​Exhibitions
&
Events

Bodies of Water brings London and Austria–based artists together to reflect on how forces of nature, water and the female body, all find their natural flows in adverse environments. This is an interdisciplinary exhibition where the young artists allude to the literal relationship of the birth-canal, Regent's Canal and the Danube canal. Here, there is a connection between the two capital cities, London and Vienna both having a canal in the heart of the city.

Curator: Hannah Imhoff @imhoff_hannah

Artists: Birdly, Satur Chong, Richard Cook, Monika Drabot, Simon Hodgkinson, Konstantina Hornek, Hannah Imhoff, Damla Ilhan, Miya Kosowick Mawatari, Nadine Schuller, Naj Shirazi, Roberta Sweet.

Musicians: Nina Oltarzewska, Cecilia Raab, Fani Raab, Hannah Wimmer.

Featuring works by a Ugandan and a British artist, this show explores the multifaceted concept of home, encompassing a wide range of contemporary references. Through their distinctive artistic perspectives, they delve into the intricate layers of personal and collective narratives, emotions, and experiences associated with the notion of home. Their works offer an intimate exploration of how home shapes our identities, memories, and connections with others. 

Artists: Pamela Enyonu @syokereart   Mary Thatcher @marythatcher_art

This multimedia, site-specific exhibition was an experiment to generate emotional influxes or catch the fragments of the memories and the objects derived from the ‘flow’, with the amplitudes of intense mark-making, organic and non-organic forms to the digital tranquillity of the file, accumulating and dancing on the waves of ambiance. In our case ‘Influx’ may have corresponded
to the dynamics of senses and sensibilities, as well as referencing the flow of water where the Slash Arts Gallery houseboat is physically situated. From eccentric Abstract-expressionist oil paintings and blurred portraits, the exposition leans to more specific still figurative compositions representing the everyday mundane scenes and rooftop installations of amorphous structures..

Curator: Teo Burki @teoburki

Artists: Teo Burki @teoburki  Tama Giorgadze @tamar_giogadze_ Ellie Niblock @ellieniblock

Two Portuguese artists use sensations, images and objects collected on river boat trips down the Tagus, with recorded sounds and images to create paintings, collages and animations. They jointly author all the work they make, collaborating in a process with of exchange and giving.  

Falua, the title of this show, is the Portuguese word for a traditional Portuguese open-deck sailing boat used to transport passengers and goods across the river Tagus (Lisbon). For the artists the Falua signifies an escape from eco-anxiety, the post-pandemics, the war - the period we are going through. It is also a motif creating a link with the the canal to their local river. 

The show is accompanied by Rossana, London-based Portuguese singer-song writer, with a spectacular live a-cappella performance on the roof of the boat.

Artists: Catarina Marto @catarina.marto_ and Raquel Pedro @cataxraquel

Poster design: @jemappellejuliusse

Music and vocals: Rossana @rossanasmusic

This arts exchange project involves 8 young artists from China and 4 young artists from Kings Cross London, who will collaborate with the respective community of artists at each location to create artworks (music, installation, dance, performance) inspired by the theme of migration and to raise awareness of environmental sustainability. The artists travel to each other’s countries and participate concurrently in the Migratory Birds 300 Arts Festival in Beijing, a cultural event that brings together over a hundred artists, and the Canal Dream Art Festival on Regent’s Canal in London. Five boats will participate in London, creating a unique and dynamic artistic experience for both the artists and the audience. This arts exchange project will not only showcase the talents and creativity of the young artists, but also foster cultural understanding and friendship between China and the UK.                                                

Founder and Director Canal Dream CIC: Chuntian Hu @canal_dream       

Founder and Director Slash Arts: Simon Hodgkinson @slash.Arts

Slash Arts celebrates 25 years of artworks by Nadir Tharani, accomplished architect, artist and writer from Tanzania, together with original music and performances at the IWA 2023 Canalway Cavalcade, a vibrant canal festival in the heart of London’s waterways at Little Venice. A range of performances and music were organised on the roof of the boat in response to Nadir's artworks and a moving site-specific performance animated the Illuminated Boat Procession.

