News feature - Page 8 of 20 - a-n The Artists Information Company

For her Venice Biennale film, Spite Your Face, Scottish artist Rachel Maclean has created a re-working of the Pinnocchio story that explores power, political lies and the rise of populism. Moira Jeffrey talks to her about the themes and form of the work.

For the latest in our ongoing Scene Report series, Maddy Hearn highlights the changing cultural landscape of Exeter in Devon.

We asked this year’s Venice Biennale a-n travel bursary recipients and AIR Council members attending the biennale preview to tell us what their highlights were. They came back with 26 different recommendations – and a few repeats.

Sarah Bodman is knocked out by two new publications from Manchester-based artist Caitlin Akers inspired by Akers’ great, great uncle Billy Marchant and his endeavours in the ring.

London and Scotland-based artistic duo Thomson & Craighead have created a new generative moving image work for the Look Again festival in Aberdeen. They talk to Jack Hutchinson about the impact of the internet on our lives and how splitting their time between rural and urban areas has benefitted their practice.

Keith Piper’s exhibition at New Art Exchange, ‘Unearthing the Banker’s Bones’, explores the idea of what our society’s relics might look like from a future perspective. The founder member of the BLK Art Group talks to Wayne Burrows about the themes contained within the work and the continued importance of political and social questions to his practice.

For the second in our monthly series of reports on art scenes across the UK, Swansea-based artist Erin Rickard takes a look at her home city and highlights current and forthcoming activity.

As conflict and war continues across the world, artists are exploring ways to cut through the mainstream news narrative in order to highlight the ongoing refugee crisis. Lydia Ashman looks at current projects, artworks, and exhibitions that are tackling this urgent humanitarian and political issue.

Artists Alex Hartley and Tom James have created a geodesic dome constructed from reclaimed materials and situated it in the Capability Brown-designed gardens of Compton Verney, a Georgian mansion and gallery in rural Warwickshire. Anneka French finds out about their plans for the future.

The key themes on the agenda at this year’s No Boundaries conference, supported by Arts Council England and the British Council, emerged as community, inclusivity and socially responsible citizenship. Sophia Crilly reports.

The recent ReROOTed Festival in Hull celebrated the legacy of Hull Time Based Arts and its ROOT festival with a weekend of performance, discussion and debate. Pippa Koszerek reports.

John Dilnot has been creating his hand-produced books since 1985 and his work features in the collections of the V&A, Tate, MoMA, and more. As a touring exhibition exploring his practice opens in Northern Ireland, Sarah Bodman provides a snapshot of his many publications.

Vancouver-based artist and musician Rodney Graham is best known for his large-scale photographic lightbox works, in which he features in a variety of guises. A new show at Baltic, Rodney Graham: That’s Not Me, presents work from 1994 to 2017 and includes a whole gallery dedicated to his varied and experimental film pieces. Fisun Güner asks the questions.

As a member of Artangel’s production team, Laura Purseglove is used to site-specific working and navigating the complexities of staging art projects in historic buildings. All of which will be useful experience for her role at ACE Trust, where over the next two years she will be developing a programme of exhibitions and commissions for churches and cathedrals throughout the UK. Pippa Koszerek finds out more.

A recent one-day conference in London organised by Julie’s Bicycle explored how arts organisations can act on climate change and environmental sustainability. Jack Hutchinson reports.

The latest in Sarah Bodman’s series looking at the varied and fascinating area of artists’ self-publishing looks at a special ‘passport’ stamp project, part of the 10th anniversary edition of the Bristol Artists’ Book Event.

With a solo show at ICA and as part of a group exhibition at Eastside Projects, Sonia Boyce is exploring ideas around play, improvisation and sculpture – including a collaborative project with ukuele-playing skateboarders. Anneka French talks to the artist during the first of two lively, nerve-wracking performances in Birmingham, as skaters fly by and instruments are played.

For the first in a new roving, monthly series of art scene snapshots from across the UK, artist Damian Magee introduces his home city of Belfast and picks five current exhibitions that capture the social, political, and cultural interests of artists in Northern Ireland’s largest city.

It’s International Women’s Day on Wednesday 8 March and to mark the occasion Pippa Koszerek previews 10 art-related events and exhibitions taking place in London, Leeds and Manchester.

An exhibition at Glasgow Print Studio presents over five decades of prints from the organisation’s archive, and includes work by 52 artists spanning screenprinting, lithograph, etching and much more.

Having graduated from the Royal College of Art last year, London-based artist Holly Hendry has won numerous awards and just opened her first solo show in a UK public gallery at Baltic, Gateshead. Anneka French talks to her about her whirlwind career so far.

For her current show at The Showroom, London-based artist Laura Oldfield Ford has constructed a disorientating visual, textual and sonic journey that draws on her experiences of navigating the gallery’s surrounding area, weaving together multiple voices and alternative histories and futures. Lydia Ashman finds out more.

For the latest in her ongoing series looking at the diverse and inventive world of artists’ books, Sarah Bodman enjoys the performative nature of Nathan Walker’s Condensations, with its thick screes of words and essence of place inspired by a residency in Ambleside.

Saziso Phiri is celebrating one year of her pop-up gallery with a birthday party at Nottingham’s Rough Trade shop, followed by a series of free workshops in tandem with Nottingham Contemporary’s ‘The Place is Here’ show. Wayne Burrows talks to her about her mission to work with artists who operate beyond the usual art world structures.