Open Odyssey
HELEN MURPHY AND NICK PELLING
Something groundbreaking is happening at Hastings Contemporary. They are about to put on their first ever Open Exhibition. The gallery took the very brave step of throwing open an invitation to all Sussex artists to put forward work for possible selection. Unsurprisingly, given the high density of creative types in this part of the world, they were inundated. They received over 2500 digital images of work for a show that can only accommodate about 150 works. Sifting and selecting has been a towering task. On 28 March we will all be able to see a fabulous slice of artistic responses to the theme of ‘Odyssey.’ The gallery intends to continue with this idea every two years. Something new is being born – the Hastings Biennial: a Spring Exhibition open to all.
Sarah Jane Moon, Modern Nature 1, 2022
We spoke to Sophia McNab and Leah Cross from the Contemporary, who have had the epic challenge of organising this event. As Sophia said, “It is in some ways an administrative odyssey in its own right.” Evidently, they have both enjoyed the logistical struggle to bring it all together. Leah has the mind-spinning curatorial task of working out how all the pieces chosen should be hung. She points out that although the gallery is “housed in a big shiny building we only have a teeny team.”
The heartbreaking work of selection and rejection has been the real challenge for a carefully chosen panel. The judges mainly consist of artists and those deeply involved in the arts but there are a couple of non-artists who have been brought in for their awareness and engagement with broader cultural concerns. Chris Packham is a well known broadcaster and campaigner in the world of wildlife and environmental issues. Zoe Lyons is mainly known for her brilliant stand-up, but it is less well known that she is additionally a keen scuba diver and Ocean Ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society.
JUDGING THE JUDGES
The other five judges are more directly related to the art world. Elena Crippa is Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Courtauld Gallery. She was previously Head of Exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery and Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Tate Britain, where she put on a major retrospective of the works of Paula Rego. Eva Langret is Artistic Director of Frieze London, also Vice Chair on the board of Camden Art Centre, and is passionate about championing emerging artistic talent. Fiona Banner is a political artist in that she looks at the way language and conflict intersect and how what she calls “bastard language” seems to fail us at points of tension. Isabel Rock is an artist and activist; working in all mediums, she crafts surreal narratives with fantastical beings and hidden morals that blend humour with the darker side of human nature. Kathleen Soriano is currently Director at Hastings Contemporary, but she is also an independent curator, art historian and broadcaster. She is well known as a judge on Portrait and Landscape Artist of the Year for Sky Arts.
This promises to be a very interesting exhibition offering a snapshot of the status of the Sussex art world. Isabel Rock observed: “Being an artist can be a lonely life, so there is a special value in having an open call exhibition to bring artists together.” It is certainly to be hoped that it will bring the people of this town into the wider conversation about the nature and importance of creativity in these troubled times. Maybe the exhibition is also a timely boost for Hastings’ bid to be a ‘Town of Culture.’
The exhibition runs from 28 March until 31 May. hastingscontemporary.org/events/odyssey
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