Alberta Whittle
ABOUT THE WORK
Holding the Line: a refrain in two parts
18 – 20 June
Online
Creating dangerously (we-I insist!)
Film screenings
Platfform 2 with Peak, Abergavenny Station
18 June-17 July
Creating dangerously (we-I insist!)
Film screenings
CCA, Derry
6 July- 17 July
DIS- A lesson in Reversal or Unlearning
performance
Two Temple Place, London
9 July
Creating dangerously (we-I insist!)
Film screenings
KLA ART, Uganda
17 July
Alberta Whittle will present a major new commission taking the voice of the River Thames as its starting point. Working with science fiction writer Ama Josephine Budge, Whittle’s commission will look at colonial histories, police brutality and imagined futures offering time and space for healing and reset.
The work will manifest as Holding the Line: a refrain in two parts, a film which will be screened as part of the online programme — this commission will launch the 2021 Festival on 18 June; and as a performance, DIS- A lesson in Reversal or Unlearning, which will take place at Two Temple Place, London on 9 July.
In connection with this new commission, Creating dangerously (we-I insist!) groups together HOLDING THE LINE: a refrain in two parts with existing film works Business as usual: hostile environment (a REMIX) and RESET, as a trilogy of films. This trilogy will be presented with partners at Platfform 2 with Peak, at Abergavenny Station in Wales; at CCA, Derry-Londonderry and at KLA ART, in Uganda.
Holding the Line: a refrain in two parts will be screened for 48 hours as part of our online programme, broadcast via the homepage on our website. When to watch: 8pm June 18th – 8pm June 20th. All online commissions will be broadcast again as part of our marathon screening at 8pm, Thursday 15th July.
Commissioned by Art Night, in partnership with New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge; Peak, Abergavenny, CCA Derry and KLA ART produced by 32° East, Uganda.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Alberta Whittle (b.1980, Bridgetown Barbados) lives and works in Glasgow. Whittle’s practice-led research involves performance, writing, digital collage and video installation. Selected solo and group shows including Dundee Contemporary Arts, (2019), 13th Havana Biennial (2019), GoMA, Glasgow (2019), The Showroom, London (2018), National Art Gallery of the Bahamas (2018), RAW Material, Dakar (2018), FADA Gallery, Johannesburg (2018) and at the Johannesburg Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, Venice (2015). Over 2021, Alberta will be sharing new work as part of British Art Show 9, Liverpool Biennial, business as usual : hostile environment at Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Right of Admission at the University of Johannesburg. In 2022 she will be representing Scotland at the 59th Venice Biennale.
