Current Exhibition at Matt’s Gallery
Our current exhibition, La Décision Doypack by Paul Rooney, opened to the public on 23 April 2008 and comprises a new film entitled La Décision Doypack (2008), shot on 16mm and co-commissioned by Matt’s Gallery and the Loughborough University Radar programme. A further new text and image work entitled Failing That features in the gallery publication available to visitors throughout the exhibition. La Décision Doypack was filmed over two days in February 2008 in the Drama Studio at Loughborough University.

Paul Rooney La Décision Doypack (2008), production still

Matt’s Gallery will be screening The Last Silent Movie by Susan Hiller over three weekends in July. Please contact the gallery for press information and screening times.

Susan Hiller The Last Silent Movie (2007), video still

Susan Hiller is involved in a number of major projects over the summer including the Berlin Biennial, Talking Art at Tate Modern on Saturday 14 June, where she will be interviewed by Richard Grayson, and Late at Tate Britain presented by Matt’s Gallery and Artprojx at Tate Britain on Saturday 4 July.

Susan Hiller The Last Silent Movie, 2008, (Plate 13, Southern Sami Children of the Sun! No one subdues us if we keep our golden language)

Artists exhibitions and events
Here are some of the highlights of the first few months of 2008:

Imogen Stidworthy has won the inaugural Liverpool Art Prize. She has also been planning an exhibition Die Lucky Bush, a project by Imogen Stidworthy at MuHKA in Antwerp, which opens in May 2008 and runs until 17 August 2008, where she will present her own work alongside that of other artists including Jimmie Durham.

Earlier this year Jordan Baseman completed an Alchemy Fellowship at the Manchester Museum, culminating in screenings of four films made during the fellowship, at the Museum in March 2008 and a publication of the film transcripts. Jordan Baseman has recently completed a film commissioned by animate!, RSA and Channel 4 and has produced a publication for Site Gallery and Ci Arts in response to a residency at Thorncliffe Football Club in High Green, Sheffield he undertook in 2006.

Jordan Baseman's Publication 4 films, published to accompany his Alchemy Fellowship at Manchester Museum

Nathaniel Mellors' The Time Surgeon, 2007 will be installed at Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam as part of Deep Screen—Art in Digital Culture Proposal for Municipal Art Acquisitions 2008, from 30 May to 30 August 2008. The Time Surgeon was commissioned by ArtSway and Biennale de Lyon 2007 with support of Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten.

Nathaniel Mellors' The Time Surgeon showing at Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam from 30 May 2008.

John Frankland will be showing in Space Now, an exhibition to celebrate 40 years of [ space ], selected from current Space studio artists by Caroline Douglas, Head of Arts Council Collections. The exhibition runs from 13 June to 26 July 2008.

A further new video commission by Paul Rooney will be shown in Lost High Street, a solo show at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh from 31st May to 12 July. La Décision Doypack will be shown as part of Life is Interesting... When You're Furious at Radar, Loughborough University from 12 May to 18 June. Paul Rooney's work can also be seen in Climaz Redux as part of the LOOP'08 festival, Centre d'Art Santa Monica and Cosmo Caixa, Barcelona, and Out of Darkness at Kulturzentrum K4, Nürnberg.

Return to top

Artists exhibitions and events continued
Alison Turnbull is working on a major new commission entitled Vitis vinifera L. for One Vine Street, with art consultants Modus Operandi. A Matt's Gallery publication will accompany the project. The publication has been designed by Phil Baines in collaboration with the artist, and includes an essay by Paul Bonaventura.

Alison Turnbull, Vitis vinifera L., 2008 (work in progress)

Alison Turnbull is one of ten artists involved in Darwin's Canopy: Proposals by 10 artists at The National History Museum from June 4 to September 14 2008.

Alison Turnbull's Peppered Moth Print proposal for Darwin's Canopy at The National History Museum

Melanie Jackson will be showing Global Positioning System (2006) in the group exhibition Variable Capital at The Bluecoat from Thursday 15 May, a work that recently won the 2007 Jerwood Drawing Prize. The forthcoming exhibition at The Bluecoat presents a selection of work by international artists responding to our ‘spend spend spend’ consumer culture.

Work by Mike Nelson and Jimmie Durham is currently on show at the Barbican Art Gallery in the exhibition Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art. The exhibition continues until 18 May. Mike Nelson also recently particpated in the group exhibition You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil at White Cube, Hoxton Square, recreating his 1999 work Melnais Kakis, which was also shown in the British Council exhibition Micro/Macro in Budapest in 2003.

Mike Nelson, Melanais Kakis, 1999 (installation view) showing as part of You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil at White Cube, Hoxton Square

Mike Nelson will be recreating To the memory of H.P. Lovecraft, first shown in the Collective Gallery Edinburgh in 1999, at the Hayward Gallery as part of Psycho Buildings: Artists and Architecture from May to August.

