Event detail
Notes on a Return - 10 artists reinstate the energy of the late 1980s at the Laing with a major new exhibition!
In 1985, 1986 and 1987, five internationally acclaimed artists Anne Bean, Rose English, Mona Hatoum, Bruce McLean and Nigel Rolfe made live artworks at the Laing Art Gallery. Not only preserving the past, the Laing Art Gallery has also tracked down the residual fragments that have survived in the memories of the artists and the witnesses of the original artworks.
Notes on a Return will feature a sequence of exhibitions responding to the five live artworks made at the Laing in the 1980s, which were an outcome of a collaboration between Projects UK and the Laing. The programme begins with five archival installations of contextual material relating to each of the live artworks. There are also five sound installations of the artists’ and witnesses’ recollections of the works in the various locations throughout the gallery building where they originally happened. The programme culminates with five newly commissioned works by artists from a younger generation that respond to the audio recollections and archival materials. To conclude the exhibition programme, there is a symposium bringing together the ideas and approaches which the programme has generated.
The five live art works included in Notes on a Return are:
Plato’s Chair by Rose English
Performed on 11 April 1985 in Art on Tyneside
The Rope by Nigel Rolfe
Performed on 31 January 1986 in Art on Tyneside
Good Violence and Physical Manners by Bruce McLean & David Ward
Performed on 6 & 7 February 1986 in the Marble Hall
Position: Suspended by Mona Hatoum
Performed on 28 February 1986 in Gallery A
“Pain”(tings) by Anne Bean
Performed on 1 May 1987 in Art on Tyneside
Notes on a Return Programme schedule
Archival Exhibitions:
Rose English 9 May — 27 May 2009
Archival Exhibition: Exhibition Gallery
Audio Installation: Exhibition Gallery & Art on Tyneside
Bruce McLean 30 May — 17 June 2009
Archival Exhibition: Exhibition Gallery
Audio Installation: Exhibition Gallery & Marble Hall (the old entrance)
Nigel Rolfe 20 June — 8 July 2009
Archival Exhibition: Exhibition Gallery
Audio Installation: Exhibition Gallery & Art on Tyneside
Anne Bean 11 July — 29 July 2009
Archival Exhibition: Exhibition Gallery
Audio Installation: Exhibition Gallery & Art on Tyneside
Mona Hatoum 1 August — 18 August 2009
Archival Exhibition: Exhibition Gallery
Audio Installation: Exhibition Gallery & Gallery A
New commissions showcase:
22 August — 6 September 2009
Five UK and international artists have been commissioned to make new works that respond to the five performances which took place at the Laing in the 1980s.
Symposium:
A 2 day symposium on 4 - 5 September 2009 in conjunction with a performance showcase will draw together the inquiries running throughout Notes on a Return and will be a unique opportunity to debate the history, memory and documentation of ephemeral practice with the participating artists, the guest speakers, curators and critics.
Guest speakers will include Guy Brett, Mike Collier, Simon Herbert, Lois Keidan & Andrea Tarsia.
Attendees who would like to present papers need to send in a 200 word abstract before 31 July, please email to sophia.hao@twmuseums.org.uk for more information.
Admission: £16.50 or £8.50 concessions (unwaged, students, over 60s) free refreshments provided.
Tickets are available on the door in advance from the Laing Art Gallery’s shop or from Tyne and Wear Museums’ online shop at
Appropriate ID needs to be shown at the door when you have a concessionary ticket.
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing/thingstoseeanddo/event/2009/09/04/notes-on-a-return-symposium/
Notes on a Return is funded by Arts Council England Grant/ National Lottery Funding.
Working with these partial and incomplete traces, NOTES on a return will re-engage with this past through a live process involving artists, witnesses and the gallery. The works from over twenty years ago will be illuminated in ‘the here and now’ by five up-and-coming artists with newly commissioned works that take in the energy of the late 1980s.
http://http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing/thingstoseeanddo/exhibition/2009/05/09/notes-on-a-return/
