fig-2 38/50 Josh Wright & Guillaume Vandame

About

Josh Wright & Guillaume Vandame join forces at fig-2, for their first solo exhibition, transforming the premises into an active gym with classes led by personal trainers, yoga teachers and invited artists. Coding a space for physical activity within a site for art in referencing Claes Oldenburg’s soft hard sculptures as well as Carl Andre’s minimal aesthetic and Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s collaborative, environmental and site specific approach, Wright & Vandame introduce a week of physical and mental stimuli. Much like Allan Kaprow’s happenings, the duo intertwines artistic input with physical engagement, and questions the body’s potential to transmit notions of identity, gender orientation and character. Inviting artists such as Karimah Ashadu, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Adham Faramawy to respond to the popular language and practice generated by gym culture, Wright & Vandame question our contemporary body image aesthetics and provoke conflating masculine and feminine archetypes and forms. The classes are of limited capacity, please book your classes following the respective links below or visiting the ICA website here.

TIMETABLE

Ashtanga Yoga Class
Tuesday 22 September
11.15 am – 12 pm

This class will introduce you to the standing poses of the Primary Series to increase strength, flexibility and endurance.

Led by Nicolette Wilson

Please book your tickets here

Zumba
Tuesday 22 September
3 – 4 pm

Zumba® offers a heady combination of high energy and motivating music with unique moves and combinations so you can dance away your worries. A fusion of Latin and International music - classic dance themes that merge together for dynamic, exciting, effective fitness!

Led by Toma Janulyte

Please book your tickets here

Movement, Awareness and Meditation
Tuesday 22 September
5 – 6 pm
Wednesday 23 September
5 – 6 pm

A session that combines a gentle, meditative movement, breath awareness study and a short relaxation. All leading up to the practice of mindfulness meditation inspired by teachings of Himalayan Institute.

Led by Marta Swiezynska

Please book your tickets here

VOGA
Tuesday 22 September
7.15 – 8 pm
Sunday 27 September
2 – 3 pm

Voga is a dynamic fusion of Yoga and voguing, combining the expressive moves of a dance class with the breath-synchronised movement of yoga.

Join us for a fast paced high intensity workout, where lycra and leggings are a must!

Led by House of Voga Founder, Juliet Murrell

Please book your tickets here

Vinyasa Yoga Class
Wednesday 23 September
11.15 am – 12 pm

Vinyasa yoga is a series of poses that will move you through the power of inhaling and exhaling. Vinyasa movements are smoothly flowing and almost dance-like.

A Yoga class with a sense of spontaneous transformational play, this inner journey will help you rediscover your vibrancy, restore your flexibility and revitalise your mind, body and spirit. 

Led by Celia Peachey.

Please book your tickets here

Pilates
Wednesday 23 September
1 – 2 pm

This class will introduce the principals of Pilates. Combining Pilates and ballet conditioning exercises throughout class to strengthen the core and elongate the muscles.

Led by Chloe Wilkinson

Please book your tickets here

Adham Faramawy’s Post Rave Sweat Fatigue Workout
Wednesday 23 September
7 – 8 pm

A sloppy aerobic dance session sound-tracked by Trance music. Titled, Post-Rave Sweat Fatigue Workout, this will be a fun hour starting with a dynamic stretch warm up, leading into a mix of very loose aerobic exercise and dance, taking cue from early morning rave workout sessions. The arrangement will be flowing and baggy, focusing on continual motion and pleasure rather than replicating forms and shapes. Breaks and hydration are encouraged.

Adham Faramawy (1981) is a Dubai born, London based artist of Egyptian origin. His work spans media including moving image, sculptural installation and print, engaging and using technology to discuss issues of embodiment and identity construction.

Led by Adham Faramawy

Please book your tickets here

Hatha Yoga Class
Thursday 24 September
11 am – 12 pm

Hatha yoga refers to a set of physical exercises (known as asanas) designed to align your skin, muscles, and bones. 

This class will focus on breathing, held postures and meditation to still the mind.

Led by Nicolette Wilson.

