Slade BA/BFA Degree Show 2024
For the second year in a row the Slade degree show feels like the art school is morphing into a foundation program for immersive experience design. Displays of paintings hung in an orderly fashion are clearly in the minority amongst a class of ambitious students that have gone out of their way to challenge the status quo.
At the subtle end of the scale are presentations that forego the standard white wall display model. Both Marianna Soukeras (@soukeras_) and Gabriele Ciulli (@ciull8) placed their works outside of the basement, exposed to the elements. Marianna’s work is aptly described as “rusty bits and risk of tetanus” while Gabriele appears to have incorporated the building’s machinery into the work. Henry Galano (@henrygalanostudio) is bringing back the black light, with works that can’t fully be appreciated without a dark room filled with ultraviolet. And Jem Crook (@jem.crook) explores history and narrative by placing cultural objects inside what appears to be an antique vitrine that isn’t actually old: he made it.
A few students took an even more bespoke approach to how they displayed their works, with site-specific installations that couldn’t possibly exist anywhere else. At least not in the same exact way. Lily Petch (@lilyrpetch) has completely blocked out a window with books that have been carved to seamlessly match the curved angles of the bay. Minsuh Song (@song.minsuh) has literally cast his sculptures around the building support columns, ensuring that any speculative collector bold enough to buy them won’t be getting them in a single piece.
Collectors frequently visit student shows looking to buy, but in rooms such as the ones by Scarlett Rose Pochet (@scarlettrosepochet_) and Marla-Sunshine Kellard-Jones (@popkinjones) there’s so much to distract your attention that it’s often hard to figure out where one work ends and another begins. That got even harder with the students that went all-in to create fully realised environments with audio, video and lighting that brings their rooms alive whether you’re in there or not.
Luca Vincentelli (@lucavincentelli) has constructed some sort of pistachio sorting factory. There are nut allergy warnings at the door and pistachios all over the floor and I haven’t a clue what it’s supposed to mean because I was too distracted thinking about rampant grocery price inflation. Abi Haywood (@bigjugsabi) invites you to sit amongst her ceramic sculptures and listen as an evolving radio play is broadcast from within each of the figures. Actors have been so worried about AI that they’re going to be caught off guard when Abi ends up in the West End. Then there’s Zhuyang Liu (@zhuyangleiu). They have created some sort of subterranean lair that feels like Doc Brown from Back to the Future got stuck in the Matrix.
The most immersive room of all, however, was the most visually sparse. Coral Harding (@coralhardingart) embedded a few small cast relief sculptures into the walls and lined the corner of the floor with what I thought was a curved swathe of brown shag pile carpet. But you’ll barely have time to examine anything without getting distracted by the overwhelming aroma. Crouching close to the floor, I was able to confirm that it wasn’t actually carpet but thousands and thousands of cloves. Scent is an often overlooked sense in the art world, but here it is used to great effect.
Amongst the artists that weren’t attempting to be immersive a few stood out. Isidore Bishop-Sauve (@isidorebishopsauve) works in both large scale figurative oil paintings and small collage that’s embedded in rusted tins. Maia Albarosa (@maiadivaart) presented a solid set of mixed-media abstracts where she paints over canvas, linen and burlap that’s been stitched together. Kate Harrison (@katherineofarrogance) caught my eye with her minimalist steel sculptures and stoneware ceramic that’s made to look like metal artefacts. And Anna-Maria Cadell (@annamariacadell), proudly listed as a “Catholic Artist” on her bio card, certainly caught my attention because religious art isn’t something you see much of these days outside of a house of worship.
Was it all successful? Of course not — it’s a student degree show! The quality is mixed and the messaging isn’t always obvious. It was occasionally evident that not everyone had the time to complete every piece and some rooms felt more thrown-together than others. But it was refreshing to see a renewed and considered interest in conceptual art. A significant number of students are thinking about ideas that are bigger than a piece of canvas, and clearly focussed on delivering a message or triggering a multi-sensory emotional experience, as opposed to making something traditional and easy to hang on a wall. I’m excited to see how this class transitions into their post-graduate practice and what impacts they will bring to the London art scene.
Plan your visit
‘BA/BFA Degree Show’ runs until 23 May.
Free — but entry ticket required. (Via EventBrite)
Visit the official site and follow @sladeschool on Instagram for more info about the venue.
PLUS…
Check the What’s On page so you don’t miss any other great shows closing soon.
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