Organised and curated by Chuntian Hu @canal_dream

Artist: Nadir Tharani - nadirtharani.com

Performance director: Minghao Hou

Performance artists: Yuwei Jing @yuwei.j0405    Xixi Xiao @xixixiao1111

Music: Samuel Batstone @samuelbatstone, Gulliver Alwood @gulliversax

Slash Arts presents a reprise of the exhibition held by Terre Verte Gallery in Altarnun, Cornwall, that was timed to coincide with COP26. In this show 13 environmentally inspired artists interpret the existential threat represented by climate change, pollution and habit loss, and ask if there is still time for change or if this is already the Last Chance Saloon? All exhibitors share a wide range of artistic and environmental experiences.

Curators; Richard Sharland @richardsharlandrecentpaintings    Phil Barton @philbxyz

Artists: Charles Binns, Catherine Herbert, Simon Hodgkinson, Karen Howse, Peter Jackson, Tina Kutter, Laura Madeley, Ben McManigan, Imogen Rigden, Peter Ward, Diana Wingate.

In collaboration with the San Joao de Deus Gallery at the Casa de Saude do Telhal health unit for Psychiatry, Mental Health and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Slash Arts organised a 2-week residency at the hospital for 3 artists to work together with some of the users and produce a collaborative artwork, showcasing the extraordinary creativity of the participants and artists alike. Slash Arts seeks to give visibility to the artistic work carried out by users of Casa de Saúde do Telhal, thereby improving the public's perception of mental illness. The result is a remarkable mural created in a park in Sintra by 18 participating users under the guidance of Evan Barlow and the artists, that was inaugurated by the Municipality of Sintra.

Guidance and assistance (Casa de Saude): Raquel Pedro @cataxraquel

Interviews and translation (Slash Arts): Colin Moorcraft

Visiting artists: Evan Barlow @artistlad,  Georgina Moran,  Simon Hodgkinson @slash.arts

Embodied has been conceived as a conceptual experiment. The exhibition showcases new commissions by 8 emerging London artists all responding to the same source material - historic mannequins. There are no restrictions on theme or medium placed on the artists other than the space and the obligation to use to mannequins. By giving the artists mannequin parts to respond to, the exhibition allows for an exploration of the relationship between bodies and social structures. The premise of the exhibition is informed by the 1938 International Surrealist Exhibition in Paris curated by Salvador Dali.

Curators: Ludo Amory (@notting_hole) and Anastasia Kolomiets (@conde_nastia)

Artists: Apolline Bökkerink (@pline_i), Corey Lyu (@soap_dynastea), Dominic Page (@dominic.page), Fikayo Adebajo (@fikayoadebajo), Joanna van Son (@juanita_leschnit), Meitao Qu (@mt_qu), Qingqijg Liu (@weeeekdu) and Shujing Huang (@hshu11__)

French painter working in London and France, Charlotte Cuny paints from memory rekindled by old photos, expressing her emotions, perceptions and sensations through deconstruction and abstract figuration. Dreams also play an integral part in her practice as they are her ‘most ancient memories’. She explores memory through traces and colours; traces being an expression of an inner state of flux and colours an expression of emotions. Her expanded painting questions our position between nature, culture and digital, rethinking the boundaries of artistic expression.

Artist: Charlotte Cuny @cunycharlotte

The title of the exhibition alludes to the accumulated clutter of everyday life, highlighting the domestic nature of this gallery home/living space. It almost goes without saying that We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat also mischievously references that famous quote in the 1975 film Jaws, as we near its 50 year anniversary, revelling in the buoyant nature of the exhibition space. The 3 artists invite viewers to rummage through this show, where work is hidden in plain sight: blurring the line between the detritus of daily life and fine art.

Artists: Flora Bradwell @florabradwellart   Sophie Knight @sophielourdersknight  Lindsey Jean Mclean @lindseyjeanmclean

Fractures of the Lens ties together the practices of Katya Granova from Russia and Simon Hodgkinson from London. Their practices differ visually but are united by a common interest in post-truth and the distortions of history, politics, and memories. Their works  investigate how singular perspectives can influence collective beliefs, as well as how post-truth and fake news permeates our everyday life. Urging critical thought and self-reflection is how both artists create a space of exploration and engagement.

