Jason Woodside

ORGAN PREVIEW: First Thursday Part two, art shows? Revolutions? is anything happening? Apathy? Shall we continue with the preview of what Thursday and London has to offer in terms of Art and openings and new shows? We were mainly doing it for ourselves, to quench the ongoing thirst for art and the need to get out there and explore. Where shall we go on Thursday night? It is First Thursday after all, First Thursday is still on isn’t it?  We did have a look of the ever frustrating official Whitechapel First Thursday official website, as always the site is a mess of non-information and “sorry we can’t find what you are looking for” messages when you click on the information to find out details of their Top five picks this month”, in fact clicking of the page that supposedly tells you about the shows happening as part of the official First Thursday event results in nothing but a “No Exhibitions found” message. First Thursday supposedly happens tomorrow and the official First Thursday website is even more bereft that usual. Had a meeting with them once about working with the galleries in a more productive way, the PR woman in charge admitted to knowing nothing about art or East London, that she hadn’t bothered going to Vyner Street (at the time a still thriving art street) on a First Thursday, but she had done PR for various Rugby League teams so she did know what she was doing. How difficult can it be to just get it together and just do it for the benefit of everyone? Surely First Thursday is something worth fighting for?

So what is going on tomorrow? Part one of the preview was yesterday, ORGAN PREVIEW: First Thursday, art show openings, Natalia LL on the Roman Road, Lucy Sparrow shoplifting, Jason Woodside and Evoca1 at Stolen Space… What else does Thursday evening offer? Where shall go for our art fix? Where is the exciting art?

Archive Gallery looks like it might have something rewarding to offer  Yani B has an art event called Trans:plant, that link there takes you to the Facebook event page

Yani B – Trans:plant

“Trans:plant is a new mixed-media exhibition, which aims to transfer visitors to an imaginary situation where they are free of all gender-specific associations attached to them at birth. Inspired by their own exploration of gender identity and representation, Yani B has grown a gender-neutral family of 350 Aloe vera plants, transplanted from the offsets of a single plant over nearly 4 years. The artist is now inviting people to adopt a family member and give them a name that challenges our perceptions of gender stereotypes, creating the potential for a non-binary mindset.  Archive Gallery will be hosting the entire family of plants combined with a video performance and immersive soundscape”.

Trans:plant opens on Thursday 3 November, 6 to 9pm. The exhibition:then runs from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th November 2016, 11am to 6pm with sound performances:on Saturday 5 November, 5 to 5.30pm & 6 to 6.30pm. Archive Gallery is over at The Rose Lipman Building, 43 De Beauvoir Rd, London, N1 5SQ.

About Yani B: “My work examines the body as the central stage where the politics of identity are enacted. Experimenting with original creative processes, I use manual as well as digital techniques and media to explore the body, in its presence or absence, as a form of expression and manifestation of culture, ideology, gender, sexuality, social ethics and collective aspirations. Utilising processes of repetition, error and a blend of intention and chance I allow for the unexpected element to be discovered… through reflections, light and shadows. My works are intended to create layers of narratives, inviting the viewer to engage and interpret. I live and work in London”.

Peter Wächtler

The Peter Wächtler show Far Out at Chisenhale Gallery has been open since mid September and goes on until December 11th, the East London gallery is open late for First Thursday

“Chisenhale Gallery presents the first solo exhibition in a UK institution by Berlin and Brussels-based artist Peter Wächtler. Wächtler works across a range of media including sculpture, drawing and animated film, with his writing and prose poems often providing source material. For Wächtler, the introverted experience of labour becomes both his process and his subject. For his exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery, Wächtler presents a film made through traditional cel animation, soundtracked by a rock and roll song. The animation depicts the central subject’s departure along a country road, set against a backdrop of moonlit landscapes. The protagonist’s repetitive stasis invokes an ambiguous relationship with acts of progress or withdrawal, as well as our own misplaced desires”.

“Peter Wächtler’s film Tim and Racky (2011) is screened in conjunction with First Thursdays, when the gallery remains open until 9pm on the first Thursday of each month. Emma Moore, Offsite and Education Curator at Chisenhale Gallery, provides an introduction to the film. This event is free to attend but booking is recommended”.  Chisenhale Gallery is at 64 Chisenhale Road, London,  E3 5QZ

There is the ASS group show, Art Society of Soho and a rather large group show called Revolution over at the Black and White Building over on Rivington Street, deepest Shoreditch (or is it Dalston, the boundaries are always a little blurred). Not sure how much Revolution there will actually be on Rivington Street, “The notorious Art Society Soho, the home of audacious British art and the Creative Debuts art platform, will be staging an exhibition of exclusive new work by some of its stellar members on the theme Revolution”. A big claim there, will it be audacious? Will the seeds of artistic revolution be sown or will it just be a polite social gathering and load of semi drunk artists taking selfies in front of their art and then posting them on social media? “Expect some some shock and awe!” claim the Art Society, we shall see.  The show opens this First Thursday evening at 74 Rivington St, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3AY.

We seem a little lacking in terms of Thursday night excitement, there are things at other galleries that are really exciting us enough to mention them ahead of checking them our, we a shall go see tomorrow, there must be something out there?  We’ve questioned the notion of First Thursday as an on-going thing here in East London several times in the last year or so, we want to be excited, we want to go out and be excited by the art that’s waiting out there, Where’s the energy? Where the attitude? where’s the artists wanting to make things happen? Further reading   ORGAN THING: Five years on from those naked red honey-covered men, poking around East London and what’s left of First Thursday…

WILL PART THREE OF OUR THURSDAY EVENING PREVIEW WILL BE ALONG IN A MOMENT…. Art excites, and of course if you think we should be covering your art event then you know where we are and you know what to do, drop us an e.mail and let us know what you’re doing. We don’t like to sit around in red hats telling artist and galleries that we can’t be bothered, we want your news, contact us, stick us on your mailing lists, communicate, contact, switch the other…  We are picky, it has to excite us, what have you got for us? Come on, where’s the excitement, the energy?  If you want to get in touch and tell us then the e.mail address is organzine at aol dot com    (sw)

Part Three may or may not be along later…. stay tuned…