Mike Nelson, To the Memory of H.P. Lovecraft, 1999 (installation view at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh) will be recreated at Hayward Gallery as part of Psycho Buildings: Artists and Architecture

Anne Bean has been commissioned by The National Archives to create a permanent installation for their museum at Kew, based on their image library which opens in June.

In early May Anne was part of a debate on the nature of participation in live art at the Chelsea Theatre's Festival of live art Sacred. Also in May, Anne will partake in presentations and performances at Toynbee Studios, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Ferens Gallery, Hull, with Artrole a UK-based contemporary arts organisation developing international culture exchanges with the Middle East. Anne will present an installation Heart Throb based on her visit to Iraq late last year. She will travel again to Iraq in late May to research performance and installation projects to take place there later this year.

In June Anne Bean is travelling to Staglinec, Croatia to be part of a performance based event organised by Vlasta Delimar. She is currently researching ideas for two commissions, one for the Garonne Theatre in Toulouse based on, and in, a former water pumping station and the other for a collaborative event in Liverpool commissioned by Contemporary Music Network for Autumn 2008.

During April and May Michael Curran has been involved in a series of performances Sunset is an all day process at LLS 387 in Antwerp with Louisa Minkin. Associated film screenings were also shown at MuKHA.

Michael Curran's Twilight Performance at LLS 387 in Antwerp.

Return to top

Matt’s Gallery Print Portfolio

E3 4RR Print box, showing Nathaniel Mellors' Time Surgeon Performers’ Mask and title page designed by Phil Baines  

E3 4RR, our first print portfolio was launched in November 2007 in the Prints and Drawings Room at Tate Britain. The portfolio brings together the work of fifteen internationally acclaimed artists who have produced a unique etching, screen print or photograph exclusively for Matt’s Gallery. Information about the prints and the artists involved can be found on our print portfolio pages. For further information about the edition or any other works available by Matt’s Gallery artists, please contact representation@mattsgallery.org.

Matt's Gallery Campaign
Our fundraising campaign is ongoing. Your continued support enables us to take risks and present groundbreaking exhibitions, work with and promote emerging and established artists, commission new work, develop our extensive archive, enhance our role in education and nurture the next generation of cultural leaders and artists. If you haven’t already made a contribution to the Matt’s Gallery appeal, either make a cheque payable to Matt’s Gallery and send it to the gallery address or donate online here using paypal. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Own Art
Matt’s Gallery is pleased to announce it is part of the Arts Council’s Own Art programme, designed to make it easy and affordable for everyone to buy contemporary works of art. To find out more about Own Art, see www.artscouncil.org.uk/ownart
To contact Matt’s Gallery about buying works email info@mattsgallery.org

Matt’s Gallery is pleased to announce it is part of Time Out London's programme of late night gallery openings in East London on the first Thursday of each month. Matt’s Gallery is also included in the programme's guided bus tours. The next First Thursday at Matt’s Gallery will be on 5 June 2008 for Paul Rooney's exhibition. For further information and tour booking visit: www.firstthursdays.co.uk

Matt’s Gallery is open 23 April–15 June 2008, Wednesday–Sunday, 12–6pm for our current exhibition Paul Rooney's La Décision Doypack

Staff News
Carolyn Thompson, Matt’s Gallery's Website Administrator is exhibiting in Word Things & Book Works at the Eagle Gallery, London from 22 May–13 June 2008.

Carolyn Thompson, Romance is Dead #34 , 2006 (woven book leaf) showing at Eagle Gallery 22 May–13 June

Intern News
Emilie Charlesworth has recently joined Matt’s Gallery as an intern. Emilie will be working front of house and is receiving an overview of the gallery. Our current Stanley Picker Intern, Holly Slingsby will be performing Fallout as part of the East End Collaborations 2008 EEC Platform on Saturday 24 May. Mary Hurrell, a former intern at Matt’s Gallery recently had a solo screening at the View Point Gallery, Plymouth College of Art and Design as part of the PL:AY festival. Patrcia Rylko, another former intern, will be graduating from the RCA curating course in July, and co-curated Of this Tale, I cannot guarantee a single word at the Royal College of Art in April.

Of this Tale I cannot guarantee a single word, published to accompany the curating course exhibition at the Royal College of Art in April, showing Mike Nelson's The Coral Reef

Rebecca Birch’s film Bristlecone will be shown during Margate Rocks 08. Rebecca Birch’s work explores the complex relationships between community and landscapes, and their particular languages, rituals and social patterns. She focuses upon the political issues around land ownership and in the interface between domestic and geological timescales, for example, people whose homes are falling into the sea and communities who live alongside ancient woods. Rebecca is also a former intern at Matt’s Gallery.

Rebecca Birch Bristlecone, 2007 (video still), showing as part of Margate Rocks 08

Return to top