Subversive Spaces
You will find work by contemporary artists who have found inspiration in the preoccupations of the surrealists, as well as works by artists such as Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte.
Subversive Spaces challenges our perceptions of our environments and explores two surrealist ideas. The first, 'wandering the streets', reveals the surrealist preoccupation with discovering hidden social spaces in our city streets and uncovering our unconscious fears and desires. The second, 'psychic interiors', investigates notions of disturbance, anxiety and hysteria, and considers the constraining spaces of the home.
The exhibition features painting, sculpture, photography, video and film. Subverting the supposedly safe and comfortable environment of the home, Sarah Lucas' menacing furniture seems to come alive, while Lucy Gunning’s video Climbing Around My Room explores the claustrophobia of domestic spaces. George Shaw depicts in-between spaces of a city in his paintings of playgrounds, and Brassai's atmospheric photographs reveal a mysterious Paris by night.
Subversive Spaces has been curated by the AHRC Research Centre for the Studies of Surrealism and its Legacies, and was developed by the Whitworth Art Gallery at the University of Manchester.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, available from the Sainsbury Centre Gallery Shop.
For more information visit:
www.subversivespaces.com
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts - Exhibitions - Current Exhibitions
