Today marks the return of First Thursdays! Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate this nice warmer weather with an evening of art and cultural events around East London following our usual Walking Route. As usual, the meeting is at Whitechapel Gallery, where you will have the possibility to collect the printed copy of the Walking Route. It will also be your last chance to see Action, Gesture, Performance: Feminism, the Body and Abstraction (free entry) and Action, Gesture, Performance: Feminism, the Body and Abstraction (ticketed).

After visiting Whitechapel Gallery, the route heads to Fixing Shadows – Julius and I at Autograph ABP. The exhibition features the first UK solo exhibition of Eric Gyamfi‘s work, who transformed the gallery into a cosmos of cyanotype prints. Gyamfi merges his image with a portrait of the African American composer Julius Eastman to explore how photography can shift meanings and histories. The exhibition pays homage to Eastman’s work, reflecting his lived experience and radical approach to music composition. Fixing Shadows – Julius and I presents a constellation in which the photographic image is presented as a powerful yet ambiguous means of storytelling.

The following stop is Waste Store with their launch of Peters Sutherland‘s book, Small Town Kids Need Something to Do. The publication features a collection of Sutherland’s physical works from 2013-15 along with a companion photo essay. Waste Store will present a talk of Peters Sutherland with Francesca Gavin and showcase a collab tee of the artist with WASTE.

Our last stop today is Annka Kultys Gallery with In the Middle of Nowhere II, an exhibition by Swedish conceptual artist Jonas Lund. The exhibition explores the increasing digitalization of culture, investigating issues of creative labour, production, authorship, and authority within the art market and society at large. Through the use of satire, speculation, and AI-influenced value production, Lund problematizes the distinctions previously held between human and machinic creative labour, opening up new possibilities for artistic collaboration.