Still from Will You Dance For Me by Ori Gersht

I’m super happy today to report that Ori Gersht’s first solo museum show This Storm is What We Call Progress opens to the public today at the Imperial War Museum in London. I’ve yet to see the show but there’s no excuse to miss it as it runs until the end of April. See below for videos from the lovely Ori (I know him as both a friend and as a visual artist) talking in his inimitable fashion about his work.

There are also two boxed book sets available at £40 and £250, see below for details. I am just about to reserve one for myself  - the £40 one I hasten to add. Take a look at the videos below, read over for more about the show from the press release and head over to the museum. Then buy the box set – you won’t be disappointed. And, with a design by SMITH, the entire package looks like it has been both beautifully and sensitively produced.

Ori Gersht: This Storm is What We Call Progress from Photoworks on Vimeo

Artist Book: Ori Gersht from Photoworks on Vimeo

Ori Gersht: This Storm is What We Call Progress 

Imperial War Museum, London

25 January – 29 April 2012

A significant new exhibition of work by the Israeli-born, London-based artist Ori Gersht shows in partnership with Photoworks at the Imperial War Museum, London.

Co-curated by Photoworks Head of Programme, Celia Davies, This Storm is What We Call Progress is Gersht’s first major solo show in the UK and presents new photographs alongside two recent filmworks each reflecting personal experiences shaped by the Second World War.

Gersht’s work often deals with conflict, history and geographical place. The works in this show each disguise dark and complex themes beneath seductive, beautiful imagery.

Will You Dance For Me a new filmwork developed in association with Photoworks, depicts an 85-year-old dancer rocking back and forth in a chair, slowly recounting her experiences as a young woman in Auschwitz. Her punishment for refusing to dance at an SS officer’s party was to stand barefoot in the snow, and she pledged that if she survived she would dedicate her life to dance.

The two-screen film Evaders explores the mountainous path of the Lister Route, used by many to escape Nazi-occupied France. The film focuses on the ill-fated journey of Jewish writer and philosopher Walter Benjamin, whose own words give the exhibition its title. This presentation of Evaders will be the film’s first UK showing.

The photographic work Chasing Good Fortune examines the shifting symbolism of Japanese cherry blossoms which came to be linked with Kamikaze soldiers during the Second World War.

Artist Book: Ori Gersht,  (£40) a boxed set of three hardback volumes and a softback text by Robert Rowland Smith, has been published by Photoworks to accompany this exhibition. Also available as a Limited Edition collector’s  set (£250) – a run of 150 specially boxed and signed with two signed and numbered prints.

Ori Gersht is represented by Mummery + Schnelle

Plus, The Roaming Eye has fallen in love with Sri Lanka; its people, the diversity of the landscape, the warmth and the organised chaos. And, despite the huge challenges facing many people in aspects of economic, social and political life – people still smile. Smile, because you can and it’s free.

So, do spread the word about the second biennale and set it as a date in your calender. The Roaming Eye will be chatting with one of the directors Annoushka Hempel this week and will be visiting the festival for two days in February. Back to some photo news round ups for the next post.

With a tag line: “Appreciating erotic art for a worthy cause” the inaugural Art Erotica exhibition opens tomorrow and runs until 27 January at The Gallery in Cork Street. Proceeds will go to the sexual health charity FPA. 

There will be talks and discussions throughout the ten-day show, including tomorrow’s breakfast event with exhibition organiser Kathryn Roberts who will life the lid on the behind-the-scenes goings on and the selection process.

PR about the event: “Art Erotica is a new event in the London art calendar that will present a long-overdue, high-profile opportunity to exhibit for artists producing work in the erotic genre. Brought to you by the organizers of the Cork Street Open Exhibition – a respected international event, founded four years ago – Art Erotica will benefit a selected charity and will be juried, with submitted work carefully and rigorously chosen for exhibition by a panel drawn from leading figures in the UK art world.

“Most mediums, including painting, photography, digital art, sculpture, drawing/graphic art, mixed media/construction and original prints are eligible for entry.”

It’s time to get away from the desk and from the usual stream of photo PR, which we will still be covering, and get out and about on a voyage of discovery. While The Roaming Eye adjusts to the East and a different time frame, I leave you with two music videos. One sums up the experience of travelling and is the theme tune for the Eye, the other reminded me of many photos I have seen in documentary projects shot in and around Eastern Europe. Images and sound, but particularly music, have a power to transport me… I hope these do too. Till tomorrow and a report on the Colombo Art Biennale (CAB) taking place from 15-19 February.

“The Second Edition of the Colombo Art Biennale with “Becoming” Sri Lankan Contemporary Culture at it’s very best. Experience the City of Colombo over a period of five days becoming an artistic phenomenon. The Colombo Art Biennale this year adopting the theme of “Becoming”, which will be reflected by the astonishing variety of the best of the best contemporary art on show. “Becoming” will be showcased at The National Art Gallery, JD Perera Gallery, Park Street Mews and Maradana Warehouse Project.”

Roam – B52s

I Believe - Simian Mobile Disco