Ikon Announces Summer Exhibitions

Ikon’s summer exhibitions (25 June – 7 September) offer visitors an opportunity to engage with diverse contemporary art practices while celebrating traditional textile skills and crafts.

Exhibition Launch: Tuesday 24 June, 5-7pm.

Ikon presents SPAN, the first UK solo exhibition by artist Seulgi Lee.

Born in Seoul, South Korea and living in Paris, France since 1992, Seulgi Lee’s work is shaped by the use of colour, gesture, simple yet elegant forms and performance. Intrigued by the relationships between language systems, form and function in traditional crafts, she has developed a unique artistic practice in which she combines conceptual approaches with artisanal methods.

“With this new exhibition at Ikon, ongoing and new projects, I’m focusing on figuring out a methodology for measuring between things, ways of working with them, histories and collective stories. To shift the point of view from me to you, from you to them, while extending our thumb and baby finger. A SPAN.” Seulgi Lee

This exhibition is supported by lead supporter Bagri Foundation, with further support from ai. gallery; Korea Artist Prize Promotion Fund, from SBS Foundation and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; and Trampoline, Association in support of the French art scene, Paris.

Ikon presents Thread the Loom, a group exhibition celebrating the art of weaving.

An AVL Studio Dobby loom, on loan from Birmingham City University (BCU), will be activated through a series of micro-residencies with five West Midlands weavers Chantelle Folarin, Mahawa Keita, Clare Langford, Andrée Walker and Theo Wright, and international artist Seulgi Lee.

Textiles produced on the loom will be exhibited alongside work by contemporary artists Raisa Kabir, Alis Oldfield, Bharti Parmar, Dinah Prentice and Su Richardson.

“Ikon’s weaver residencies will raise the profile of textiles generally, and weave specifically. At a time when creative subjects are under pressure within the school curriculum it is a valuable opportunity to showcase the origins of the materials that feed more familiar design disciplines, including fashion and interior textiles. Whilst there exists a whole network of weavers across the country, with hotspots in Lancashire and Sudbury, echoing the historical heyday of the industry responsible for fuelling the industrial revolution, there are also the weavers who have looms in studios and spare bedrooms. For many visitors, seeing a Dobby loom in action at Ikon Gallery will be intriguing and enlightening.” Zoë Hillyard, Senior Lecturer BA (Hons) Textile Design, BCU

This exhibition is supported by Jerwood Foundation, Cotton Textiles Research Trust, The Saintbury Trust and Freelands Foundation.