The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureArt

ARTiculate exhibition and auction at Victoria Miro with Danny Boyle

ARTiculate exhibition and auction at Victoria Miro with Danny Boyle
28 November 2013
Tish Weinstock
Avatar
Tish Weinstock
28 November 2013

Last night British director and producer Danny Boyle played host to ARTiculate London, a one-off exhibition of artworks from a range of international artists, at London’s Victoria Miro gallery. Working with a group of African children, sponsored by the charity Dramatic Need, artists including Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, and the Chapman brothers, as well some of the UK’s most exciting new talent, were tasked to pick a child whose story most inspired them and produce a single piece of work in response.

Laced with charming grammatical errors and misspelling, each child’s story told of the abuse and sadness they have endured; from rape to suicide, poverty to HIV, these tales paint a vivid picture of their lives. Albeit through the lens of their artistic vision, and outsider interpretation, these moving tales were brought to life in various ways through the work of each artist.

Responding to the heartbreaking testimony of Margaret, a young girl who’d lost her family to AIDS, was HIV positive herself, and was the only one left to care for both her and sister’s children, artist Jillian Edelstein photographs a group of women in colourful clothing dancing in a circle and ringing bells in ritualistic fashion. Choosing to represent Margaret’s faith in God and modern medicine as opposed to her desolation, Jillian represents the “wealth of spirituality which we don’t have, and the sense of community’’.

After moving around the exhibition and bidding electronically for works, guests crowded around the stage where four artworks were put to a live auction, including Untitled by Anish Kapoor; his painterly response to a girl’s prophetic dream about her mother’s death. Despite raising a respectable amount for the new arts centre in South Africa, things took a turn for the worst, when the mysterious Anish Kapoor bidder vanished into thin air, prompting a very embarrassed Amber Sainsbury – Dramatic Need’s founder – to jump up on stage and desperately call for some new bidders. After minutes of painful silence, and despite having his eye on a charming sculpture by Tom Price, Danny Boyle stepped in with a bid of £23,000 for a £40,000 piece of art.

Further confusion came when a man took to the stage at the end of the evening to announce that a work by Adeline de Monseignat – a wall of bricks covered in hand-sewn fabric, and embroidered with the haunting words of Meine Maipototo – could actually be sold brick by brick, instead of as a single piece.

However, despite all this, a substantial amount of money was raised for Dramatic Need, and guests left moved by the heart wrenching testimonies of children and comforted by their artistic translations.

Tish Weinstock
Photos: Filippo L’Astorina

For further information about Dramatic Need, ARTiculate and future events visit here.

Related Items

More in Art

Ten artistic depictions of the Christmas story through the ages

James White
Read More

Five gifts for art lovers this Christmas

Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Five alternative art exhibitions for Christmas 2020

Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Sensing the Unseen: Step into Gossaert’s Adoration at the National Gallery

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

Ben Uri Gallery and Museum: The evolution of a force for good

James White
Read More

Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul at the Royal Academy

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

Magnetic North: Voices from the Indigenous Arctic at the British Museum

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly in League with the Night at Tate Britain

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Rob and Nick Carter on Connaught Village’s public neon installations: “Accessibility of art is crucial during a pandemic”

Lilly Subbotin
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Win a copy of Link on Blu-ray
    Competitions
  • Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ten short literary collections to get you back into reading
    Literature
  • Mayor
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Anatomy of Melancholy at the Ovalhouse | Theatre review
Kill Your Darlings: Interview with John Krokidas