Art to See by Aaron Cezar

Over 30 years, Delfina has facilitated over 700 residencies. My selection highlights some of our ‘alumni’ whose exhibitions explore the relationship between the artistic process and the production of wider, cultural knowledge.

Alex Baczynski-Jenkins’ new commission transforms Chisenhale Gallery into a performance and live production space in which his choreography mediates the politics of affect and desire. The work unfolds across fortnightly "Episodes" on Thursday evenings, followed by extended "Fugue" performances every Friday to Sunday, 2-6pm.

Meanwhile, Sonia Boyce turned the ICA into a performative laboratory to create her multi-media installation. In the live work, and perhaps the experience of the installation itself, the power play between performers and audience shift as the lines between each become blurred.

Anya Gallaccio’s exhibition at Thomas Dane collapses the distinction between production and process. An ‘auto-fabricating sculpture’ subverts the use of technology inherent to its own construction. 

Abbas Akhavan’s solo exhibition in DRAF Studio includes Study for a Monument (2013 – ongoing), a series of bronze sculptures of plants native to Modern day Iraq that have been eradicated as the result of conflict and war. The artist meticulously researched and recreated each, building an archive that commemorates acts of violence against nature and ultimately us all.

Field Work, a group exhibition curated by Eva Langret at Tiwani Contemporary, features Katia Kameli’s L’Oeil Se Noie (2016). By presenting the photographic collection of a street stall in Algiers as the core of her work, the artist proposes the possibility of alternative readings or new understandings of Algeria’s colonial and post-colonial period.

Mahmoud Bahkshi’s immersive installation at Narrative Projects recreates the interior of Cinema Rex in Iran, which was set ablaze killing 400 people in 1979 – an event considered to be the spark of the Iranian Revolution.  Bahkshi creates a constellation of found materials, relevant films and a new documentary that sheds light on how the historic event shaped present-day Iran and its relationship with the rest of the world. 

Curated by Elena Crippa, Allison Thompson and Susana Vargas Cervantes, Stan Firm Inna Inglan is a photographic display that captures the life of migrants in Britain from the Caribbean and other former colonies in the 1960s and 70s. The display documents an element of the Black Diasporic experience that is rarely seen.

Aaron Cezar is the founding Director of Delfina Foundation, where he curates and develops its interrelated programme of residencies, exhibitions and public events. He has overseen the physical expansion of Delfina Foundation into London’s largest host of international residencies, which welcomes over 40 artists and curators each year. Follow Aaron on Twitter. 

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About Art to See 

Art to See is ArtRabbit’s new series of editor’s picks. We’ve invited leading artists, curators and writers to share with us exhibitions and art events that left an impression on them.

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