Curator: Alexandra Steinacker-Clark

Artists: Simon Hodgkinson @slash.arts   Katya Granova @katyagranova

Slash Arts and Katya Granova, a Russian artist with Ukrainian roots, co-host a concert and art auction in aid of Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainian pianist and composer Evelina de Lainplayed a concert. The auction was run by Felix Hale from Sotheby’s in the stunning music room and gallery at Burgh House, Hampstead. Around 80 artworks were auctioned and 100% of the proceeds went to the UNICEF Ukraine Appeal, to provide humanitarian support to displaced children.

The show is focused on how nature connects with us after the Covid trauma, bringing together over 80 artists from several origins for a weekend of live performance, poem recitals and immersive installations. Based on the canal ecosystem and social systems in parallel, this project aims to build a connection between humans and nature, both to promote well-being through participation in nature and to promote nature’s recovery through human participation. In this way the canals are explored for their caring and healing value in the 21st century, especially in this era of ailing, isolated pandemics.

Programme directors and curators: Ran Han and Chuntian Hu

This show combines unique photo-collage imagery created by Emily Marbach, an American collage artist living in London, with sound art by MOOGZ and Julian Brown. Collage, for Marbach, sprung from a wish to add humanity to her painted landscapes and seascapes. Little paper figures, London buses and iconic black cabs become situated in unexpected surroundings out of town. The buses rescue urbanites from settings in nature. The people find themselves at the beginning and ends of arguments. Portraiture dominates this collection partly in order to spend time with strangers again and partly as it became a favourite art form for the artist. During covid lockdown, void of distraction from friends, urban life and art exhibitions, she started to produce a collage every day. This exhibition was the result of that.

Artist: Emily Marbach @collagenottinghill

Music: MOOGZ @mo0gzy, Julien Brown @julienbrownmusic

This exhibition investigates how the notion of home has been adapted and transformed by the migrant collectives in London, especially for international students. The phenomenon of frequent check-in/check-out changes the notion of home from a place where people can feel a sense of warmth, security and comfort into a functional and temporary shelter. Migrants, much like boats at sailing, constantly docking briefly at different piers, somewhere always in-between.

Curators: Jingwen Weng, Yang Li

Artists: Dien Berziga, Shou-an Chiang, Amalie Gabel, Hyemin Gil, Semin Hong, Yuhui Li, Kimie Minobe, Yijia Wu, Yu Yang

Carpe Diem Art and Research Editions is a contemporary non-profit visual arts structure based in Lisbon, Portugal, with the aspiration to generate an international network of exchange between artists, critics and the public. Slash Arts show-cased a selection of affordable original contemporary artworks presented by Carpe Diem that have successfully toured more than 25 different exhibitions all over the world.

Founder of Carpe Diem Art and Research: Lourenço Egreja

Curator: Dela Miessen

Simon Hodgkinson's art reflects who he is – spontaneous, impulsive. He monoprints without a press, on canvas and paper, working quickly, creating deliberate but unknown imperfections which surprise and intrigue. The unintended accidents that occur are what create the magic. He makes marks with a wide variety of objects such as rubbers, brushes, palette knives, bits of metal and fingers. While constantly trying to understand how the final print will look, it is always a surprise. This show covered works from Paris in 2012-13 and recent works in London.

Artist and curator: Simon Hodgkinson  @slash.arts

To understand the ground is an infinite task. The surface of the ground is like the surface of the water: shimmering, pure, yet so unclear. What is under the surface, remains unknown. The question was explored through the works of 5 visual, installation and contemporary photography artists on board a domestic houseboat. Despite their differing artistic practices, together they combined the natural and the human to create new experiences of space, broadened by live performances on the roof of the boat.

Artists: Liina Leo (@liinaleo), Leanne Wiggers (@llwiggers), Carlota dos Santos (@carlotacfsantos), Beier Xie (@beier_xie), Farrah Li (@farrah_a_li)

Three young artists collaborated to create a collection of transdisciplinary artworks that, through photographic self-objectification, rethought the advantages and disadvantages of city interactions across fading history. Together they sought to investigate the multifaceted potentialities of self-existence engendered by a volatile milieu.

