Feature: The Big Picture - Exhibition - I Know Something About Love at the Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art until May 22
Published: 24 March, 2011
I KNOW something about love”, sang The Exciters on their first hit record, Tell him, in 1962. This recurring lyric lends the multimedia group exhibition at Parasol unit its title.
Shirin Neshat, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Yinka Shonibare, MBE, and Yang Fudong investigate the theme of love in different times and cultures through personal experience, observation and commentary.
Yinka Shonibare has re-created the installation “Jardin d’amour” (Garden of Love) pictured, which he originally showed in 2007 at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, albeit in a different configuration. In this work Shonibare applies a playful yet political perspective to his exploration of the theme of love in the 18th-century Rococo period in France.
He creates scenes that resemble familiar paintings of that period. Set in a maze of ivy-covered trellis, the installation includes secret hideaways and walks, along which wandering visitors discover “The Confession”, “The Pursuit” and “The Crowning”, 2007, sculptural tableaux of beautifully dressed and affectionately engaged couples. Modelled after paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the headless couples reflect this British-Nigerian artist’s relationship to and observation of historical events.
The Chinese artist Yang Fudong uses moving image to explore the theme of love in his three-channel video installation “Flutter, Flutter... Jasmine, Jasmine”, 2002. In it, Yang Fudong – known for his critical views on contemporary life in China – looks into the private world of a young Chinese couple. Confused between traditional values and a modern way of looking at their relationship, they question their feelings for one another.
Shirin Neshat examines love through the lenses of gender, as enforced since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. In her two-channel video work, “Fervor”, 2000, Neshat highlights the frustration and helplessness of Iranian women and demonstrates how the negative view of love within the revolutionary culture affects natural human feelings.
“Slow dance marathon”, 2005, by Cypriot artist Christodoulos Panayiotou, explores the social construction of love through pop music and slow dancing. In this video documentation of a 24-hour performance, a human chain is formed by strangers who slow dance to the music of well-known love songs.
• I Know Something About Love is at the Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art,
14 Wharf Road, N1, until May 22. Open Monday by appointment, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12-5pm. Admission free. 0207 490 7373, www.parasol-unit.org / info@parasol-unit.org
Events
Three special events are being held in conjunction with the exhibition.
• On Thursday April 7, 6-9pm, Parasol unit is open for a late night viewing during First Thursdays. Admission is free.
• On Thursday May 5, 7pm, Yinka Shonibare, MBE, will offer a unique insight into his practice as he discusess his work with Curator/Director of Parasol unit Ziba Ardalan. Shonibare’s “Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle” is currently on view at Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. Over the past decade, Shonibare has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation.
Tickets £5 (£3 concessions).
• On Thursday May 12, 7pm, Peter Goldie, University of Manchester, will talk about Reasons for Love. When it comes to romantic love, why do we love another person? To give reasons why we love that person seems somehow back to front; surely the love comes first and the reasons later – if at all. But perhaps there could be reasons for love, if we learn from the myth of Aristophanes.
Tickets £5 (£3 concessions).
Email events@parasol-unit.org to book a place.