Please book your tickets here

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, This is Insanity!
Thursday 24 September
6.15 – 7 pm
7.30 – 8.15 pm

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd presents "This is Insanity!" featuring the contemporary beat boxer, Cull, and British artist, Adam Castle.

Let Chetwynd and her extraordinary friends take you to places you have never been before and join her on this journey to transform and transcend the body. 

Led by Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

Please book your tickets here

Meditation Yoga Class
Friday 25 September
11.15 am – 12 pm

This class will encourage stillness in order to create mental space and focus either seated or laying down. This will result in clarity of mind and stress reduction.

Led by Nicolette Wilson.

Please book your tickets here

Pilates
Friday 25 September
1 – 2 pm

This class will introduce the principals of Pilates. A low impact muscle strengthening class designed to restore the body to balance. 

Led by Angela Goodfellow.

Please book your tickets here

Chi Kung
Friday 25 September
3 – 4 pm

Chi Kung is an ancient Chinese form of movement exercise.

The class will harness your internal chi flow through movement, stillness, meditation, and breath.

Led by Angela Goodfellow

Please book your tickets here

Yin Yoga Class
Saturday 26 September
11.15 am – 12 pm

This class is about finding stillness within the poses and calming the mind and body down. A great antidote to balance a vigorous exercise regime or an active life.

Led by Nicolette Wilson.

Please book your tickets here

Salon Session with Francesca Steele, mediated by Josh Wright & Guillaume Vandame
Saturday 26 September
12.30 – 1.30 pm

In the spirit of Wright & Vandame's investigation of the body, beauty, and the art-life debate, celebrated performance artist, Francesca Steele, has been invited for a lunchtime talk to discuss her practice and interest in the body.

For over twenty years, Steele has used her physical presence in numerous works including performance, video and photography. Between 2008 and 2012, Steele initiated a rigorous project involving the artist becoming a competitive bodybuilder. In this time, she won Miss West Britain (NABBA Trained Figure) and place in the top five at the UK Finals.

In this rare conversation with the artist, Steele will be discussing an overview of her practice from her earlier work to the present and explore some of the key issues defining her practice including extreme body modification, classical beauty and how gender and sexuality are represented and negotiated within society.

Please book your tickets here

Karimah Ashadu’s Everlasting Yoga
Saturday 26 September
2.15 – 3 pm
5 – 6 pm

Quite often, practitioners in the art of holistic wellbeing are subject to their own internal turmoil. What would it be to experience a yoga class where everything is out on the table?

Everlasting Yoga is shaped by ten asanas. The artist constructs a series of postures based on narratives pertaining to circumstances in her life. Participants are invited to partake in each of these states. 

A problem shared is a problem halved. 

Please book your tickets here

Dance Burn
Saturday 26 September
3.45 – 4.30 pm

Have fun whilst working out with this high-energy dance class, using moves from Salsa, Persian style and Aerobics. Dance and exercise at the same time to Latin-inspired beats as well as well known chart hits. 

Led by Dalia Pozarauskaite 

Please book your tickets here

Dru Yoga Class
Saturday 26 September
11.15 am – 12 pm

The alchemy of yoga, healing the body and training the mind, reigniting that imaginative spark. 

A Yoga class with a sense of spontaneous transformational play, this inner journey will help you rediscover your vibrancy, restore your flexibility and revitalise your mind, body and spirit.

Led by Celia Peachey.

Please book your tickets here

Salon Session with Josh Wright & Guillaume Vandame, mediated by Fatos Üstek and Yves Blais
Sunday 27 September
4 – 5.30 pm

To conclude the ambitious week of activities and live events, Josh Wright & Guillaume Vandame will be speaking in conversation with Fatos Ustek and Yves Blais of fig-2.

The Salon Session will focus primarily on key themes of the exhibition including the body as a tool for making art, the objectification and commodification of the body, gender, sexuality and issues of representation. As well, the discussion will highlight more of the process and challenges of organizing the weeklong exhibition from its beginnings to fruition.

Following the Salon Session, please join the curators and artists for an exclusive, last chance tour of the exhibition.

Please book your tickets here