Two new ground-breaking exhibitions have opened at York Art Gallery.
The Aesthetica Art Prize is an annual celebration of contemporary art – and this year the 20 finalists will explore topics such as digitisation, diasporic identities, the climate crisis and more through a wide variety of artistic mediums.
The exhibition features an inflatable installation Portico by environmental artist Steve Messam which will temporarily transform the gallery’s outdoor space. His installations are typically ‘bigger than a house’ and exploits colour and scale.
The Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition 2022 will take place until 18 September.
Portico artist Steve Messam, said; “Portico changes the way people look at York Art Gallery, temporarily transforming the front of the building and the way people use the space.
“You can see it from the city walls, the open top buses and you can come sit and have your lunch outside and enjoy it too.
“I love how many people have been stopping to take photos already.”
York Museums Trust is urging people to share their photos of Portico by Steve Messam, by tagging York Art Gallery and Aesthetica Magazine on Instagram and Twitter.
Other works featured will include Baff Akoto’s Leave The Edges which investigates the complex ancestries of African diasporic cultural expression and work by Jason Bruges Studio – a pioneer of the hybrid space between art, architecture and tech.
All the pieces in the exhibition will – both individually and collectively – disrupt the status quo.
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Also opening at York Art Gallery is Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art – curated and conceived by Dr Jareh Das in partnership with Two Temple Place.
The exhibition will explore works by three generations of Black women artists working with clay – including Nigerian pioneer potter Ladi Kwali and international contemporary artists including Bisila Noha, Dame Magdalene Odundo, Jade Montserrat and more.
Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art will take place until 18 September.
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The aim of this exhibition is to shine new light on under-profiled collections and the contributions made by Black women artists and ceramists at its core through a visually exciting show.
Curator Dr Jareh Das, said “[The exhibition] celebrates an intergeneration of cross-disciplinary artists working with clay, all of whom upend ways of working with the medium both conceptually and traditionally.
“Importantly, it centres on matrilineal passing down of such traditions, women to women, within communities in Nigeria and extending across the globe.”
In partnership with Mediale, there will also be a range of events and activities alongside the exhibition with a full programme of events to be announced.
For more information and to book your tickets, please visit the York Art Gallery website.