Programme May – July 2015 www.ikon-gallery.org Free entry Ikon presents the most comprehensive UK resulting in visual puns that are funny, subtle and Pavel Büchler exhibition to date by Pavel Büchler. Born in Prague subversive. Similarly the artist’s fascination with in 1952 and based in this country since the 1980s, wordplay is made more explicit in his ongoing series Büchler is renowned as an influential teacher and Honest Work (2011–), unique letterpress prints made (Honest) Work figure in the international art scene. from old fashioned printing blocks. Quotations from Karl Marx to Edgar Allen Poe, from Barnett Newman Exhibition Büchler’s exhibition at Ikon involves a wide range to Joseph Kosuth, are sources of inspiration, as 13 May – 12 July 2015 of media including text, found objects, obsolete well as coincidences found within and between First and Second Floor Galleries and Tower Room technologies and appropriated digital material, alphabets and numerical systems. These letterpress Please note the Tower Room is only characteristically combining philosophical scepticism works constitute a bookend of an extraordinary accessible via a number of steps with a smart sense of humour that draws attention survey, a kind of variety that conveys rare artistic to the fundamentally strange nature of everyday life. ingenuity. Visitors experience a new work by Büchler The exhibition is accompanied by a publication, 1 immediately on arrival at Ikon, Inside Watt (2010), including texts by Austrian philosopher Robert comprising a text extract from Samuel Beckett’s Pfaller and Jonathan Watkins, Ikon Director. 2 Watt (1953) set in the style of a book page and applied to the front doors. The transition from inside In addition Pavel Büchler has made a new limited to outside, and vice versa, is made through a veil edition, titled Honest Work (Silence) (2015), available of text, superimposed on what is visible beyond. exclusively at Ikon, it is a letterpress work on Arches Büchler’s intervention on the doors is telling, as they 88 paper, 34 × 50 cm, edition of 26, priced £720. are the means by which visitors move between the public realm and dedicated art space, raising issues of access to art, its role in society and a tendency to exclusivity in our art worlds. Associated events The perpetual outsider status projected onto the main protagonist in The Castle (2005), a key work Exhibition Opening in this exhibition, corresponds to an anxiety that is Wednesday 13 May, 6–8pm – FREE often engendered by cultural institutions. Involving Join us to celebrate the opening of our new a large installation of loudspeakers based on a 1920s exhibition. Pay bar. design by Marconi, the work proclaims a quotation from Kafka’s The Castle: Artist’s Talk – Pavel Büchler Wednesday 24 June, 6.30-8pm – FREE “You are not from the Castle, you are not from the Join artist Pavel Büchler as he discusses his life and village, you aren’t anything. Or rather, unfortunately, work, including the inspiration behind his current you are something, a stranger, a man who isn’t Ikon exhibition. This event commences with a wanted and is in everybody’s way …” consideration of Büchler’s work by Silvia Ziranek, (SZ ON) PB, BRIEFLY, FOR PB. Places are free but should Broadcast through the antique sound system, the be booked. Visit www.ikon-gallery.org to book words recall street propaganda announcements as online or call Ikon on 0121 248 0708. they insist that integration is impossible, that the stranger will always remain on the outside. On the other hand, Fly (2009), involves an illuminated fire exit sign and the sound of a fly buzzing inside. There is no yearning for admittance, but rather this is an innocent creature desperately trying to get out. 1 Pavel Büchler Fly (2009) Ikon’s exhibition also features a number of found Found security sign, objects and small sculptures such as Il Castello audio (2007), consisting of two found pencils, and Cannon 2 Pavel Büchler (2014), made from a billiard ball and postcard. Most The Castle (2010) Installation view, of these are fortuitous combinations, brought DOX, Prague together to create “semantic short circuits”, Black Country Voyages (2014–2017) is an art Associated events Brownhills Community Festival Black Country programme for local young people, aged 16–21 Sunday 28 June, 10am–4pm – FREE years old, involving members of the Ikon Youth Canalside, Silver Street, Brownhills WS8 6DZ Programme (IYP). It takes place on board a canal Birmingham Canal Navigations Society Join us at the Brownhills Canal Festival and enjoy boat, generously lent by Sandwell Council. Summer Boat Gathering music, crafts and stalls. Voyages Friday 15 and Saturday 16 May, 12–4pm – FREE For 2015, Jacques Nimki is the lead artist for Black Titford Pump House, Engine Street Kings Norton Junction Festival The Black Apotheca Country Voyages, transforming the boat into The Black off Tat Bank Road, Oldbury