Hipster druids, holy pilgrims and questions for the dead: Artists respond to Museums at Night October 2016
This article originally appeared on Culture24.
Artists including Bedwyr Williams and Marcus Coates will be summoning, conjuring and creating for Museums at Night October 27 - 29. Here's how
Bedwyr Wiliams will be summoning the spirit of the Druids for Museums at Night© The artistDruids in the Deadhouse is an approximation of what a Druid hipster event might have been like had things panned out differently. In the Deadhouse below the courtyard of Somerset House you will have the opportunity to don a white robe put on a fake beard, or use your own should you wish and cut loose Druid style.
An open mic slot for have-a-go funny druids, tableau vivants competing against each other in spooky niches, non-lethal human sacrifice, pagan cocktails and heathen nibbles all compered by Bedwyr Williams, your Arch Druid for the evening.
Marcus Coates will be Questioning the Dead at Arnos Vale cemetary© The artistMarcus Coates is best known for his performances and installations that employ shamanistic rituals to engage with social and political questions, including School of Imagination, 2013, where Coates trained a group of participants to help answer questions for policy makers at City Hall, London.
For Museums at Night, after a summer of questions aimed at the dead of the cemetery, visitors will call questions out across the darkness and await a response. The calling will itself be a chorus of voices, a ritualised collective projection of concerns, worries and the desire to ask out loud and seek resolution, where the need to ask is as important as getting a reply.
British-Chinese artist Aowen Jin will be taking over the beautiful and historic Compton Verney Gallery for Museums at Night. British-Chinese artist Aowen Jin will be taking over the beautiful and historic Compton Verney Gallery, which will be filled with a stunning 3D artwork that shimmers and dances in darkness under UV light, adorned with imagery inspired by Compton Verney's exceptional collection of Chinese art.
Viewers will be given UV torches to explore and interact with the exhibit, which Jin has developed with the local community, during the Late event.
Caitlin and Andrew Webb-Ellis at The Nunnery GalleryArtist team Webb-Ellis will be at London's Nunnery Gallery for an evening of ritual, sharing food and stories alongside a new audio-visual installation, made collaboratively with local communities, who have been making pilgrimages to an from an ancient sacred well in Valentines Park.
Inspired by Susan Hiller's 'Homage to Joseph Beuys' series, which collects water from sacred or once-sacred sites around the world the event grew out of the pilgrimages and an exploration of the layered memories and stories living in the landscapes we journey through.
Peter Liversidge is working with the Royal College of NursingConceptual artist Peter Liversidge responds to the Royal College of Nursing’s extensive network of thousands of nurses, their 100 years of history, and the fascinating stories held within their historic building on Cavendish Square to devise a thought-provoking participatory art experience for curious visitors.
Liversidge is known for a diverse artistic practice and has exhibited and worked with Tate Liverpool and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art amongst many other galleries across the world.
Teem Bech's Rainbow Makers game heads to the Whitworth© The artistDanish born, London based artist Tine Bech has created a team treasure-hunt type game called Rainbow Makers which will be the centre-piece of the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester’s Museums at Night event on Thursday 27 October.
Originally produced by Tine for the Israel Museum, Rainbow Makers will see visitors don specially designed illuminated vests to seek out and illuminate iconic objects from the Whitworth’s collection to create a Rainbow projected on the walls of the gallery. Tickets are available in advance from MuseumsatNight.org.uk
For the full listings for Museums at Night 2016 visit museumsatnight.org.uk/
