Spring has arrived and First Thursdays is finally back with an evening of exciting events around East London. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the start of April with a night of art and music!
Just like last month, you can choose to follow the self-led Walking Route around the East End for a series of exciting events including late openings and a curatorial talk, or join the free after-hours program of performances, readings, DJ sets, workshops, food, drink, and much more at Whitechapel Gallery as part of the Escape the Slick: Youth Takeover. For more details about the Gallery’s event, please see the bottom of the page or visit our information desk.
The self-led Walking Route will start from Whitechapel Gallery and head to Soft Opening (open until 8 pm) for Chris Lloyd‘s exhibition “I Against I.” This solo show is an imagined personal memento that scripts both the past and future self of the artist, portrayed through watercolour and canvas. The autobiographical landscape highlights self-expansion and self-annihilation, strengths and weaknesses, resistance and flow, impulse and intention, divine opportunity and withheld chances.
The second stop tonight will be at Shipton Street Gallery for “A Dangerous Lesson” by Michael Pybus. The exhibition draws inspiration from a selection of René Magritte’s paintings, notably from the ‘Période Vache’ (1948), a controversial series that undermined traditional aesthetic conventions and is seen as a precursor to the ‘Bad Painting’ movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Pybus blends elements of ‘low culture’ and ‘bad taste’ into his paintings to produce a new visual language that challenges the established norms and narratives of high art and contemporary society.
The final destination is Standpoint Gallery for “Deep Adaptation” the opening of a new exhibition by Jon Kipps, the artist’s first London solo presentation. ‘Deep Adaptation’ has been developed over the past year by the London-based artist Jon Kipps. Kipps is interested in the way we choose to model and customize our environments and surrounding commodities, particularly objects associated with asserting or diffusing power, restricting behavior, and understanding social hierarchies. Examples include hostile architecture design, homeless spikes, and skate stoppers, as well as car body modifications, coastal defenses, and less obviously aggressive forms of urban infrastructure, such as in bollards.
Escape the Slick: Youth Takeover: Join us for an evening of music, workshops, and exploration programmed by Whitechapel Gallery’s youth collective Duchamp & Sons. Inspired by their current exhibition Escape the Slick, which asks questions about access to public space whilst embracing comfort and self-expression, you can expect an evening of good vibes, exploration, and moments to connect to others.