B69 4NL Friday 10 and Saturday 11 July, 10am–4pm – FREE Apotheca – a floating laboratory of herbal liquids The annual BCNS rally takes place at the historic Kings Norton playing fields and village green, derived from local plants, fermenting slowly over Titford Pump House with stalls, refreshments and Pershore Road South, Kings Norton B30 3EJ time, housed in glass, reflecting light and colour. It boat trips. Join us for creative activities and to Black Country Voyages tours to Birmingham for a showcases drawings, recipes and objects, all relating celebrate the launch of Jacques Nimki as lead artist one-off event in Kings Norton with boat rides, local to the business of apothecaries, plus a collection of for Black Country Voyages 2015. No need to book, just walks, food and refreshments. Organised by the lozenges, cordials, country wines, sorbets and teas drop in. Worcester–Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society. available for consumption at selected events. During the summer Nimki and IYP host workshops along International Festival of Glass the canal network for visitors to interact with Black Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 May Black Country Voyages is organised in partnership Country Voyages – for more information please visit 10am–5pm – FREE with the Canal & River Trust. www.blackcountryvoyages.org or call Ikon on Red House Glass Cone, High Street 0121 248 0708. Stourbridge DY8 4AZ Facebook: blackcountryvoyages Black Country Voyages joins the International Glass Twitter: @bcvoyages #blackcountryvoyages Festival, with Jacques Nimki and members of the IYP leading practical workshops. These sessions If you are interested in joining the Ikon Youth are suitable for ages 6 and over. All children must Programme please contact Claire Bird by email be accompanied by an adult. Places are free but [email protected] or call Ikon on 0121 248 0708. booking is essential. For more information please contact Julie Edmonds on 01384 815571 or The Red House Glass Cone on 01384 811280. Longwood Boat Club Canal Festival Friday 12 and Saturday 13 June, 11am–5pm – FREE Rushall Top Lock, Aldridge Road, Walsall WS4 2JS Visit Black Country Voyages at the Longwood Boat Club for stalls, refreshments and entertainment. Saturday Studio Public Events Saturday 27 June, 2–4.30pm £6 per person* Join us for our new regular practical session devised especially for adults. Explore creative approaches to Workshops and courses making art in response to Ikon’s current exhibition by Pavel Büchler. An informal opportunity for those Understanding Art: Art and Language wanting to develop a portfolio or take part in a “The whole point is that Ikon is not just for us.” Thursday 4 June, 2–3pm fun afternoon of making. Places are limited and Robert Groves, Founder Artist, 1965 The Barber Institute of Fine Arts booking is essential. Visit www.ikon-gallery.org to Thursday 11 June, 2–3pm book online or call Ikon Shop on 0121 248 0711. *Cost The New Art Gallery Walsall includes refreshments and materials. Thursday 18 June, 2–3pm Ikon’s 50th anniversary programme has provided many Wolverhampton Art Gallery opportunities for us to reflect on our history: to honour those Thursday 25 June, 2–3pm Ikon Gallery who founded Ikon; to welcome back artists from across the £20 for all four sessions; £16 concessions: Art Bus students, unwaged, 60+ five decades; and above all, to involve visitors and supporters. A four-part course exploring varied ways language, Art Bus text and literature are used to inspire and create Thursday 14 May, 5–9pm – FREE art. Starting at The Barber Institute, we look at the As part of Museums at Night 2015, Art Bus is bigger Looking to the future, we conclude our celebrations with collection through a literary lens before encountering than ever. Seven Birmingham art galleries – Ikon, the Epstein archive and work made by Bob and The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, RBSA Gallery, an unprecedented fundraising auction at Sotheby’s in London Roberta Smith at The New Art Gallery Walsall. Pop mac Birmingham, Birmingham Museum and Art on 2 July. Internationally acclaimed artists have generously Art and work by artists involved in the BLK Art Group Gallery, Eastside Projects and The Parkside Gallery, during the 1980s are the topics at Wolverhampton Birmingham City University – all stay open late with donated works to be sold in aid of Ikon’s 50th Anniversary Art Gallery and finally, at Ikon, we examine the work free gallery tours and refreshments. Visit www.ikon- Endowment Fund, dedicated to the artistic programme and of Czech artist Pavel Büchler involving quotations gallery.org for an Art Bus timetable. from Kafka, Beckett and Wittgenstein. Booking the commissioning of new art work. In this way, established essential. Visit www.ikon-gallery.org to book online or call Ikon Shop on 0121 248 0711. artists are supporting artists of the future.