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Milquetoast exhibition by Bedwyr Williams

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Milquetoast exhibition by Bedwyr Williams

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As shared in the second social.

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This major new exhibition by Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams interrogates and satirises the role of cultural establishments within contemporary society.

Via sculpture, video, painting and drawing, Williams parodies the often fetishistic architectural motifs and bureaucratic hierarchies appropriated within the culture sector and the city.

" It's weird being an artist. I think about it a lot in Screwfix, in Tesco, and when I'm driving. There's buildings that are built for us to do things in. That these buildings are often funny shapes or appear to teeter or lean but still have toilets and dustbins and all the basics as well. " Bedwyr Williams, 2021.

Williams has created a hybrid, pale, freckled protagonist who is half building half bigwig: Milquetoast (meaning bland, inoffensive and unassertive). This recurring architectural character is present throughout the exhibition, represented in multiple forms. Milquetoast responds to the boom and inevitable fatigue of progressive cultural architecture, and the rise of the 'Uber Curator' across Europe during the 1990s when Williams began his career as an artist.

In Dilston Gallery a series of imagined concrete buildings populate the space, itself a former concrete church. This serene boulevard of buildings bathed in moonlight, appear humorous and absurd with anthropomorphic details. These buildings respond to architectural and art world tropes of the 1990s.

In Militia (2021) we are transported into a familiar urban environment, the 'Culture Quarter'; a site at the core of city place-making and urban regeneration. Williams' deadpan voice-over describes the surrounding city's occupation by protesters. A splinter group of these protesters has occupied the city's art gallery next door to the Maritime Museum. The militia enter via the gift shop, and we observe their ghostly presence through the eyes of the gallery staff, as they watch the devastation unfold via the building's CCTV.

Donation boxes are overturned, phallic ceramic knick-knacks are smashed and children's activity packs are hurled along concrete corridors. As the occupation continues, the group's behaviour is gradually influenced by the architecture of the building and its civic functions. The institution itself asserts its agency, influencing the behaviour and actions of those within, reminding us of the power buildings can have in shaping our life experiences and knowledge.

"... you're not supposed to make work about being an artist but I can't help it. I still find it such an odd environment. The hyperbole, the raptures, the backtracking, the misfires. The way artists talk to and about each other both online and offline. It's all odd, and nothing in my childhood prepared me for being around people like this in buildings like this ". Bedwyr Williams, 2021.

At Lake Gallery the hand of the freckled protagonist motions us into an imagined landscape populated by apparitions, recollections and imagined scenarios. Monolithic institutions reminiscent of those seen at Dilston Gallery are cast adrift in haunting, dreamlike panoramas.

Williams' paintings explore curatorial spectres, gestures and affectations, and objects he associates with the 'art world' and its players. They include fashions and tools of the modern-day curator or cultural worker, from Le Corbusier style spectacles to a neat square of Ritter Sport chocolate.

In the vitrines we meet a cast of fictional stereotypes and satirical scenarios drawn from Williams' experiences of living and working in Wales and London over the last two decades. Drawn compulsively on a daily basis (always in the same size sketchbook), the drawings diarise and reflect life in contemporary society - its politics and its cultures, both on and offline.

An installation of Williams' iPad drawings is presented here for the first time in a public institution. Here the notorious digital drawings are magnified, emphasising the brightness of a tablet screen and accompanied by a seething, menacing soundtrack.

An online screening programme available on our website will run throughout the exhibition, showing Bedwyr's previous video works that relate to his fascination with architecture.

Hotel 70° (2014) 28 May - 11 June
Hypercaust (2017) 11 June - 25 June
Tyrrau Mawr (2016) 25 June - 9 July

The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication of over 100 of Williams' drawings, This is Everything 1. The book is designed by South London's Pagemasters published by Southwark Park Galleries. A new range of exhibition merchandise is available in our gallery shop and online.

Shop the Bedwyr Williams' Collection

The exhibition supported by the Arts Council of Wales, The Colwinston Charitable Trust, The Paul and Louise Cooke Endowment, Arts Council England, Southwark Council, Omni Colour, Wrexham County Borough Council, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion County Council, Theatrum Mundi and King's College London

The short story 'The Militia' was commissioned by Theatrum Mundi for 'Concrete and Ink: Storytelling and the Future and Architecture', published by nai010 in 2021.

