open all hours Shape Open 2023-24 “Beyoncé has the same 24 hours By 2050, it’s predicted that more in a day that we do” than two thirds of the world’s - Molly Mae Hague, The Diary population will live in urban areas, of a CEO Podcast leaving behind quieter, more isolated, and often more poorly“There are now very few resourced areas. significant interludes of human existence … that have not been And yet without this quiet, and penetrated and taken over as with decreasing access to nature, work time, consumption time, or we grow ever more disconnected marketing time.” from the turning of the planet that - Jonathan Crary, 24/7: Late sustains us, to the rhythm of night Capitalism and the Ends of and day, waking and rest, that is Sleep so deeply wired into what we are. The idea of a 24/7 culture of waking, work, and productivity has been a reality for some time, but in our digital age, it has seeped even into the bedroom, with our devices constantly linked to the world outside. Estimations suggest adults sleep on average 1-2 hours less per night today than in the 1960s. Alongside this, more and more of us are choosing to live in huge cities, close to round-theclock entertainment, opportunity, accessibility and convenience.
What is the cost of this to us? To be thought of as ‘successful’ today often means ‘productive,’ or in other words, the more you make and the faster you do so, the better you are - and this often translates into being better off. For disabled people in particular, the idea of productivity has been closely linked to those of ‘value’ or ‘worth’.In our accelerating culture, where does this leave anyone who needs or wants more time to think, act, function, or simply exist?
16
14
17 15
18 9
10
8
12 13
Entrance
11
7 6 5
1
2
3
4
Our annual Shape Open exhibition this year explores the pressurised relationship we have with time, productivity, and the pace of our modern, increasingly digital, society. Please note, this exhibition contains flashing lights. Refer to the exhibition map for more.
BSL Exhibition Tour
1. So much for slowness (2023) - Lan “Florence” Yee During lockdown, many voices within the arts declared a need for slowness, for care, for systemic change, and for long-term, sustainable solutions. For almost two years, we witnessed the ways cultural workers could pivot to reduce barriers and provide more resources to the most precarious in our community. A year after ‘re-opening,’ there are few spaces that retain that same desire and ethos for sustainability.
This textile print of a chair with only two legs left - handembroidered with the words ‘so much for slowness’ - speaks to Scan me with your smartphone or speak to staff for alternative formats the quick entrance and quicker exit of slowness as an artistic concern in many institutions in Audio Described Exhibition the wake of the pandemic. The font and brick-stitch patterning Tour resemble a machine, making the labour that went into its creation invisible. 2 Scan me with your smartphone or speak to staff for an MP3 player and headphones
2. The answer to the wrong question (2022) - Tracey Payne In our fast-paced culture, a tea break can often be hard to come
by. For many people, the iconic Rich Tea biscuit symbolises this pause: an invitation, however mundane, to allow yourself a moment of peace and nourishment. With a nod to the biscuit’s lineage as a typically British emblem, invoked by artists like Gavin Turk to call upon ideas of our clichéd cultural heritage, Tracey’s metal-cast biscuit offers an ironic addition to the shared conversation. Kept out of reach behind glass, and quite impossible to chew should you manage to attempt it, the shiny biscuit represents both the appeal - the tantalising glisten - of a break from societal pressure, and the very real barriers in the way of getting there. 3. gōlī’āṁ khā la’ī’āṁ hana? (u taken ur tablets?) (2023) Yasmeen Fathima Thantrey The process of research is critical to Yasmeen’s artistic practice, with a focus on reclaiming the personal archive of documentation generated by
encounters with bureaucratic healthcare systems. Digesting over a decade of data is labourintensive, leading the artist to consider time as a crucial theme within their work: time lost, given, and taken have become significant when reflecting on their experiences with chronic illness and disability. This work - part of an ongoing project - aims to unpack the wealth of collected data in an effort to reclaim Yasmeen’s body, mind, and time while navigating the complexities of childhood and racial bias among other intersecting barriers through performance, moving image, sound, and installation. While making the work, Yasmeen became aware of the rush to be productive whilst not in a flareup and to overcompensate for time lost due to her medical conditions. Inspired by artist Roo Dhissou’s commitment to Aram and her own Punjabi culture and connection to the word, Yasmeen has adopted a slower practice: doing things with aram allows time, calmness, attention, and gentle reflection.
