Exhibition

Matthew Darbyshire: Funhouse

20 May 2009 – 12 Jul 2009

Regular hours

Wednesday
10:00 – 18:00
Thursday
10:00 – 18:00
Friday
10:00 – 18:00
Saturday
10:00 – 20:00
Sunday
10:00 – 18:00

Cost of entry

free

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Hayward Gallery

London, United Kingdom

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Matthew Darbyshire: Funhouse at Hayward Gallery Project Space

About

The Hayward Gallery Project Space presents a new work, Funhouse, by emerging British artist Matthew Darbyshire, opening on 20 May to 12 July. Darbyshire's large-scale installation takes its form from the funhouse — the fairground or seafront attraction characterised by wobbly mirrors, undulating floors, and plastic ball pits — which reached its peak of popularity in the 1980s. While traditional funhouses make use of generic cartoon-like shapes and primary colours, Darbyshire's installation references the 'visitor-friendly' design language of much 21st-century British public and corporate architecture. Darbyshire's Funhouse calls into question the way in which the design of such spaces appeals to values such as inclusiveness, diversity and choice, but often flattens and oversimplifies them, emphasising an uncritical and stage-managed 'fun' over thoughtful and truly liberating engagement. Architectural elements appropriated by Darbyshire include the Millennium Bull from Birmingham's Millennium Point Arts complex, adorned with soft drinks cans; a mural from the Coin Street Family and Children's Centre in Waterloo, London; and an oversized ear from an Orange mobile phone shop in Glasgow. Borrowed or remade (sometimes with a telling twist), each of these fragments corresponds to features found in the traditional funhouse — a nostalgic remnant of an earlier leisure age. Darbyshire's installation employs a palette of bright oranges, magentas, purples, and neon greens that will be familiar to anybody who has visited who has visited an urban regeneration area, an arts centre, or retail outlets such as Nike Town or The Apple Store. Hinting at the very particular way in which the state and commercial interests seek to control the public's experience of space and our conception of the public sphere, the artist's compendium of around 40 architectural motifs begs the question: ‘is this a people's palace, or a very contemporary house of horrors?'. Funhouse is accompanied by the website www.thefunhouse.info designed by Matthew Darbyshire and Henry Proctor, which will go live on 20 May, 2009. Matthew Darbyshire graduated in 2005 from the Royal Academy Schools, London after completing his BA (Hons) at the Slade School, London. Recent exhibitions include AlterModern: The 2009 Tate Triennial at Tate Britain, Nought to Sixty at The ICA (2008) and Blades House at Gasworks (2008). Funhouse was made possible with the help of funding from the Vauxhall Collective, a Vauxhall Motors' arts initiative, which supports new creative talent new creative talent in the UK in fields including film, fashion, visual arts and theatre. Matthew Darbyshire: Funhouse Curated by Tom Morton 20 May — 12 July 2009 The Hayward Gallery Project Space Admission Free 10am — 6pm everyday, late night opening on Friday until 10pm, only during main gallery exhibition timetable. The Hayward Gallery Project Space The Hayward Gallery Project Space, which opened summer 2007, showcases both up-and-coming contemporary artists from the UK and internationally, many of whom have not shown in the UK before. Recent exhibitions have included solo presentations of the work of Cyprien Gaillard, Guido van der Werve, Tim Lee and Ujino Muneteru. Admission is free. Southbank Centre is the UK's largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London's most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and The Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The Hayward Gallery manages Hayward Touring exhibitions; and the Arts Council Collection on behalf of Arts Council England. For further PRESS information please contact Gillian Fox, Visual Arts Press Officer, on 020 7921 0631 or gillian.fox@southbankcentre.co.uk

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