26 June – 28 July 2012
Preview: Tuesday 26 June, 6.30–8.30pm
Opening hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 12–6pm
The Showroom presents two newly commissioned projects that address questions of (in)visibility in relation to how social structures and conditions are experienced in everyday life and made visible, or not, and why this is so. Both are produced within Communal Knowledge – an ongoing programme of artists' commissions that involve collaborative research and knowledge-exchange within The Showroom’s locality, the Church Street neighbourhood.
Andrea Francke's Invisible spaces of parenthood: A collection of pragmatic propositions for a better future explores issues surrounding childcare in collaboration with local nurseries, childminders, children's centres and parent groups, and looks for new models and possibilities. This includes setting up a workshop in The Showroom's gallery space during the exhibition for visitors and workshop participants to test out DIY designs for furniture and play, some of which are gathered through an open call. Francke intends for these ideas to feed into a manual, for publication in September 2012.
Annette Krauss' Hidden Curriculum looks at unintended and unrecognised forms of knowledge that are part of learning processes and daily life within schools. Krauss presents videos produced during workshop sessions she led with two groups of 15–17 year old students from local schools. These films look at the invisible values and beliefs that accompany official learning processes, and the informal knowledge and normalisation processes that influence the way we know, see and act in the world.
Communal Knowledge is generously supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, John Lyon’s Charity, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Arts Council England, Westminster Cultural Olympiad supported by Westminster City Council, BNP Paribas, Vital Regeneration and Outset as The Showroom’s Production Partner 2012.
(in)visibilities is produced in the framework of COHAB, a two-year project with Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht and Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, supported by a Cooperation Measures grant from the European Commission Culture Programme (2007–2013).
Born in Peru and now based in London, Francke is an artist currently developing two main research projects: Invisible spaces of parenthood and The Piracy Project. She was a recipient of the Red Mansion Art Prize in 2011.
MoreAndrea Francke: Invisible spaces of parenthood: A collection of pragmatic propositions for a better future is a project that explored issues surrounding childcare in collaboration with local nurseries, childminders, children's centres and parent groups, looking for new models and possibilities.
MoreBorn in Germany but now based in Utrecht, Krauss is an artist whose work employs performance, video, research, and pedagogy. She was The Showroom’s Artist Fellow 2012/13, researching notions of unlearning and (in)visibility.
MoreAnnette Krauss: Hidden Curriculum is a project that looks at unintended and unrecognised forms of knowledge that are part of learning processes and daily life within schools.
MoreAndrea Francke, Invisible Spaces of Parenthood, 2012, installation view. © Andrea Francke. Courtesy the artist.
Andrea Francke, Invisible Spaces of Parenthood, 2012, installation view. © Andrea Francke. Courtesy the artist.
Andrea Francke, Invisible Spaces of Parenthood, 2012, installation view. © Andrea Francke. Courtesy the artist.
Andrea Francke, Invisible Spaces of Parenthood, 2012, installation view. © Andrea Francke. Courtesy the artist.
Annette Krauss, Hidden Curriculum, 2012, installation view. © Annette Krauss. Courtesy the artist.