This is Everything 1 publication is made possible by the generous support of the Arts Council of Wales through funds derived from the National Lottery.

Bedwyr Williams is represented by Southard Reid, London.

Exhibition Touring Information //

MILQUETOAST is a Southwark Park Galleries touring exhibition in partnership with Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham and Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham // July - September 2021 Aberystwyth Arts Centre // January - March 2022
Biography //

Bedwyr Williams lives and works in North Wales. Solo exhibitions include 'Foundation of things to Come', Fondazione Sandretto de Rebaudengo, Turin, 'The Gulch', The Curve, Barbican Art Centre, 2016 'The Starry Messenger', Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 2015, 'Echt', Tramway, Glasgow, 2014 'My Bad', Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK. Recent group exhibitions include 'Adapt to Survive: Notes from the Future', Hayward Gallery, London, 2018. 'The Land We Live in - The Land We Left Behind', Hauser and Wirth Somerset, 2018. 'Stress Field', Hubei Museum of Art, China. In 2013 he represented Wales at the Venice Biennale and was shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize in 2016

Visitor Information //

The exhibition is free and does not require booking, but we are limiting capacity to ensure safe social distancing

The 'Militia' video at Dilston Gallery repeated on the quarter-hour, with a subtitled screening on the hour and seating available.

Both galleries are fully wheelchair accessible

Dilston Gallery and the Salter Room at Lake Gallery are dimly lit, all other spaces are well lit.

Find out how Southwark Park Galleries is keeping you and our team safe

Launch Gallery

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Southwark Park Galleries | The gallery by the pool | MILQUETOAST

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This major new exhibition by Welsh artist Bedwyr Williams interrogates and satirises the role of cultural establishments within contemporary society. Via sculpture, video, painting and drawing, Williams parodies the often fetishistic architectural motifs and bureaucratic hierarchies appropriated within the culture sector and

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In addition to being a curator and writer, I am also the Associate Editor of C Magazine. Back in 2018 (before I worked for C Mag), they published a whole issue just about games and art. Lots of of the work in this has been inspirational for me, so I wanted to share. Attached is the full issue!

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Art. Play. Children. Learning. by Dr Louisa Penfold, Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Art. Play. Children. Learning. by Dr Louisa Penfold, Harvard Graduate School of Education

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http://www.louisapenfold.com

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Cultivating children's creativity through art

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Pedagogy of Play at International School of Billund, Denmark (Lego Foundation & Harvard Graduate School of Education)

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Pedagogy of Play at International School of Billund, Denmark (Lego Foundation & Harvard Graduate School of Education)

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https://isbillund.com/academics/pedagogy-of-play/

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1. Home

2. Academics

3. Pedagogy of Play

About

Much is known about the importance of play in children's development, yet little research has explored what it might mean to put play at the heart of schooling. In 2015, the Pedagogy of Play (PoP) research project began exploring just that.

Paradoxes

Perhaps the simplest way to understand PoP is through these paradoxes of playful learning. ISB is a school and, therefore, must be safe and orderly. At the same time, we want our students - and teachers - to take risks, make messes, and get lost in the moment. How to put more PLAY in SCHOOL: that is the driving question behind PoP.

Indicators

At ISB, we want learning to be playful. But how do we know when we're succeeding? One of the first developments to come out of PoP was the "indicators of playful learning," a graphic overview of what we're hoping to see (and feel) in the classroom. It's the basis for almost everything we do.

Practices

If the indicators are the what of playful learning, then the practices are the how. Developed through years of research and experimentation, these are practical strategies for promoting playful learning in schools. Check out our What if booklet for inspiration and examples of how we're putting these practices into action at ISB.

Empower learners to lead their own learning (see how we do it)

Build a culture of collaborative learning

Promote experimentation and risk taking

Encourage imaginative thinking

Welcome all emotions generated through play (see how we do it)

Teacher toolbox

These tools for playful practitioners have been created by ISB teachers. We also use a variety of other tools for reflection, documentation, and discussion, created by our friends at Project Zero. You can find them here.

Pictures of Practice

These case studies offer in-depth illustrations of what a pedagogy of play looks like in action, from the classroom to the playground, to school-wide rituals, and the adult learning community.