4. The Great Beyond (2023) Mike Bamgbala
Taken in a dark December, Paul’s photograph of a stranger passing time at the National Theatre represents a significant moment in the artist’s personal relationship with his mental health.
The Great Beyond is an imagined self-portrait. The central character, the artist himself, has been morphed and refigured by his ongoing efforts to achieve prosperity, success, and In the winter of 2016-17, Paul happiness. was barely surviving a severe bipolar depression, facing As his chic, gold-wearing party continual crisis. He often had no guest welcomes him into her concept of time - what day of the home, where the walls bear week it was or even what time expensive paintings, Mike’s of day. Walking with a camera figure stands in contrast with his became a meditative process, surroundings. His outfit is both offering Paul opportunities to askew and off-kilter, a button-hole break negative thought cycles flower and bow tie suggesting and exist in his body, in the he may be a clown in spirit if not moment: a form of mindfulness. profession. With little meaning ascribed to the The ominous presence of passing hours, the stranger in the gravestones in the background, window reading ‘Ten Thoughts in tandem with the artist’s selfAbout Time’ felt like a poignant acknowledged humiliation, interruption of Paul’s ambles, suggest that though riches otherwise unbound by the may await him as he battles for structures of clock time altogether success, the cost of the journey itself might be far greater than he 6. Eternity (2019) - Eskild Beck expected. As day turns to night and night 5. ...about time (2016) - Paul back to day, time passess Fletcher eternally whether you are here to witness it or not. This observation
is illustrated by Eternity, which continues to rotate through the familiar cycle whether the gallery is empty or full. Making use of a recycled alarm clock motor, even the material of Eskild’s work speaks to the significance of these eternal cycles of nature, of waking and sleeping, that transcend the individual’s lifespan. In this way, though it is small in size, Eskild’s endearing sculpture is really about the sheer scale of the universe itself, and our own littleness in comparison. 7. A Fool in Gibbet (2023) Oliver McConnie A recurring figure in Oliver’s etchings, The Fool represents the alienated other. Housed here in a Gibbet - an instrument of public execution used to display the bodies of criminals and act as a deterrent - the Fool is posed in front of Canary Wharf, emblematic of the capitalist infrastructure propping up the City of London. A literal illustration of gallows humour, Oliver’s etching makes
light of the contemporary moment in relation to capitalism’s control over us, without compromising its very real threat as well as the sense of an impending although not yet definite doom. 8. Mute (2020) - Uma Breakdown Mute is a short, looping animation made by Uma as part of a series created during a period of their life when they felt completely overwhelmed by obligations and anxiety about how to articulate this feeling. The imagery is inspired by the hours Uma spent walking the same circuit of a few miles around their house, during which they felt completely outside of the reach of the demands causing tension and worry. On these walks, Uma made films of passing objects and scenery, and upon returning home animated the collected materials. Mute is the artist’s favourite of the series. 9. Spoons (afer Carolyn Lazard) (2023) - Jamila Prowse Spoons is a moving image
work based upon Spoons Theory; which uses spoons as a visualisation of the disparity in energy reserves between disabled and non-disabled people. Spoons are papier-mâchéd in newspaper clippings related to Covid-19, as an acknowledgement of a new generation of people living with chronic illness and disability as a result of long-Covid. While covering the spoons, two hands start to take them away, continually depleting the supply.
