Abstracting Familiarity

‘Abstracting Familiarity’ explores the playful and abstract side of architecture, cities, and the host of the show, 1 Poultry.

Bringing together a group of artists, architects, model makers, and illustrators, the exhibition delves into the artistic nature of place-making. 1 Poultry, the stripey and striking postmodern building on the Bank intersection, has itself been described as everything from wedge-shaped carbuncle(1) to a guilty pleasure(2). So what better location to explore alternative approaches to architectural expression.

Over the last year, Cheapside in Bank has seen an exceptional display of artistic talent across three gallery spaces in James Stirling’s 1 Poultry. Hosted by Hypha Studios, an organisation changing the shape of access in the art world, providing free gallery space and studios across the country by working in partnership with councils and developers to fill empty space. This July and August sees the final three shows across three galleries on their Bank site.

Gallery 2, a space programmed in collaboration with recessed.space, we see a showcase of architectural and artistic talent. From playful illustrations exploring the history of the area and building, through to abstract wall hangings, bold sculptures, an ever growing collaborative clay city, and an installation of hangings and labitules to explore, there’s a lot packed in.

Visitors are invited on a journey from the whimsical to the abstract. Much like James Stirling’s signature “worm’s-eye” axonometric drawings, they toy with perspective and form, stretching the familiar into the surreal, probing the boundary between recognition and abstraction.

Co-curated by Maz Weineck and Lucy Pickford – Maz is an artist, modelmaker, and social value lead at Stanton Williams, and Lucy is an artist, freelance business and charity consultant, and former COO and interim CEO at Open City. Between them, they’ve brought together a selection of artists who sit in different places in the wider world of architecture. Carving different routes to find themselves, seeking a more playful way of expressing their passions for buildings, landscapes, and interiors.

To complement the work, there will be a programme of events over the summer perfect for both the curious and the kids, including a clay workshop to add to McCloy and Muchemwa’s Mud City, a Plyconic ply-art workshop, and a mentoring session with Narrative Practice to showcase alternative routes in the built environment world.

Stirling would argue that he was not a postmodernist so why not carry this through into an exhibition that is ‘not’ architecture. Often inaccessible to many, art and architecture can feel obtuse and evasive at its worst, but hopeful, fun and welcoming at its best. This exhibition seeks to fall in the latter category.

Ref:

1 https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/odd-london-building-looks-like-23496838

2 https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/guilty-pleasure-catherine-croft-1-poultry/

3 https://www.archdaily.com/896436/revealing-the-mystery-behind-the-architect-what-was-james-stirling-really-like