Blog

Popatplay is a mental playground (aka blog) administered by Project Zero, highlighting some of the current thinking around the Pedagogy of Play project. As the blog grows, you'll find posts written by Project Zero researchers, ISB staff and teachers, and researchers and teachers at some of the other schools collaborating with PoP, for example in South Africa.

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Pedagogy of Play - PoP - International School of Billund

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Home Academics Pedagogy of Play Much is known about the importance of play in children's development, yet little research has explored what it might mean to put play at the heart of schooling. In 2015, the Pedagogy of Play (PoP) research project began exploring just that.

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Play as Radical Practice at Serpentine Galleries

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Play as Radical Practice at Serpentine Galleries

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Film on Play as Radical Practice: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/play-as-radical-practice-toolkit/

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Tate St Ives 2021 Public Realm Commission 

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Tate St Ives 2021 Public Realm Commission 

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For 2020 (now 21) we wanted to further explore a 'playful' approach to a new work developed collaboratively between artist and local communities. We're currently working with artist Adam James on a project that will go live later in the year. James is an artist who works with LARP (live action role play). This is his website, an interesting point of reference / example in relation to artists practice and LARP... I've linked it to a specific project that appealed to us during the selection process...

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Images credit: Thomas Farnetti, Wellcome Collection, 2019.

Play Well explores how play transforms both childhood and society. Using displays of historic toys and games, artworks and design, this exhibition investigates how we played as children and how we play now we're grown up: developing social bonds, emotional resilience and physical wellbeing.

This work explores objects as alibis and the empathetic nature of collective play. Inspired by Song of Myself, the title refers to Walt Whitmans idea of the human body empathising and merging with all things, living and inanimate.

Larp is a form in which people immerse themselves in fictional worlds to experience how others might live.
Something I am interested in, is how Larp (live action role-play) use a tool for empathising with and being other than yourself. The works in this commission are born out of this and related interests; pertaining to conflict, catharsis and overcoming difficulty through play. By adopting larps progressive principles and design attitude's, this work proposes new ways of 'being' within co-authored spaces.

At the centre of the commission is a collection of foam sculptures inspired by larp boffers (weapons), detritus of war, post-war playgrounds, ambiguous archaeological forms and objects of childish desire. In the spirt of larp and 'loose parts' theory, these sculptures are to be used and interpreted however gallery visitors see fit.

Conceptually the soft sculptures are born out of the idea of that toys are in the eye of the beholder, an observation by Danish architect C.T. Sørensen in 1943 which inspired the first adventure playgrounds. The oversized scale and soft tactile nature of the forms is a deliberate nod to the experience we as adults have when revisiting childhood haunts; the importance we once placed on gun shaped sticks and Lady Allen's rallying cry 'Better a broken bone than a broken spirit'.

Sitting alongside this, is a live programme of larps and games both on and offsite, run by myself, invited artists, larp designers and trained gallery staff. These live and plastic elements are intended to inform one another, creating slippages of form and building bridges between differing communities of play.

Link to Wellcome Collection

Interview with Adam James
2019
5 mins

James explains his connection to larp and the different kinds that exist. James is influenced by the Nordic tradition, which focuses on collaboration with minimal props and rules. Here he embarks on a new larp experience, at the Curious Pastimes festival, which has been running large-scale fantasy larps in the UK for the last 25 years.

Credit: Commissioned by Wellcome Collection / Curious Pastimes footage courtesy Slender Pictures

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Images credit: Thomas Farnetti, Wellcome Collection, 2019. Play Well explores how play transforms both childhood and society. Using displays of historic toys and games, artworks and design, this exhibition investigates how we played as children and how we play now we're grown up: developing social bonds, emotional resilience and physical wellbeing.

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This is a project I delivered by artist Allard van Hoorn in 2019 and led me to applying for Tate Intensive 'The Power of Play'. Scroll down the web page for a link to a film made from the performance.

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Take part in a celebration of St Ives

Join in on Saturday 22 June as a two-metre-high silver ball will be rolled through the streets of St Ives! This new performance work by artist Allard van Hoorn is based on the 1000-year-old St Ives Feast Day tradition of 'hurling', where a small silver ball is chased through the town as part of the celebrations. Inspired after taking part in February's celebrations, van Hoorn has reimagined the silver ball at a much greater scale, collaborating with local residents to create a unique procession that celebrates the communities of St Ives and their relationship to the town they call home.