As they discuss their relationships to labour, the film considers how disabled people often exist outside of the capitalist paradigms of value and productivity. Fittingly, while making the work, the artist was continually out of spoons. 10. The Sparkle of the Kin (2023) - Josie Rae Turnbull
The Sparkle of the Kin is an installation about the Arowana fish, which serves as a striking mirror to contemporary capitalism. Like our consumerdriven economy, the value of This constant production and these fish is intricately tied to decline illustrates the additional manufactured scarcity and labour involved in being manipulated appearances, with disabled and the all too frequent the cost per fish as high as experience of running out of £400,000. Known as the ‘King spoons entirely. of Ornamental’ aquarium fish, Arowana are microchipped Over a six-month period, Jamila at birth, issued a certificate exchanged voice messages of authenticity, and can even with three disabled artists: Leah undergo specialised plastic Clements, Carolyn Lazard, and surgery procedures to ‘improve’ Bella Milroy. They discussed their their worth by more closely personal relationships to spoons aligning them with narrow theory. The voice messages aesthetic standards endemic to allow the artists to sustain a crip the market. community, particularly for those who are bed or housebound. Echoing our own societal
fixation on exclusivity and the relentless pursuit of profit, where value often hinges on artificial rarity, appearances, and a culture fixated on unsustainable consumption, the Arowana market exposes the consequence of a system fuelled by extractive practices based on false, profitoriented ideals.
cycle of desirability familiar to the Arowana and much like the tragic arc of the fish’s stardom, reminds us of the daunting lifespan of consumer goods, that far exceeds their moment in the spotlight
The medium mirrors the rapid
The film has a surreal, dreamlike
11. Lo-fi Sick Woman Theory (2021) - Charlie Fitz
Lo-fi Sick Woman Odyssey is By reference to films like about living and working from a ‘Whatever Happened to Baby bed in a sick body that cannot Jane’ and ‘The Queen of adhere to conventional schedules Versailles’, The Sparkle of the or routines, whether that be Kin visualises the imagined fate a workday or a regular sleep of an Arowana fallen from grace cycle. Charlie was influenced by – a former champion, now cast the lo-fi girl animation popular aside. Littered with the ephemera on YouTube of a girl working at of success – rosettes, certificates, her desk, almost continuously, and branded merchandise – soundtracked by a 24/7 there is a sense of tragedy livestream of lo-fi music. woven into the piece, asking us to consider the true cost of our Created with a lo-fi, collage desires. The work uses materials aesthetic, using photos of from a visit to an Arowana herself from the various beds enthusiast’s house, vintage and bedrooms she has worked beauty pageants, and early 20th from since being ill, Charlie’s film century aesthetic treatments, engages with crip time, showing juxtaposed with repurposed fast the unconventional hours she fashion garments and textiles – often keeps, working as and the aftermath of mass production when she feels well enough to do and consumption. so.
backdrop, illustrating the strangeness that can result from living and working in the same, small space, with no differentiation between resting time and working time. 12. Where’s the rest? (2022) Samiir Saunders
up all night, reading poetry is a collection of music videos/poetry films based on Samiir’s EP of the same name. The films, and the EP, present themselves as ‘spooky lofi hip-hop meets sleepdeprivation-induced spoken word ramblings’. Having consumed too much caffeine before bed, Samiir, our narrator and protagonist, navigates feelings of isolation, nostalgia, and dissociation, as he desperately tries to consolidate a sense of self, in order to finally get a wink of sleep.
where’s the rest? is the music video for the song ‘Rest // SelfSurveillance’ from Samiir’s 2022 album twominuteglitches. twominuteglitches was commissioned by B.O.O.K (Building Our Own Knowledge) as part of the ‘Artist Commissions in response to books by Black 14. Take Me Away (2022) - Diana authors’. Zrnic The album was created in response to bell hooks’ iconic text All About Love. Much like All About Love, twominituglitches explores themes of intimacy, grief, self-care, and healing, as well as Samiir’s signature examination of authenticity and communication in the age of digital technology. 13. Up all night reading poetry (2021) - Samiir Saunders
In today’s technology-driven culture, we live in multiple places at once: in person, in the real world, but also in the cyberspace of our smartphones and computers. Our brains act as processors, systematically organising imagery, info, and data collected from our surroundings. Diana’s sculpture humorously depicts the moment of digital overload. This four-legged, posthuman figure shows the reality
of living amongst this network of - heaven and hell, the last constant information processing. judgement, or the garden of As the figure consumes the digital earthly delights - Yarden’s diptych - the smartphone it holds - its depicts a bustling city, similar to gargantuan form grows, swelling London, in which anonymous with the ever-increasing mass of figures all pass by on undisclosed data. journeys. In Hell, the figures appear with pound symbols 15. Do you recognise me? above their generally unhappy (2023) - Fatma Durmush faces - money is on the mind. This artwork was inspired by Fatma’s time working at the urban coalface in a bustling, anonymous shop. Repetitive but faceless encounters, long hours, and monotonous routines feed the evocative colours and figures in her painting.
