Fragments of Icarus: Testbed1, Battersea

Following our exhibition on Store Street in August (see below), my collaborators Amelia Leeson, Ifigeneia Liangi and I were invited to install our inflatable at the Testbed1 gallery in Battersea. The Store Street exhibition had consisted of around 20 installations, each interpreting an excerpt from the myth of Icarus. In the large warehouse space of Testbed, we had the opportunity to disassemble, rearrange and recombine our works, reacting this time to Pieter Bruegel's painting, The Fall of Icarus (below).

Installations were grouped and amalgamated to represent key compositional elements from the painting. The construction process was highly collaborative, with all contributors proving willing and eager to adapt, reconsider and in some cases destroy their original works.

Yesterday evening was the private view, a chance to wander around the works and view snippets of footage from the Store Street installation projected onto frameworks, screens, and in one case, a slowly melting block of ice. It was a great evening, with lots of friends and newcomers (helped in no small way by the adjacent bar), but the exhibition will be open until the 12th of December if you want to take a look yourself. For more information, see www.iv-i.co.uk.

"11 Flirts"_Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB)

The exhibition "11 Flirts", which is part of the TAB, is open from 9th-25th September in Tallinn, Estonia. http://www.tab.ee/#exhibition

I am exhibiting a perspex and steel hanging installation amongst an incredible collection of masterpieces within Kadriorg Palace, the 18th century Baroque summer residence built for Peter the Great in 1718. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadriorg_Palace

A couple of months ago Villem Tomiste approached me to exhibit in the curated exhibition "11 Flirts", through an article of my work on dezeen http://www.dezeen.com/2011/06/28/london-without-bees-by-ben-kirk/.

I visited the city this weekend for the opening of the exhibition, and other TAB parties, which were great. One of Europe's most enchanting cities (according to the Lonely Planet), the meandering cobbled streets and beautifully restored mediaeval Old Town are the perfect place for a city break. And if you fancy some modern design with your steaks, turrets, cannon balls and cassocks, then Tallinn and specifically Kadriorg Palace is the place for you!!