Art Calendar - 18 April 2022

The second edition of the Harewood Biennial "Radical Acts"

from 26 March to Monday 29 August 2022, Harewood Castle

Craftsmanship is radical and calls for action

Harewood Biennial - Celia Pym - The Mending Library

©Edvinas Bruza

Curated by Hugo Macdonald, the exhibition Radical Acts: Why Craft Matters - explores how craft can inspire radical action and brings together 16 designers, artists, craftspeople to do so. They will examine how classic craftsmanship can be used to achieve a better future with a healthier system. The Harewood Biennial takes place at Harewood House, a country house, museum and educational charity just outside Leeds.

The meaning of 'radical' is derived from the Latin word 'root', and in Radical Acts craft is presented as a bridge between our roots and the future. Each participant addressed a theme of modern life: human relations, social justice and equality, climate change and conservation, material potential and natural resources, land use and landfill.

The curator of the Harewood Biennial, Hugo Macdonald, is concerned with building a healthier future with healthier systems. He draws on the powerful principles of craft: resourcefulness, respect, resilience, repair, regeneration. Hugo Macdonald hopes that Radical Acts can be a call to arms and a call to action, as our society is living in extraordinary times of challenge and change, but that each person has the power to bring about positive change.

Exhibitors participating in the Harewood Biennial 2022 are:

Mac Collins, Sebastian Cox, Eunhye Ko, Fernando Laposse, Michael Marriott, Bobby Mills, Francisca Onumah, Celia Pym, Bisila Noha and Robin Wood; as well as ACAD x Smile Plastics, Community Clothing, Good Foundations International, Ilse Crawford x Nanimarquina, Jones Neville x Margent Farm and Retrouvius.



Some selected artworks:

Harewood Biennial - Francisca Onumah-Murmur

©Edvinas Bruzas

Francisca Onumah works with copper and silver, leaving the marks of her hands and tools on her sculptures to create organic structures with free-form marks on the surface. In this way, she challenges perceptions and expectations of what makes a metal valuable. At the Biennale, she will present four sculptures made of oxidised copper and silver, which will stand in front of the Chippendale-made state bed.

Harewood Biennial - Michael Marriott - Kiosko

©Charlotte Graham

Michael Marriott has constructed a kiosk hut from two fridges, freezers and other discarded and found materials and household items in the Spanish Library, housing and exhibiting a number of his signature functional designs. Named Kioskö, after the Spanish beach huts, the intervention aims to promote the art of ingenuity and purposeful design.

Harewood Biennial - Ilse Crawford x Nanimarquina - Wellbeing

©Charlotte Graham

Ilse Crawford x Nanimarquina

During the Biennale, the Wellbeing Collection by Ilse Crawford x Nanimarquina will be exhibited in the Yellow Drawing Room. The Wellbeing Collection challenges our understanding of artisanal production by putting the health and well-being of the maker before that of the user.

Harewood Biennial-Sebastian Cox & Sylvascope

Sebastian Cox has constructed a timber treehouse in the middle of Harewood woodland, using materials from the estate and offering different perspectives on the site. His work explores the process of woodland management and how felling trees can contribute to greater biodiversity.

Harewood Biennial - Celia Pym - The Mending Library

©Edvinas Bruza

Celia Pym spent a week at Harewood and set up a 'mending desk' where she asked the collection care teams and other staff at Harewood to bring her a piece of clothing to mend and in return tell her how they care for, repair and look after Harewood and what the piece means to them. These 16 garments will be on display at the Old Library, along with accompanying stories exploring the radical act of care and repair. 

Harewood Biennial - Harewood House

©Edvinas Bruzas

The digital programme is available at harewood.org/biennial.

Harewood Biennial 2022 RADICAL ACTS: WHY CRAFT MATTERS.

Saturday 26 March to Monday 29 August 2022 Harewood House, Leeds LS17 9LG.

Tickets available at harewood.org

Harewood House Trust

Harewood House Trust is an independent, not-for-profit educational charity that continues to rethink what is relevant about a historic house and its landscape in the 21st century.

Hugo Macdonald

Hugo Macdonald is a curator and writer exploring the social impact of craft and design, architecture and technology on our lives, habits and behaviour. Hugo Macdonald was formerly an editor at Wallpaper* and Monocle and is Brand Director at Studioilse, Ilse Crawford's London design practice.

Art Calendar / Art - 14 April 2022

Stephan Kaluza "Fiction / Non-Fiction" - Interview - Naturalness versus Artificiality - 8 to 30 April 2022 - at Geuer & Geuer, Düsseldorf

"Transit II" is meant to represent a transit situation of threatened nature. The artist succeeds in presenting his idyllic paintings entirely without illustrative elements as a warning. Philosophy of nature is central to the artist's work. Thus, he has launched his latest book - Stephan Kaluza - "Die Dritte Natur" 

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An artwork waterfall by Stephan Kaluza illuminated The Wellem hotel on 8 April 2022 ©Stephan Kaluza

Business / Art / Fashion, 12 April 2022

The year 2022 for Swatch -

The man behind the design at Swatch is Carlo Giordanetti, member of the Swatch Product and Design Committee. He is also CEO of the Swatch Art Peace Hotel,

an artist residence in Shanghai.

Collaborations between brands and art abound - but what makes the collaboration between Swatch and the world of art so different, and why is it so fruitful? Alethea & Art Magazine interviewed Carlo Giordanetti at the launch of Swatch X Centre Pompidou in Paris to find out what role Swatch plays in the world of watches today, what sustainability measures the brand is taking and what his next plans are.

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Photo: Carlo Giordanetti , member of the Swatch Product and Design Committee ©Swatch

Art Calendar / Interview - 12 April 2022

The World Reimagined -

Interview with Ashley Shaw-Scott Adjaye - "Art is our greatest unifier"

A UK based arts education project designed to highlight the dimensions of the impact of the transatlantic slave trade in order to realise racial justice. Over 100 globe structures will be installed in seven UK cities from August to October 2022, created by

 both established and undiscovered artists.

An interview with the artistic director of the project, Ashley Shaw-Scott Adjaye.

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Yinka Shonibare - The World Reimagined - Globe Render

©Yinka Shonibare