House 2014 And Artists Open Houses 2014 – Now In Its Sixth Year

The House and Open House art exhibitions are part of the Brighton Festival that takes place every May. House and Open House run concurrently with main Brighton festival.

House
House is all about its sponsors, artist collaborations and commissioning new work. Six artists are commissioned every year, including one Invited Artist or lead exhibitor. This year’s lead is Yinka Shonibare MBE whose project can be seen at the Old Reference Library inside the Brighton Museum. His ‘The British Library’ installation features reclaimed books bound in vibrant African cloths. Book titles are by well-known scholars and figures like T.S Elliot, Zaha Hadid, Mick Jagger, Anish Kapoor and so on. Looking at these bookcases one can’t help wondering if this is a cheeky finger up at past colonialism, as if the British are now cloaked under another country’s rule.

In fact themes of migration and all that goes with it – identity loss, displacement and re-acclimatisation feature heavily among the other artists in House 2014. Take Leah Gordon and her Caste project. Although styled as a mix of art, religion and anthropology, one glance at her deceptive photographs immerses you in Haiti’s French colonialist era and the racial mixing that existed during the slave trade. Note the contrast in skin gradations from ebony to white.

No One Owns The Land is the aptly named collaboration between Ester Svensson and Rosanna Martin. Here tiny figurines are seen clutching what little belongings they have in a desolate landscape. The dialogues within this work are derived from interviews with real immigrants and those new to the area. If these two recent graduates can produce such haunting work, we’ll surely see them headline at House in future. House 2014 is open to the public at the Grade I listed Regency House in Brunswick Square.

Learn more at www.housefestival.org.

Open House
Open House 2014 features exhibits from more than 200 local artists at all stages of their career including students, marginalised, disabled, and established artists. The setup is unique because it allows visitors to see artists and their work in their homes or rented shop spaces so you can talk to them as artists and people. Artworks include sculptures, paintings, carvings, jewellery, ceramics and textiles, which can all be bought directly from the artists’ home.

Open House exhibits are displayed along 13 easy-to-follow ‘trails’ in Sussex as far north to Ditchling and beyond, west to Portslade, and east to the Marina. Self-respecting art-aholics will not be seen without the Artists Open Houses booklet complete with map and artists’ addresses. Just pick the trails nearest to you and go visit. Open House is available at weekends only throughout May. See www.visitbrightoncom or www.aoh.org.uk for information.

Other venues showing arts attractions include Fabrica, Brighton Phoenix and the University of Brighton. For comprehensive information see www.brightonfestival.org and www.phoenixbrighton.org.uk.