In contrast, Heaven paints a happy picture of figures young and old, nude and in a wild landscape, this time with hearts above their heads and smiles on their faces: a care-free, utopian paradise.
The work confronts the time Faced with the pressure of losing and work pressures of crowded, her job if she wasn’t able to meet urban environments that often expectations around customer have the compound effect of our service, Fatma’s attempts to tell removal from nature, a feeling customers apart and manage of being trapped amidst the each interaction with sustained, inorganic and tied inescapably if inauthentic, cheer often left her to the technology required to be feeling overwhelmed: a sensation productive, earning citizens. At captured in the overlapping tones the same time, Yarden’s depiction and gestures of the work. of Heaven, in its brightly coloured, glossy perfection also evokes its 16. Heaven and Hell (2022-23) - own kind of unease and invites Yarden Fudim us to consider how authentic our Referencing the tradition of imagined ‘greener pastures’ might paintings of biblical stories actually be.
17. 9-5 (2023) - Emmy Clarke Emmy wrote 9-5 while working a full-time, remote job - burning out autistic-style, feeling like their job and life were meaningless and worthless.
as those tasked with producing them, cannot keep up. This critical use of gluttony, mirrored in its reference within Christianity as one of the seven deadly sins, certainly feels accurate.
It stands in contrast, however, Having always found joy in with the tone and palette of the absurd, the artist began Carole’s works, which evoke a to consider the humour that a sense of jollity and memories parade of animals outside their of exuberance and freedom: window - the view from their desk dancing late into the night, wining - would offer. Would Emmy join and dining with friends, enjoying their procession? Or would the the luxuries life has to offer. It observation feel like just another is in this contrast that Carole’s item on their long to do list? work finds its meaning. Are we witnessing the last hoorah, a final 18. Gluttony in the 21st Century chance to celebrate in the face I & II (2019) - Carole Lee of all the pressures we face? Or are we privy to the cause of This diptych from Carole Lee our suffering, willfully ignorant explores the nuance of the consumers continuing to indulge meaning of gluttony. To be in spite of the consequences? gluttonous is usually thought to mean being greedy, indulging in In allowing the audience to excess, and over-consuming. In decide this, Carole’s paintings our current social context, with have the uncanny effect of being looming climate catastrophe at once beautiful and unsettling, and sky-high wealth inequality, underlining the complexities it’s easy to apply these negative and tensions at the centre of readings of gluttony to our conversations around consumer collective behaviour. We want too culture. How much are we entitled much, at too fast a pace, and the to? Who gets to decide? planet and our resources, as well
Tag us on social media! @ShapeArts Questions or feedback? Get in touch on social media or by emailing info@shapearts.org.uk This show was curated through an open call. To be in with a chance of exhibiting with us in the next Shape Open exhibition, make sure you’re following us or signed up to our mailing list to keep up to date.
Programme, Shape Arts Emily Roderick - Assistant Producer, Shape Arts April Lin 林森- Shape Open alumnus and selection panellist Shape Arts is a disability-led organisation breaking barriers to creative excellence. We deliver a range of projects supporting marginalised artists, as well as training cultural venues to be more inclusive and accessible for disabled people as employees, artists and audiences. All of Shape’s work is informed by the Social Model of Disability.
You can sign up to our With thanks to Shape Open newsletter by providing your email address to a member of Patron Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA) for his continued support. staff at the front desk. Creative team Elinor Hayes Curator,Creative Producer, Shape Arts Jeff Rowlings - Head of
Shape is proud to be a National Portfolio Organisation, funded and supported by Arts Council England. Charity number 279184