3 – 19 March 2016
Bank Space Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Exhibited artists: Victoria Adam (UK), Jessie Brennan (UK), Anna Fafaliou (GR), Şakir Gökçebağ (TUR), Lucy Joyce (UK), Georgia Metaxas (AUS), Nina Pappa (GR), Emma Papworth (UK), Nikolas Ventourakis (GR), and Ben Woodeson (UK)
Curated by Caterina Avataneo, Rokhsane Hovaida, Rosie Jenkins, Christina Makri, Angela Pippo, Margaux Rivoal, Despoina Tzanou, Eline Verstegen, and Chiara Villa
Employing the concept of psycho-geography, Concrete Matters delves into the bond existing between the human mind and its surrounding environment. The exhibition explores the mutually shaping processes of urban space and human identity through photography, mixed media, sculpture, performance, and site-specific works. Connected by a shared interest in the reflexivity of society and urban structures, the group exhibition consists of work by ten national and international artists.
The relationship between physical urban spaces and communities involved is a theme deliberately chosen in light of the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University and its impending move out of Aldgate. Concrete Matters employs the Bank Space Gallery as an archetype for physical urban structures that are left with traces of human identity from community interaction. By also exploring the effects on a community through its use of a space, the exhibition mirrors the position in which the Bank Space Gallery itself resides. The artists featured in the show attest to the ever-growing relevance of psycho-geography in the way they each address the issues of the relocation of identities through spatial configurations.
Eline Verstegen 