A Darkness More Than Night

About

During the coldest and darkest months of the year, you are invited into a world of smoke and mirrors, psychological states, Hollywood glamour, evidence of aggression and misleading clues. 'A Darkness More Than Night' explores contemporary art through 'noir': a genre most readily associated with stylish Hollywood crime dramas of the 1940s and 50s, yet whose precursors date back to nineteenth century literature and Greek tragedy. The exhibition considers the aesthetics and mood of noir through key themes of the genre, and features contributions by some 20 international contemporary artists working across a variety of media - including sculpture, installation, painting and video - alongside historical pieces of art and other cultural forms. Gallery exhibition curated by Ariella Yedgar and Rosie Cooper, in collaboration with QUAD. Many of the themes that are central to noir are universal: a troubled mind, a fruitless or baffling pursuit of an impossible goal, vice, deceit and the isolating effect of the city. Owing to these enduring impulses, and the stylish and modern aesthetic that are associated with noir, the genre has remained influential for successive generations of practitioners across the arts. But whereas the links between the genre and recent cinema, graphic novels, literature and television are readily apparent through 'neo-noir', 'A Darkness More Than Night' is the first exhibition to consider the relationship between contemporary art and noir.