Artists: Kangni Guo @kangniguo @kn.connie (Installations, oil paintings, prints and visual art), Christoph Jones @_christophjones (Prints, sculptures, writing and visual art), Eva Wang @Eva Wang (Performance, video art and photography)

Superseeded celebrates the UK National Tree Seed Project, the collection and storage of 10m+ seeds for future generations. The houseboat is converted into an immersive experience. Phil Barton’s practice is rooted in a lifelong. commitment to working with and for the natural and built environment. His work is inspired by nature and our relationship to it in the Anthropocene. Working in print, lens-based media, installation and mark-making, Phil strives for a strong relationships between science, ethics and aesthetics.

Artist: Phil Barton @philbxyz

Two London-based Chinese artists collaborated to create their Isle of Fantasy on Regent’s Canal. Slash Arts gallery boat was metamorphosed into an island of fantastical paintings and prints. They invited visitors to explore a collection of magical art, each bound with complex emotions, the artists' fantasies, escapes from their lives. This exhibition contains some adult content.

Artists: Zhengwei Li (Eloise) @elo1se_zhengweili  

Long Huang @longhuang.art

The artists’ approaches were as many as they were varied-feedback loops, kinetic sculpture, ceramics, and the fluidity of experience in this exhibition. From human minds to AI minds, these works sit at the edge of consciousness in a balance between chance and control. Chance introduces uncertainty and contingency to the work, but chance occurs only in predetermined conditions, like throwing a dice. Central is the desire to embrace the unexpected. As the artist relaxes agency, the work grows more independent of its creator. Rather than being purely an expression of the artist, the work takes on a certain life of its own, deriving its meaning from its material, context and situation.

Artists: Danielle Jacques @djartworks   Betty Leung @betty.leung.art      Eugenia Shishkina  @eugenia.shishkina

In a series of meditations on the breath, breathing, breathlessness and the lungs, the artist, a lifelong asthmatic, presents a new series of prints to chime with the current collection of poetry she is writing. These fine art, limited edition prints are pulled using the intaglio method from impressed gesso plates, or using relief printing from collagraphs, linocuts, glow forge laser printed plates or gel plates. Some works are embellished with precious metal leaf and/or hand coloured. Kate is interested in image creation that is freer and more painterly than some of the precision associated with traditional printmaking. Many of these prints were made at home and by hand printing.

Artist and curator: Kate Noakes  @kate.noakes

This exhibition presented a new generation of artists whose MA studies were dramatically interrupted by the first lock-down in March. This exhibition at Stanley Halls gathered work by members of Slash.Arts, sharing their responses to the year of plague and exploring their personal responses to the cultural, physical, natural and economic disruption to our lives, on a scale unprecedented in recent times. Works on show investigated these issues emotionally, analytically and aesthetically in paint, print, photography, relief and digital media.

Artists: Phil Barton @philbxyz, Isabel Diaz Catoni @margomartinni, Charlotte Cuny @cunycharlotte,  Filippos Papdopoulos @ filipospapad, Kathryn Gee @kazgee, Yunhan Huang @takahuang1997, Simon Hodgkinson @slash.arts, Peter Tao @peterkao

As covid lockdown eased after 4 months when artists were mostly confined, away from their studios and socially isolated, Slash Arts’ new collaborative creative organisation launched a summer contemporary arts programme at the HCCP former goods shed and railyard in Harwich on the East Coast. This show brought together 21 artists from 12 countries for a celebration of creativity including a contemporary arts show, outdoors participative street art, dance, digital media and music.

Image: Street artist: Evan Barlow @artistlad

The inaugural online exhibition of Slash Arts, new gallery dedicated to showcasing graduates from Central Saint Martins and other UAL schools. Featuring 25 artists, each is introduced with one or two works representative of their recent practice. 

This exhibition was launched 4 days before the first covid lockdown which then closed the show. Nonetheless it was a very valuable first exercise in bringing together the group of 27 artists from Central Saint Martins MAFine Arts who would later become part of the Slash Arts community, to collaborate and exhibit at the beautiful APT Gallery in Deptford, London. Works on show investigate contemporary socio-political issues through to the exploration of the elasticity of materials and media.

Curators: Simon Hodgkinson @slash.arts, Lorna Carvill @lornacarvill