Of Gods, Rainbows and Omissions | Gingerbread City | Truth | Illustration Winter Fair | The New Silk Roads...
This week our what's on guide features art from the rainbow nation, a mouthwatering gingerbread exhibition, as well as Tate Lates, winter fairs and a long-awaited sequel from one of our favourite authors.
SEE: Of Gods, Rainbows and Omissions. The solo exhibition of South African contemporary artist, Athi-Patra Ruga, is a vibrant and thought-provoking exploration of the 'rainbow nation’, its colonial history and the personal experiences of the artist. Through photography, sculpture, hand-crafted tapestry and film, these rarely-seen artworks explore utopia and identity through breathtakingly surreal compositions. With his background in fashion, the artists brings glossy, fantasy-reality to life in photos such as ‘Night of the Long Knives I, 2013’ in which a decorated zebra and mysterious balloon-decked rider stand in a cosmic garden of fake flowers and sun-hats. The perfect antidote to December gloom, this fascinating exhibition sizzles with exhilarating strangeness and hidden depth.
Of Gods, Rainbows and Omissions, is at Somerset House, London, until 6 January.
For more visiting information go to
and follow Somerset House on Twitter @SomersetHouse.
VISIT: Gingerbread City. Welcome to tasty town! Over 60 gingerbread buildings designed by architects and engineers will go on display this week at the V&A. The 2018 theme of this family-friendly annual show is ‘imagining the future city’ and the goal is to encourage playful conversation about the built environment with a fairytale twist. Get ready to enter a world of gingerbread castles, modernist apartments, tiny cottages and cute tower blocks all with intricately outlined icing sugar details and with cosy illuminated windows. This wonderful, sugary world of marshmallow boulders, candy cane columns and gardens of sweets also raises questions about imaginative and innovative town planning and how buildings should create positive feelings. Be prepared for the ultimate architectural sugar-rush.
Gingerbread City runs from December 8th 2018 to January 6th 2019 at the Museum of Architecture, V&A. For tickets and visiting information go to:
DEBATE: Truth. Debate the concept of ‘truth’ in a post-truth world at this month’s Tate Late event, inspired by the Turner Prize 2018. How does power and visibility influence our experience of the ‘truth’? How do we navigate the truth in a climate of fake news and propaganda? Join the Tate Collective this Friday to get involved in the debate during its series of specially curated events. Sketch the truth you see, boost your emotional intelligence at a ‘true-themed workshop’, challenge yourself to a board game of Propaganda, construct your own headlines at a fake news collage workshop, and creatively explore your personal truth during a comic making workshop. You can also have fun creating your very own Twitter bot, but remember the truth is out there… or is it?
Truth runs at Tate Lates at Tate Britain on Friday 7 December. Follow @Tate and @Tatecollective for updates on Twitter.
SHOP: Illustration Winter Fair / DIY Art Market (Christmas Special). Shop at one of London’s free art markets, selling an eclectic range of original items from emerging independent artists this Saturday 8 December. One of our favourites is the Illustration Winter Fair, an open-air market, hosted by House of Illustration just outside its gallery in Kings Cross. Billed as ‘London’s largest free illustration fair’, the event brings together over 100 hand-picked established and emerging illustrators selling original artworks, prints, cards, books, ceramics and more. Another place to find a hidden treasure or two is the DIY Christmas Art Market, spread over four floors at Rich Mix Centre in Bethnal Green. You’ll find artwork, t-shirts, tote bags, prints, jewellery, and loads more Christmas gift inspiration.
Follow @IllustrationHQ and @RichMixLondon for updates.
READ: The New Silk Roads. Finally it's here, the long-awaited follow up to Peter Frankopan's critically acclaimed 2015 bestseller, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World. As the UK is faced with the task of negotiating more than 100 new trade agreements after Brexit, Frankopan’s updated account of the looming East is a timely metaphor for the importance of modern globalisation, cross collaboration and interconnectivity. Following the Silk Roads eastwards from Europe through to China, by way of Russia and the Middle East, The New Silk Roads charts the East's burgeoning economic, technological and political strength. From the latest developments in Central Asia and the rise of Eurasia fuelled largely by an ambitious China, this insightful, hopeful, and eye-opening account of history gets us to think critically about an entire new world order taking shape around us. It is worth us taking a page out of Frankopan’s new book if we are to use history to look forward and not backward, recalibrating what we know and what we consider important as we look ahead to a post-Brexit future.
The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan (Bloomsbury) is out now. For updates, follow @peterfrankopan @bloomsburybooks on Twitter.
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