Things We Like

Mondrian║Nicholson: In Parallel

An exhibition that opened this week at The Courtauld Gallery tells the story of the creative relationship between painter Piet Mondrian and modern artist Ben Nicholson. Conceived around Nicholson’s 1937 painting, the show aims to parallel the paths of these wonderful artists throughout the 1930s; and the friendship which saw the pair working together in neighbouring studios in Parkhill Road, in north London’s Hampstead.

Mondrian║Nicholson: In Parallel runs until 20 May at The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R

Hackney’s O Brave New World

An empty shop space on east London’s Hoxton Street is being transformed into an immersive art space which aims to ‘tell stories’ through installations, performances, film, and its online counterpart. The venture is one of a series of projects supported by Hackney Council’s Art in Empty Spaces initiative, designed to transform empty spaces into something useful and creative for the borough.

The Brave New World project is the brainchild of immersive story-telling company RETZ, and the space will function as a bar, library, gallery and theatre.The first run of performances set to centre around Shakespeare’s The Tempest incelebration of the story’s 400th anniversary. For more information visit www.obravenewworld.co.uk

The Vanishing Point takes on Assault on Precinct 13

South London art collective and immersive cinema aficionados The Vanishing Point is gearing up for another experiential extravaganza, this time showing an interactive, theatrical screening of John Carpenter’s 1976 cult classic Assault on Precinct 13. The event will be taking the Old Police Station in London’s Deptford, which was built in 1912 and transformed in 2009 as artist’s studios and gallery spaces. The space still boasts police processes and signage, even featuring prison cells, an old gym and operations yard. We’re told that police, prisoners and members of the Street Thunder gang will be there to ensure a ‘white hot night of hate’, accompanied by a  electronic soundtrack from ‘disappearing DJs’ and a ‘black market bar’. For more information visit www.thevanishingpoint.org.uk

Here’s the trailer:

Full Rabbit

Next week sees the opening of a show examining the idea of fortune, featuring the  works of UK and Chinese artists, in the cavernous  basement vaults of London’s’ Shoreditch Town Hall. The exhibition will feature  a multi-disciplinary collection of solo and collaborative work previously unseen in Britain, from twelve UK based and eight Chinese artists. We’re rather taken with the cheeky work of Catherine Shakespeare Lane, such as her previously unseen work Piss Artist for D.H, an installation of champagne bottle caps originally made for Damien Hirst, representing the celebration of 300 occasions, like drinks with Francis Bacon and other notorious Colony Room characters. Full Rabbit completes a collaborative project exploring perceptions of fortune by artists in both the UK and China. The Beijing show was exhibited at Platform China Institute of Contemporary Arts under the title Half Rabbit in June 2011, halfway into the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.

Full Rabbit runs from 24 February – 11 March at  Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street London EC1V