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Community mirrored in the ball

St Ives residents have contributed to defining the route and movement taken by the giant Silver Ball. This has involved the telling of stories that resonate with the community in the present, past and future. Many of these residents take part in the performance, seeing themselves mirrored in the Silver Ball with their town and community behind them.

Defining the route

The hurling begins in Palemon Best Recreation Ground, home to two community led initiatives, the Community Orchard and SkatePark. Then travels to the mid-point, Ayr Field, which is now a recognised open green space for the people of St Ives, following successful campaigning by locals. Many of the streets along the route have a story to tell, such as the top of Barnoon Hill which marks the edge of the historic fishing community and is a vantage point to The Island and the sea. The harbour, historically the hub of the town, holds special connections to fishing, lifesaving and leisure activities both in and on the water.

Acknowledgements

With thanks to all the local Players who have made this performance possible and the groups they represent including: Bagas Porthia, Cormac School Crossing Patrol Service, RNLI, St Ives Community Orchard, St Ives Rugby Club, St Ives Scouts & Guides, Salvation Army Youth Club and St Ives Skatepark.

Thanks also to supporters: Cornwall County Council, Devon & Cornwall Police, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives Archive, St Ives Charter Group, St Ives Museum, St Ives Times & Echo, St Ives Town Council, our Tate St Ives Community Liaison Group, St Ives Boat Rides, St Ives Sailing Club and The Co-op and its members.

Special thanks to:

Tim Andrewes, Janet Axten (Bard of Gorsedh Kernow), Joanne Bassett, Dee and Dave Brotherton (Bards of Gorsedh Kernow), Jay Dunstan, Melanie Frankell, Mayor and Mayoress of St Ives - Cllr Tony Harris and Jose Harris, Elise Langley, Dennis Oates Snr & Jnr, Mick Paynter, Michelle Pugh, Mike Ridgeway, Morag Robertson, Neil Scott, Bob Sheridan, Suzanne Tanner, Reverend Nicolas Widdows, Senara Wilson Hodges, Sarah Hall, Andrew Perkins, Robin Langford, Clare Goode, Paul LeBas, Jonny Harvey, Iain Davidson, Heather Britten, Nathan Loxely, Nathan McManus, Peter Brewer, Laurence Eastwood, Chris Bird, David Peters, Helen Johnson, Peny Melmoth (Bard of Gorsedh Kernow), Sian Ford and Simon Ashmore.

This project was realized with generous support by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Mondriaan Fund

Movie © Allard van Hoorn | Filming by Alban Roinard & Paul Parker

Images © Tate. Photo Kristin Prisk

Part of the project Urban Songlines, a utopian/dystopian series of collaborative translations of buildings, urban structures and public spaces into music through site-specific sound-generation. These performances are a way of connecting to places by listening to them as well as a research into how we use and experience the public domain and to what degree we can claim ownership over it, discussing notions of inclusion, becoming and belonging.

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063 Urban Songline (Another Hurling of the Silver Ball), 2019 - Tate St. Ives, United Kingdom

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Take part in a celebration of St Ives Join in on Saturday 22 June as a two-metre-high silver ball will be rolled through the streets of St Ives! This new performance work by artist Allard van Hoorn is based on the 1000-year-old St Ives Feast Day tradition of 'hurling', where a small silver ball is chased through the town as part of the celebrations.

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Equal Play is a new commission at Baltic exploring non hierarchical play environments.

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Exploring the principles of non-hierarchical play environments, EQUAL PLAY is a new commission by artist and educator Albert Potrony. The project explores themes of non-gendered and non-prescriptive play, and will take inspiration from Dutch architect, Aldo van Eyck, to specifically consider the role of men and childcare in relation to feminism.

Between 1947 and 1978 Van Eyck designed hundreds of playgrounds, consciously designed the equipment in a decidedly minimalist way to stimulate the imagination of its users (in this case, children), leading to the appropriation of space through its openness and multitudinous creative interpretations. Though largely removed, defunct or forgotten today, these playgrounds represent architectural intervention at a pivotal time: the shift from top-down organisation of space by modern functionalist architects, towards a bottom-up architecture that literally aimed to give space for imagination.

