Utopias: Cornford & Cross, Rodney Graham, Veli Grano, Matthias Muller, Mariele Neudecker

A Mead Gallery Exhibition
Thu 5 Oct – Fri 1 Dec 2000

Thomas More’s fable about a perfect society on the island of Utopia has generated many visions and philosophies about the way in which it might be realised. ‘Utopias’ is a stunning collection of images, sounds and ideas which explore the ways in which our cities and worlds are constructed and how we see our lives against a vast background of land and history.

‘Childhood’s End’ by Cornford & Cross has been specially commissioned for this exhibition. It is a Film and Video Umbrella touring exhibition developed in collaboration with the Mead Gallery, Norwich Gallery, the University of Wolverhampton and Nottingham Trent University. It has been supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England, Eastern Arts and West Midlands Arts.

‘Utopias’ incorporates a major project with the people of Coventry. Rebuilt after the war as a Utopian city, the realisation of this vision is inevitably flawed. A group of residents from the Hillfields area have come together to make a website which explores their vision of Utopia. The project is in partnership with Sidney Stringer Community College and Hillfields Early Years Centre and is supported by the European Social Fund and IBM and is part of Coventry Inspires.

Victor Pasmore: Changing the Process of Art Education

A Mead Gallery Exhibition
Sat 6 May – Sat 24 Jun 2000

In connection with the Tate’s exhibition of Victor Pasmore’s artistic work, the Mead Gallery has worked with Professor Richard Yeomans of the University of Warwick’s Institute of Education to curate a small study exhibition that examines the radical teaching practice of Victor Pasmore. Drawings, photographs and texts have been selected from an archive of material from the art faculty of Durham University, housed at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire. On public display for the first time, they offer a fascinating insight into the way that Pasmore and his colleague Richard Hamilton challenged and developed the work of their students.

Victor Pasmore: Changing the Process of Painting

A Tate Collection Exhibition
Sat 6 May – Fri 23 Jun 2000

This is the first major presentation of the work of Victor Pasmore since his death in 1998. With more than forty paintings, prints and relief works spanning seven decades, this retrospective includes artworks and archive material from the Tate Collection, supplemented by loans from the artist’s estate, The Arts Council Collection and regional galleries.

Victor Pasmore created two brilliant representations for himself as an artist; initially as one of the most subtle figurative painters of his generation, and later as one of Britain’s leading practitioners of pure abstraction. The exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of Pasmore’s diverse output. It reveals an early traditional, painterly style, characterized by works such as the lyrical interior Lamplight, 1941, and the serene landscape The Quiet River: The Thames at Chiswick, 1943-4, before turning to a more abstract style through collage and Constructivism from the late 1940s. Pasmore’s conversion to abstract art in 1947 shocked the art world and was later described by Herbert Read as ‘the most revolutionary event in post-war British art’.

Stealing Beauty: British Design Now

An ICA exhibition in association with Perrier-Jouet Champagne
Sat 15 Jan – Sat 11 Mar 2000

Curated by Claire Catterall. Works by el ultimo grito, Michael Marriott, Alex Rich, Ann-Sofie Back, FAT, Tord Boontje, Rebecca Brown and Mike Heath, muf, bump, 24/7, Georg Baldele, British Creative Decay, 6876, Michael Anastassiades, Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby, The Light Surgeons, Azumi.

Over the past few years design has become an almost national obsession with a proliferation of magazines and television programmes offering the latest styles for homes and gardens. This exhibition proposes a radical alternative to these ephemeral fashions. Stealing Beauty: British Design Now presents the work of sixteen young British designers who offer a witty and challenging approach to consumer durables. The exhibition showcases architecture, furniture, fashion and graphics which put inventiveness as well as affordability at the forefront of their agenda.

Fresh Masaala: Poloumi Desai, Zineb Sedira, Ali Zaidi

A Mead Gallery Exhibition with Moti Roti.
Sat 15 Jan – Sat 26 Feb 2000

This spellbinding new project by the award-winning Moti Roti organisation blends photography, soundscapes and digital media to explore representations of British Asian Identities. The stereotypes are familiar, from the ‘Paki Shop’ victims of the 70’s or the ‘Asian Babes’ of the 90’s. At the dawn of this new era the time is ripe to reassess what it means to be British Asian.

Three contrasting artists, Poulomi Desai, Zineb Sedira and Ali Zaidi, have worked closely with fifty people to produce new, cleverly manipulated images and sounds of British Asian People which are aspirational, arresting, controversial, humorous and critical.

Soundscapes is the result of a number of workshops with young people from the Sidney Stringer Community College in Coventry, led by artist Poloumi Desai. It features their voices, talking about themselves, their experiences and their hopes in the light of this exhibition. Presented in the gallery space they offer a moving, enlightening and funny soundtrack to the exhibition; a wonderful way to connect visitors to the works on show.

On Wednesday 9 Feb, actor Nina Wadia will join the communities of Coventry in the Mead Gallery to celebrate the Soundscapes projects.

From Wed 9 Feb to Fri 11 Feb the Fresh Masaala photo booth will be available in the Mead Gallery. Come along and add your fact to those already involved in the exhibition and get your very own print-out of your self portrait as well as a glimpse into the way your features transform the composite face of our community

Exhibition supported by ArtsAdmin and Coventry Inspires; Soundscapes is a New Audiences project supported by the Arts Council of Britain.