exhibiting artists, the residencies offer a historical opportunity for this varied group to occupy a shared space for a formative period of their artistic practices.
Artists: Sam Austen, James Balmforth, Charlie Billingham, James Bridle, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Stefan Bruggemann, James Capper, Shezad Dawood, Tomas Downes, Cecile B Evans, Adham Faramawy, Jess Flood-Paddock, Joe Frazer, Alistair Frost, Gabriel Hartley, Nicholas Hatfull, Celia Hempton, Lucky PDF, Florence Peake, Marco Palmieri, Peles Empire, Hannah Perry, Mohammed Qasim Ashfaq, Mary Ramsden, Samara Scott, Tai Shani, Matthew Smith, Soheila Sokhanvari, Marianne Spurr, Clunie Reid, Jesse Wine.