3 December–20 February 2011
The seemingly traditional genre of portraiture is reimagined and reinvented by contemporary artists in a series of works drawn from the Arts Council Collection. In media ranging from painting to polaroid and sculpture to 16mm film, these artists use diverse strategies to explore culture, identity, appearance and representation. Artists featured includes Milena Dragicevic, Saul Fletcher, Alasdair Gray, Iain Hetherington, Hillary Lloyd, Melanie Manchot, Rosalind Nashashibi, Mark Neville, Nigel Shafran, Lucy Skaer and Toby Ziegler.
Funders Hatton Gallery, Northern Rock Foundation
7 December-27 February 2011
From 1644 to 1911, China’s Forbidden City was home to 10 successive rulers of the Qing Dynasty. The robes they wore have been brought to Europe for the first time for this exhibition. Highlights include an intricately woven robe with golden-dragon roundels from the Kangxi reign (1662-1722), and a wedding dress robe with a red dragon and phoenix, worn by the bride of the Guangxu emperor in 1889.
Cost undisclosed
Main funders Lady Keswick, Sir David Tang, travel partner Viking River Cruises
Curator Ming Wilson
Exhibition design and graphics V&A Design
9 December-6 February 2011
Sir John Tenniel’s wood engravings of the Alice in Wonderland characters have become some of the world’s most famous children’s book illustrations. This exhibition features 42 prints for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, alongside printing equipment used to create wood engravings. Artist Katherine Waters has been commissioned to create a fantasy setting for the exhibition, complete with papier-mache versions of the characters.
Cost £6,600
Main funders Warwick District Council, Arts Council England
Curators Chloe Johnson, Alice Swatton
Exhibition design Tenniel prints from Graphicus Touring, Contemporary artwork Katherine Waters
Graphics Moseley Neon
10 December-23 April 2011
For this Cultural Olympiad project, young people in Southwark have been asked to send in photos of their shoes and describe their everyday journeys. The museum will then build up a map of the area, based on favourite places, routes, methods of travel and favourite footwear. The aim is to answer the question “What would you see walking in someone else’s shoes?” The photos will be available to view in the museum’s online Flickr group throughout the exhibition.
www.flickr.com/groups/walkinginmyshoes/
Cost £20,000
Main funders Renaissance, as part of the Cultural Olympiad
Curated by Cuming Museum, Visual and Performing Arts group (VAPA)
Exhibition design Cuming Museum, VAPA, Arthur De Mowbray
Graphics Julie Nelson-Rhodes
11 December-27 February 2011
This solo exhibition of sculptor Tomoaki Suzuki’s latest work features lifelike statuettes crafted in lime wood to one-third human scale. Suzuki challenges conventional methods of displaying figurative sculpture by placing his work directly on the floor, rather than on a plinth. The scale of his work requires viewers to crouch down, to connect with each figure at eye level.
Cost about £20,000
Main funders Eastbourne Borough Council, Arts Council England, with support from the Japan Foundation
Curator Sanna Moore
17 December-13 March 2011
Video artist, performer and composer Nam June Paik (1932-2006) explored television as a medium through works such as Video Fish, which features television sets and live fish in aquariums. This exhibition is an opportunity to see all of the South Korean-born artist’s major works in one place. These range from his early TV work to robot sculptures and large-scale video installations.
Cost undisclosed (developed with Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool)
Main funders Samsung, the Korea Foundation, Henry Moore Foundation, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation
Curators Sook-Kyung Lee, Susanne Rennert, Laura Sillars
Exhibition design and graphics True North
18 December-April 2011
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of east London’s Houndsditch murders and the siege of Sidney Street, this exhibition explores home secretary Winston Churchill’s role in the events. In December 1910 a group of armed Latvian revolutionaries fatally shot three policemen while trying to break into a Houndsditch jewellery shop.
Two weeks later, more than 200 armed police and Scots Guards, accompanied by Churchill, laid siege to Sidney Street, where the gang was hiding. The display features trial exhibits, weapons and safe-breaking equipment used by the gang, and the overcoat worn by Churchill on the day of the siege.
Cost £11,000
Main funders Jewish East End Celebration Society (JEECS), Museum of London
Curator Julia Hoffbrand in collaboration with JEECS
Exhibition design and graphics Norton Allison
