Opening 2–8 March, this exhibition displays works created by Gonkar Gyatso and students from Shacklewell Primary School during an artist residency. The artists and students used visual tagging, inscription and territorial marking to explore issues relating to space, identity and culture.
"My works such as The Trinity, The Religion Question and The Pokemon Buddha combined words in English, Tibetan and Chinese and formed a starting point for talking to the year 6 students. They really responded to the idea of using words as a form of identity marking and tagging, I was impressed by their challenging word play and expression about their particular point of life transition." Gonkar Gyatso
Presented by inIVA and A Space Terrain is a visual tagging exhibition displaying large-scale works created by internationally respected artist Gonkar Gyatso and students from Shacklewell Primary School. The exhibition is the outcome of an artist residency which involved inscription and territorial marking through traditional Tibetan calligraphy, contemporary graffiti and western pop iconography and explored issues relating to space, identity and culture.
Terrain is part of Limina an award-winning arts-education programme, which charts the transition of students from primary to secondary education. The programme is in collaboration with Shacklewell Primary School; The Learning Trust, Hackney and A Space and has also featured projects Touchstones & Threshold by leading artists Charlie Dark and Faisal Abdu-Allah.
Gonkar Gyatso was born in 1961 in Lhasa, Tibet. He graduated from the Fine Art Department of the Central Institute of Nationalities, Beijing and from the Chelsea Art & Design College, London. He is the founder of The Sweet Tea House - a contemporary Tibetan art gallery in East London. He was the recipient of a Leverhulme Fellowship in 2003 and became ‘Artist in Residence' at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. His work has been internationally published and exhibited in galleries and museums including The Chinese National Art Gallery (Beijing), The Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art (Scotland), the Courtauld Institute of Art (London), the Weleld Museum Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Colorado University Art Museum and Collections (USA). Works by Gyatso are now held in the Newark Museum (USA), the Pitt Rivers Museum (UK) and numerous private collections. Gonkar Gyatso is living in London and is a visiting teacher at the London Institute.
"It was cool working with an artist. Maybe one day I will be able to create my own priceless piece of art. You don't have to be perfect at drawing to make art." Sheku (Student)
"The workshop programme allowed my son to experience not just the traditional forms of art. The workshops broadened his mind so that he now is looking at something that he hadn't perceived as art before. It built his self confidence. It was an eye opener-he saw art that wasn't just about clay or paint, it can be other media. Now when we leave an art gallery, our conversation is "who decides what is art anyway?" Sheku's Mother
Listings Information
Venue: inIVA, 6-8 Standard Place, Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3BE
Dates/Times: 2-8 March 2007, 12-6pm
Tube: Old St and Liverpool St.
Admission free
Wheelchair access
Information: +44 (0)20 7729 9616, www.iniva.org, institute@iniva.org
Supported by
Arts Council England, Insight Investment Management Ltd, Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts' and The Learning Trust, Hackney
Editors Notes
inIVA creates exhibitions, publications, multimedia, education and research projects designed to bring the work of artists from culturally-diverse backgrounds to the attention of the widest possible public. (ww.iniva.org)
In 2007 Rivington Place, inIVA and Autograph ABP's new contemporary visual arts space will open in the heart of East London. Supported by the Arts Council England Lottery Capital 2 Programme, this will be the UK's first permanent home for culturally diverse visual arts and photography. Barclays Bank plc is the Rivington Place founding corporate partner, contributing £1million towards the development. This innovative partnership reflects Barclays history of supporting positive social change and making a real and lasting difference to the diverse communities in which it operates. (http://www.rivingtonplace.org/)
A Space for creative learning and support is an innovative project, which aims to meet the education, health, welfare, social and recreational needs of 8 to 14 year olds who live in the Kingsland area of East London. A Space delivers a unique programme of artist/musician-led workshops and arts therapy sessions that provide opportunities for educational, emotional, psychological and social learning in and out of curriculum time.
More information |
Josie BallinPress PR Manager +44 (0) 20 7729 9616 or press@iniva.org |