Arts

UECLAA finds new audiences

Works from the University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art (UECLAA) found new audiences recently through exhibitions at a school and at the private residence of the Argentinean Ambassador.

Items from the Collection were exhibited in the new purpose-built gallery at Mascalls School in Kent.

Pupils at Mascalls School enjoying the UECLAA exhibition

Subverted Icon: Pop in Latin American Art was coordinated by Nathaniel Hepburn, Community Arts Manager at Mascalls Gallery and a graduate of the Department of Art History and Theory.

A selection of works from UECLAA was also loaned to the Argentinean Ambassador for an ambitious exhibition of Argentinean art. The show was part of London Open House week during which various buildings across the capital are opened to the public to encourage a greater appreciation of architecture.

The Ambassador’s house provided an unusual setting for the works which included video, sound pieces, sculpture and paintings.

Light, sound and poetry transform gallery

The University Gallery will be transformed this month when a specially-commissioned artwork by one of Argentina’s most exciting contemporary artists goes on show.

Singers Room has been co-created by acclaimed artist Jorge Macchi and composer Edgardo Rudnitzky. The installation, made from four large panes of glass hanging from the ceiling, encompasses light, sound and poetry.

Arts Officer, Jessica Kenny, explained: ‘The lights in the Gallery will be turned right down so that a poem by Uruguayan poet Idea Vilariño can be projected onto the panes of glass. The projection of the words will be done in such a way that the text slowly appears and then disappears, moving in time to sounds that emanate from the glass itself. It promises to be a rather beautiful and haunting piece of art.’

Singers Room has been specifically designed for the University Gallery and is one of a pair of works, the second of which, Twilight, will be on show at firstsite@the minories in Colchester. Macchi and Rudnitzky were invited to create the works as part of their artist in residency at the University’s Centre for the Studies of Surrealism and its Legacies.

Edgardo Rudnitzky (left) and Jorge Macchi visiting the campus earlier in the year

Alasdair Malloy will be performing a Rudnitzky composition, specially commissioned for Twilight, at firstsite on 23 November. The event will be a rare opportunity to hear the sound of a vitrophone, also known as a glass harmonica.

Jorge Macchi and Professor Dawn Ades, of the Department of Art History and Theory, will also be speaking at Tate Modern on Tuesday 21 November. For further details see www.tate.org.uk/modern.

Singers Room will be at the gallery from 20 November to 16 December. Admission is free and opening times are as follows: Monday to Friday 11am to 5pm, Saturday 1pm to 4.30pm.