The Whitechape

Whitechapel Gallery

80 - 81 Whitechapel High Street
www.whitechapel.org
London E1 7QX
020 7522 7888

About the venue

The Whitechapel shows artists that are shaping space and informing culture. It was the first public gallery to show some of the great names of British 20th Century Art, from Hockney to Gilbert & George, as well as profiling international artists such as Picasso, Pollock and Rothko.

International in its scope and reputation, the Whitechapel has also always been at the heart of East London. Historically a deprived area it is now home to 10,000 artists and over 80 galleries, and the Gallery’s education programme continues its pioneering work within these dynamic communities.

As a new destination for film, debate and events, it remains the place to find the most exciting and challenging contemporary art.
Opening Times
Weds - Sun, 11am - 6pm, Thur, until 9pm.

Admission
Free
Travel
The Whitechapel Art Gallery is located on Whitechapel High Street next to Aldgate East tube, the Gallery is also situated next to Brick Lane.

Tube: Aldgate East
Bus: 25, 205,15
Access & facilities
Wheelchair accessible.

For hearing impaired visitors the auditorium is equipped with an induction loop.

Cafe

Bookshop
Other points of interest
For great destination for food or drink near to the gallery try The Rhythm Factory.



Art in the Auditorium - Nashat / Trecartin 1 October - 7 November 2008

Shahryar Nashat creates films and installations that revolve around coercion; the power struggle inherent in the relationship between the individual and traditional institutional powers; religion, corporate interest, the state and even art and history. In the three films premiered in the UK at the Whitechapel, Nashat looks at how the threat of violence can be translated into physical and linguistic containment that restricts possibilities of expression.

Ryan Trecartin’s films, by contrast, propose extrovert and exuberant characters, performed by a close community of friends who inhabit an unfettered world. Marked by physical and linguistic excess, the films are immersed in Internet-based, image-heavy culture, informed by TV, movies, music videos, advertising and YouTube. Trecartin’s fast-paced editing and multi-layered, energetic screenplays use low-fi ‘make-do’ props, costumes and an un-slick digital aesthetic, influenced by the filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, John Smith and John Waters.

From May–October 2008 the Whitechapel’s Art in the Auditorium programme in partnership with museums in China, Europe, Latin American and North America, brings together emerging international film and video artists.

Shahryar Nashat programmed by Kunsthaus Zurich
Ryan Trecartin programmed by Ballroom Marfa, Texas
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ntroduction 11 Sept - 2 Nov 2008 / Preview opening 11 Sept, 6.30 - 9pm

The work of Danish artist Jens Haaning focuses on how society is composed and how power is expressed and communicated within it. He is particularly interested in the consequences of mixing cultures and the movement of individuals, objects or concepts across geographical and cultural borders.

Baghdad Time is a new work created by Haaning for The Street.
For this project with the Whitechapel Gallery, Jens Haaning exhibits a clock on a wall on Brick Lane set to Baghdad time.

Beyond the confused reactions to a clock going ‘wrong’, the work highlights economic and diplomatic relations between England and Iraq, with British participation in the war in Iraq as the main connection. To Haaning, the clock is a reminder of a situation occurring in another place; a situation that we have the power to influence despite its geographical distance.

In previous works, Haaning has addressed subjects such as immigration and economic and cultural power relations. One example is ‘Redistribution (London-Karachi)’, 2003, when all the chairs from the ICA, London were shipped to Karachi, Pakistan. They were then left on the street for passers-by to use or take as they wished. In another work from 2002, as part of the major international exhibition Documenta XI, he swapped all the lightbulbs in a street in Kassel, North Germany, with those in a street in Vietnam.

To see the commissions go to The Shop
26-28 Toynbee Street, London. E1 7NE
Open Weds-Sun, 11am-6pm
Click here for a multimap