Guerrilla Zoo: Modern Panic IV at Apiary Studios

Forget about art and galleries in a classical sense – at Apiary Studios in Hackney the walls are dirty, the doors are peeling and walking through the space necessitates dodging artwork, a performer playing dead on the floor and a fire extinguisher. 

The closest thing to still life here is a stuffed fox on the wall chasing a stuffed hare. Most similar to an archetypal portrait is a woman dressed as a maid looking absent while holding a dildo. Nearest to classic sculpture is a creepy, phantasmagorical, blindfolded little girl eating (or spitting out) dirty braids. These artworks, created by Jodhi Brown-Needham, Sara Le Roy and Paul Toupet respectively are just a taste of what is on show at the fourth instalment of Modern Panic, the saga created by Guerrilla Zoo and curated by James Elphick. 

Inspired by the Mouvement panique – a collective fomed in Paris in 1962 by Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roland Topor  in response to surrealism becoming mainstream – Modern Panic IV is a beautifully chaotic circus of 60 surreal and provocative international artists and live art performances,  with life, death and sex as common themes. There is no middle ground; you love it or you loathe it. Much of the collection is created to disturb and agitate, but this is no bad thing as sometimes art without provocation, like life, is quite boring. 

Erik Ravelo’s portraits of lost childhood (banned & blocked by Facebook), Eleanor Brereton’s life-size sculpture of a “futuristic” old lady, and Yuri Zupančič’s miniature microchips are definitively highlights.There is a further live art performance programme on the website. With artists such as Francesca Fini, Tom Bresolin, Amy Kingsmill, Harrie Skully, Victor Ivanov & Andie Macario, Jack Cole and Tracey Meek appearing, you don’t want to miss it! 

Marc Vargas
Photos: Erol Birsen

Guerrilla Zoo: Modern Panic IV is at Apiary Studios from 8^th – 17^th November 2013. For further information visit the gallery’s website here.