![Opening ceremony at Channel, Sylvester Works]()
Last week I went to the opening of Channel, a multi-venue show featuring the work of several French and Francophone artists (including asylum seekers) which was inspired by an academic project investigating French cultural identity, residence and nomadism. Channel is co-curated by Cupola Contemporary Art and the University of Sheffield French Department.
![Untitled by Natacha Lesueur]()
The evening started early, 4pm to be precise, with the first opening at Cupola in Hillsborough. There is a fairly small selection of work there: a large photographic print by Natacha Lesueur showing a man, his face covered with a Barbie pillow, with what appear to be hieroglyphics (and are apparently some form of eye test) branded on his body (using wasabi poultice); photographs of a work by Lucy Orta in which a train of people walk the streets of Berlin wearing boiler suits which are joined together at stomach and back by a tube or pipeline linking the
whole train together; and Drifting, a 13-minute video by Quebecois artist Isabelle Hayeur in which found photographs are seamlessly blended together into a continual scene, which takes in landscapes and interiors, from architectural carvings to desolate seashores and immaculate living rooms. The video pans (or drifts) gently around this environment to make a very meditative tableaux (interestingly [for me], Hayeur refers to the space featured as a terrain-vague). It’s well worth visiting the gallery to see this piece alone (perhaps I should declare an interest: it’s my projector that is being used to display Hayeur’s work), and while you are there check out the permanent sculpture garden and the gallery’s more regular collection of paintings, sculpture and craftworks, relocated to the upstairs gallery for the duration of the show.
![Lucy Orta]()
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At 6pm the opening moved to the newly opened Sylvester Works gallery, a larger space with works by a number of artists. Among these are more of Natacha Lesueur’s stunningly displayed photos, all optical tests from around the world imprinted upon anonymous human bodies; Several paintings by Djamel Tatah, large-scale portraits which originated as photographs then were abstracted by degrees, first via computer manipulation then by projection onto canvas where they were finally painted; another Lucy Orta work Refugee Work - Habitent, a small silver tent topped with a hood and accessorised with whistle and compass, this year’s must-have for every well-dressed refugee; and several works by Maud Haya-Baviera, including disorienting photographs of model buildings plus, my favourite of the show, a series of short video pieces, hilarious stilted conversations between a man and a woman desperately trying to be something they are not, and appearing as fake as their wigs and other bizarre accoutrements.
![Djamel Tatah]()
![Untitled by Natacha Lesueur]()
The opening was attended by the new Mayor of Sheffield and the French Ambassador, among others and, although there were no Ferrero Rocher on offer, the ambassador laid on a good quantity of decent French wine. After a few glasses at the earlier Cupola opening, this proved to be dangerous stuff. I lurched from one drunken conversation to the next, snapping photos more-or-less at random.
![Performance at Matilda Space]()
Once the room emptied, at 8 or 9pm, I dragged a few people along with me to Matilda Space where there was a “Noise All-Nighter” featuring Birds of Delay, Mystorm, Kylie Mynoise and many others. We stayed for about three acts (my memory of this part of the night really is very vague), and I had a chat with Moodi from Freenoise UK, before heading over to the Showroom where the Channel after-launch party was in full swing. That’s about as much as I can remember.
Channel exhibition brochure.
![Djamel Tatah]()
