This weekend a new performance commission Up Hill Down Hall: An Indoor Carnival takes place at Τate Modern. The commission is a collaboration in which contemporary artists engage with Carnival by translating the costumed annual parade on the streets of Notting Hill Gate, London, which it coincides with, into an art procession. The show is in the museum’s Turbine Hall and is part of the ongoing programme BMW Tate Live – a series of innovative live performances and events.
Marlon Griffith. Position and Power. Courtesy of the Marlon James and the artist
Initiated by Claire Tancons, the show reflects themes of public space, performance and participation forming social and political address with critical and artistic perspectives. The indoor Carnival has three interrelated elements – performance art, a festival of otherness and a ritual of resistance.
In particular, London based contemporary artist Hew Locke created Give and Take in collaboration with the Batala Samba-Reggae band; This carnival-inspired performance is an exploration of the changing spatial politics of the Notting Hill neighborhood, critiquing the gentrification of the area and embracing the new cultural influences on this historically pan-Caribbean festival.
Hew Lock. Details of The Nameless, 2010.
Courtesy of Hales Gallery, Charles Robinson and the artist
Having a longstanding experience in creating carnival experiences, Marlon Griffith with “No Black in the Union Jack”, in collaboration with Elimu Paddington Arts Mas Band, raise their voice against the 2011 London summer riots fusing the nationalistic Caribbean motif of the humming bird with anti-riot police shields in body adornments that blur the boundaries between masquerader and police officer.
Gia Wolff, Canopy, 2014. Digital drawing for Up Hill Down Hall,
Turbine Hall installation. Courtesy of the artist
The Turbine Hall, one of London’s most iconic indoor public spaces, will be transformed into a carnival space by the architect Gia Wolff who aims for it to resemble Oscar Niemeyer’s carnival stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the world-famous Sambadrome with Canopy; This installation will stretch the length of the Turbine Hall with custom-made red ropes hung above and under the Turbine Hall bridge.
London-based sound artists Dubmorphology (Gary Stewart and Trevor Mathison) will remix a wide range of sounds from steel pan, calypso, and reggae to punk tracks with texts relating to the ongoing oral history archive of the Notting Hill Carnival. The live mix, entitled Sonar, will be played through a customised sound system on the bridge that crosses the Turbine Hall, alluding to sound system set ups under the Westway Bridge during Notting Hill Carnival.
by Xenia Founta
BMW Tate Live Performance Event, Τate Modern, Turbine Hall
Saturday August 23, 15.00 – 18.00
Free admission