Highlights

Lifting the Curse, 2021 - 2023 by Tim Shaw

´We curse the Royal Academy and all its members’ - Gilbert and George, The Times, 12th February 2021

These words inspired the creation of ´Lifting the Curse’ whose burnt remains have been resurrected into something new.

The large votive figure was constructed with tree branches tied to a metal frame–its insides filled with material intended to absorb negative energy.

Springtime came and with it, the great rush of wildflowers. Further east, Russia stormed Ukraine and began its slaughter and devastation of a free people.

On 9th April, ´Lifting the Curse’ was burnt in a field where two ley lines cross. A Pillar Man incantated, showering the form first with water, then with fire, to transform the accumulated dark forces. As fire consumed the figure, ‘Groung’, was sung for all those who flee tyranny and war.  

As the flames died, ashes were gathered; and summoned by an Oss, Tease and drums, a torchlight procession filed down to the river. A smoky haze mingled with the damp headiness of bluebells and garlic, as ashes were ceremoniously thrown to the air, water, and earth.

We do not know how the metaphysical affects the material world but even Putin recognises the power of the unseen. It is why Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita must never be mentioned in his presence.

Words Hold Power

A film, sculptural installation of the burnt remains and Giclée print will be exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022.

A photograph of the burning was used as the cover image for The Court, a track from Peter’s recent album, i/o. Film footage of the burning also accompanied his performance of The Court during last year’s worldwide tour.

Google Building Construction - Kings Cross, 2025 by Jeanette Barnes

4 plate monotype of the construction of the Google building in Kings Cross. I have charted the development of this large complex over a number of years

90 x 80 cm

Before and After the Bang, 2023 - 2024 by Leanne Bell Gonczarow

Series of artworks produced as part of my ongoing PhD Art Practice research project – Diffracting reflection: performing the photographic in the age of climate-crisis.

The research project investigates how a photographic contemporary art practice can respond critically and imaginatively to the climate crisis, specifically to the global ice melt. It considers how the camera can be utilised, not only in its dominant mode as a representational tool to document the landscape in crisis, but performatively – to foreground questions of ontology, materiality and agency. The techno-material-imaginative research methodology draws on two main theories that in their formation are related to the optical – Karen Barad’s writing on diffraction (Barad 2007) and Howard Caygill’s concept of synechia (Caygill 2021). By paying attention to the formal and conceptual implications of the contemporary photographic apparatus, specifically the treatment of photons through the photographic process (their reflection, absorption, transformation and generation), the work explores how photographic materialities and technicities might be entangled with our psychological response to climate images. 

Madison 39, 2025 by Irini Urania Politi

Ink, gouache, pastel on toned paper

21 x 30 cm