OUR LITTLE SISTER

Posted on 2016-04-04

Based on the award-winning manga series Umimachi Diary, Our Little Sister is the new film by acclaimed director Kore-eda Hirokazu (Like Father, Like Son and I Wish). Nominated for the Palme d’Or, this exquisite family drama, set across the varied colours of the four seasons, is one of the most graceful, tender and moving films of the year.

Sachi, Yoshino and Chika are three sisters living happily together in a relaxed, tight-knit seaside town south of Tokyo. When their long-estranged father passes away they travel to the countryside to attend his funeral, where they meet their shy teenage half-sister, Suzu. Bonding quickly, they invite the orphaned Suzu to live with them and she eagerly agrees, sparking a journey of self-discovery for all four sisters, looking back into painful pasts but also reaching forward to hopeful futures.

In theatres April 15th, 2016

www.ourlittlesister.co.uk

  

THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT

Posted on 2016-04-04

God lives in human form as a cynical writer with his young opinionated daughter in present-day Brussels, Belgium. She concludes that her dad is doing a terrible job and decides to rewrite the world, which leaves God angry, powerless and adamant to get his power back.

In theatres April 15th, 2016

le-tout-nouveau-testament

  

MAGICAL SURFACES

Posted on 2016-04-04

Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography, is an exhibition that explores the uncanny as exemplified in the works of seven artists from two generations, all of whose work includes in different forms the use of photography as a medium. They are: Sonja Braas, David Claerbout, Elger Esser, Julie Monaco, Jörg Sasse, Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld.

As early as 1835, the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling wrote of “das Unheimliche”, the uncanny, as ‘everything that ought to have remained hidden and secret and has become visible’. Years later, Sigmund Freud elaborated on what Schelling and others had thought about this ‘peculiar quality’, but he also ‘felt impelled’ to investigate it in relation to aesthetics. In his influential essay ‘The “Uncanny”‘, 1919, Freud saw there was a common thread to everything that arouses our sense of the uncanny: it ‘is that class of terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar’. Although individual responses are complex and subjective, what we experience as uncanny is that which gives us a feeling of unease when something seems both familiar and unfamiliar, when some quality effaces the distinction between the imagined and the real.

Opposite – “McLean, Virginia, December 1978”, Joel Sternfeld

Exhibition runs through till June 19th, 2016

Parasol Unit
14 Wharf Rd
London
N1 7RW

www.parasol-unit.org

  

MARTIN PARR – UNSEEN CITY

Posted on 2016-04-04

Martin Parr has been the City of London’s photographer-in-residence since 2013. Over the years, he has documented the life of the City, across three mayoralties. During this time, Parr has been granted unprecedented access to high-profile occasions where guests have included Her Majesty The Queen and dignitaries. The resulting images offer a new perspective on the City of London and create a significant documentary record of its colour and character for years to come.

Through Parr’s playful eye for detail and visual dynamism, visitors will gain access to the world of private ceremonies, ancient and modern traditions, processions, banquets, public occasions and informal behind-the-scenes shots. Parr offers a human perspective on ceremony and those moments unseen to the general public, capturing the unguarded moments that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Whether the public are familiar or unfamiliar with the City of London, this exhibition will display the unique character of the traditions, quirks and people who make up the City. This exhibition provides the opportunity to see how the City operates, up close and personal; sparking debate, dispelling myths and sharing surprising insights.

Exhibition runs through till July 31st, 2016

Guildhall Art Gallery
London
EC2V 5AE

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

  

KAMBUI OLUJIMI – SOLASTALGIA

Posted on 2016-04-04

The term solastalgia was coined by Australian philosopher, Glenn Albrecht in 2003. Essentially it is the feeling of homesickness when one is still home. “Solastalgia is when your endemic sense of place is being violated,” Albrecht describes. Though the term originally references the psychological displacement of farmers due to climate change, Olujimi employs it as a lens to examine the psychoterratica of the five boroughs as a result of a different kind of environmental change.

Oscillating between the private and public, Olujimi grapples with the loss of his mentor and guardian angel, Catherine Arline, amidst the cacophony of actions and emotions that has marred the city’s law enforcement over the past year. Arline was a civil servant for the city and state of New York for over 40 years and continued to serve her community of Bedford-Stuyvesant after her retirement as the president and member of various councils and associations locally and throughout the city. Much of her later work attempted to bridge the divide between police and communities they serve. Over the past year and half the world watched as a string of unfathomable events unfolded in New York City; the non-indictment decision in the Eric Garner killing, the shooting of Officers Liu and Ramos and the public display of disdain by law enforcement for the Mayor during the funerals of two their own, and the unprecedented police work stoppage. In addition to these and other recent events, the works of Solastalgia grows out of interviews Olujimi has conducted with current and retired member the NYPD, community leaders, Arline herself, and his own struggle to convey what words cannot.

Opposite – Mercy Doesn’t Grow on Trees, 2016

Exhibition runs through till May 12th, 2016

CUE Art Foundation
137 W. 25th Street
New York
NY 10001

cueartfoundation.org

  

ELISABETH HASE – AN INDEPENDENT VISION

Posted on 2016-04-04

Largely unknown outside of Germany, Hase was photographing during the time of the transition from the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich and through post-WWII Germany. Hase’s photographs are in alignment with the works of a number of avant-garde photographers of the early twentieth century, and yet they demonstrate a unique and independent vision.

Photographing during a tumultuous time, Elisabeth Hase was able to avoid the politicization of her work by establishing her own studio in 1933. This proved to be hugely successful in terms of her own artistic development as she was free to pursue personal exploration. Her self-portraits were created with a large degree of role-playing. In many instances she assumes a persona, and acts out a scene in front of the camera. In one photograph she is sprawled over a staircase as if fallen, with shoes and purse strewn likewise over the stairs. These works capture critiques on gender roles, as well as exploration of personal identity and perceived reality. Hase’s focus on self-dramatization pre-anticipates the conceptual portraiture of Cindy Sherman. In another image, Zwei Gefangene (Two Prisoners), the social criticism is grossly apparent. Hase explored other genres in photography such as still lives, street scenes, reportage, to name a few and in each body of work she displayed equal talent.

Opposite – Zwei Gefangene (two prisoners), 1950

Exhibition runs through till May 7th, 2016

Robert Mann Gallery
525 West 26th St.
New York
10001

www.robertmann.com