Artificial Realities - East Wing Biennial

About

The East Wing Biennial is a student-organised contemporary art show within the East Wing of Somerset House, London. Showcasing up-and-coming as well as established artists from the UK and overseas, the 12th edition of the Biennial entitled ‘Artificial Realities’ will open with a Kickstarter Preview Day on 30th January 2016.

'Artificial Realities’ aims to expose and challenge established realities through highlighting dynamic relationships between the real and the virtual. Often stripping away the mundane to re-evaluate form itself, this showcase provokes emotions both immediately familiar and unfamiliar. With our world transformed through the mind of the artist, heightened and warped, the artworks unite to suggest a limbo state that forces the viewer to question the relationship between the absolute and the artificial. Drawing on the theory that no two individual experiences are the same, everyday objects, such as letters and ribbons, are far removed from their innate intentions and presented alongside appropriated events and geographies. Artists in the exhibition include Daniel Buren, Jacob Hashimoto, Tracey Emin, Jim Lambie and Michael Landy.

The Courtauld Institute is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of the history and conservation of art and architecture; and the Courtauld Gallery houses one of Britain’s best-loved collections. The East Wing Biennial's young and energetic project serves as a contemporary counterpoint to the established identity of the Courtauld. Furthermore, the setting of the exhibition, within the East Wing of Somerset House, acts to emphasise its concept. Doors leading to nowhere, a paper city seen from above and a convoluted network of rooms combine to create an exploratory atmosphere unlike any other.