Category: installation art

Miquel Navarro, Wall City (1995-2000)

It is a quirk of perception that we read this as a city. On the face of it, most of Navarro’s work is comprised of regimented obelisks. So it’s not like any city you or I might live in. There’s no chaos, no movement and no colour. The columns are as…

Wang Yuyang, Breathing Books (2014)

“I like the traditional Chinese philosophy,” says Wang Yuyang, “Because it talks about the relationship between 1 and 0, on and off, black and white, something and nothing…” You have to imagine that the thirtysomething artist would also like the branch of post-structuralist theory known, confusingly, as deconstruction. If deconstruction…

Alan Magee, Return to glory (2014)

Two disks grace the gallery. One sits on the floor. One hangs on the wall. Looking closer, their outer rims can be identified as hula hoops. But there will be no gyrating here today. Both hoops have been measured up for a plasterboard inner, and worked over with filler to…

Simon Lewandowski, 100 Things With Handles (2008)

When confronted with a work of contemporary art, it is common to look for a handle. But it is not always easy to get to grips with an abstract sculpture or an assemblage. You could go to the press release. After all, that’s what a reviewer will do. But then…

Photodiary: Whitstable Biennale 2014

Last Saturday I spent eight or so intense hours hot footing it around a coastal town in South East England in search of the many artworks which make up Whitstable Biennale. The coach dropped us at the Horsebridge Arts Centre, in which could be seen a wry excavation of 35-year-old television…