Potrony's EQUAL PLAY will actively explore these beliefs at BALTIC; designing a number of fixed structural/sculptural elements derived from a small selection of Aldo van Eyck's sculptural "alphabet", to articulate, transform and activate the gallery through play.

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Housed in a landmark industrial building on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art is a major international centre for contemporary art. BALTIC has no permanent collection, providing instead an ever-changing calendar of exhibitions and events that give a unique and compelling insight into contemporary artistic practice.

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See all the Tate Intensive 2021 participants across the world.

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Tate Intensive comprises 25 selected participants from around the world. Past participants have included administrators, curators, researchers, writers, educators, producers, programmers, artists, architects, fundraisers, activists and strategists. We are actively seeking a diverse range of professionals working in and with art galleries, museums and other cultural institutions in a wide range of countries.

The programme intentionally brings together people at different stages of their career - from emerging practitioners to directors and others in senior management roles. This intimate group is encouraged to share knowledge and exchange ideas based on their diverse experiences and current practices, and to discuss creative approaches to curating, programming, research, audience development, community engagement and arts management. Participants join an ongoing network of alumni offering support, inspiration and the potential for future collaborations.

Carla Tarruella Plandolit

Exhibition Project Manager, "la Caixa" Foundation, Barcelona, Spain

Chumisa Ndakisa

Curator and Scriptwriter, Johannesburg, South Africa

Cynthia Mo

Marketing and Business Development Director, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong SAR Government

Devanshi Shah

Senior lecturer, Istituto Marangoni Mumbai and Senior Features Writer, STIRworld.com

Elisabeth Millqvist

Co-Director and Artistic Director, The Wanås Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden

Eunsoo Yi

International Relations Officer, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea

Georgina Kennedy

Learning Curator, Public Programmes, Tate St Ives, United Kingdom

Gina Koutsika

Director (Creativity & Skills), V&A Museum of Childhood, London, United Kingdom

Grace Needlman

Manager of Youth and Family Programs, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, United States of America

Iarlaith MacPheorais

Independent Curator, VISUAL Carlow, Outburst and Arts & Disability Ireland

Jacqueline Liu

Former Curatorial Assistant, Learning and Interpretation, M+ Hong Kong

Julie Ganas

Curator of Engagement and Digital Initiatives, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, United States of America

Kehinde Christopher Adewumi

Independent Curator & PhD Student, Department of Fine Art, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

Keila Zari Pérez Quiñones

Designer, Facilitator and Educator, LAB Design for Play, Design School Kolding, Denmark

Klairi Tzoufla

Early Childhood Educator, Athens College, Hellenic-American Educational Foundation, Greece

Magda Konopka

Organisation Specialist, Museum Practices Lab at The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland

Margerita Pulè

Independent Curator & Founder of Unfinished Art Space, Valletta, Malta

Maria Jenson

Creative and Executive Director, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, United States of America

Maya Wilson-Sanchez

Curator, Researcher and Writer, Toronto, Canada

Nihat Can Kantarci

Senior Editor, Istanbul Modern, Turkey

Onyx Montes

Social Media Manager, Chicago, United States of America

Patricia Lee

Assistant Director (Content Publishing), National Gallery Singapore

Scott Eric Williams

Visual Artist, Youth Facilitator & Writer, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

Sofia Landström

Project leader at Historielabbet & Curator of Education and Program, Malmö Konstmuseum, Sweden

Tatiana Mrdulyash

Deputy Director for Development, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Tereza Jindrová

Exhibition Curator and Manager of Public Programs, Jindřich Chalupecký Society and Jindřich Chalupecký Award, Prague, Czech Republic

Vardit Gross

Director, Artport Tel Aviv, Israel

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Tate Intensive: The Power of Play - Course at Online Event | Tate

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Tate Intensive comprises 25 selected participants from around the world. Past participants have included administrators, curators, researchers, writers, educators, producers, programmers, artists, architects, fundraisers, activists and strategists. We are actively seeking a diverse range of professionals working in and with art galleries, museums and other cultural institutions in a wide range of countries.