Camille Henrot‘s ‘Buffalo Head: A Democratic Storytelling Experience’ will is on at London’s Serpentine Pavilion on June 17.

The evening is one of storytelling and collective decision-making, inspired by folk tales from the South of Italy and will see the audience take part in shaping a narrative alongside contributions from other artists. Poets such as David Horvitz, known for his emotive mail art projects, and dancer Amira Ghazalla whose work looks at ancient movement and how rituals are inherited.

For the event, which is a part of this year’s Serpentine Gallery summer programme, Park Nights, French artist Henrot has collaborated with the Fiorucci Art Trust and the contemporary art festival that they host every year on the semi-mythical volcanic Aeolian island, Stromboli called ‘Volcano Extravaganza’.

Henrot’s recent work has been found at New Museum, Berlin’s Schinkel Pavillon and London’s Chisenhale Gallery, where in 2014 she presented a sort of rearrangement of objects, myths and their typologies across a carpeted room, which feels akin to the idea of deconstructing the way a story is told.

See the Serpentine website for more details.**

Camille Henrot, Nail Biting (v1) (Minor Concerns) (2015). Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris — Camille Henrot, ‘Nail Biting (v1) (Minor Concerns)’ (2015). Courtesy the artist and kamel mennour, Paris.

TRANSPARENCIES, a group exhibition curated by Simone Neuenschwander and Thomas Thiel at Bielefelder Kunstverein ran from November 7, 2015, to January 17, 2016. It examined the fundamental shifts occurring with the dawn of the digital age and the dilemma of its positive and negative impact.

Artists like Neïl Beloufa, Juliette Blightman, Ryan Gander, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff, David Horvitz, Katja Novitskova and Yuri Pattison took part in what would be a two part project taking place between the exhibition at Bielefeld and a symposium in Nuremberg and responds to the cultural facets of (non-)transparency in a globalized climate.

Metahaven @ Transparencies (2015-16). Installation view. Courtesy Kunstverein, Bielefeld. — Metahaven @ *Transparencies* (2015-16). Installation view. Courtesy Kunstverein, Bielefeld.

Dealing with the ambivalence of the term in diverse ways, the artists’ reflect on the idea of transparency and a shared sense of insecurity and doubt that comes along with the positive promise of limitless access to information and communication that modern life can offer us. The press releases describes the work as taking a “critical approach to post-privacy society” looking to algorithms, data-drives, and other modes of interpersonal exchange.

Using a family of logotypes that are used by corporations to create transparent products such as clear varnish, the graphic design studio Metahaven developed its own visual identity in the run up the exhibition. In addition, the show continued through a series of talks, workshops, a symposium as well as a project website (www.transparencies.de). There is fluid movement between subject matter and areas of investigation that relate to communication, contemporary history, economics, sociality and biology. However, an overall theme of presence and absence connects the conversation, with its strong focus on how our society handles knowledge.

The Transparencies project was also made into a comprehensive catalogue and publication that features texts by the curators as well as Emmanuel Alloa, Clare Birchall and Manfred Schneider launched at Motto Books on May 17.**

Exhibition photos, top right.

The TRANSPARENCIES group exhibition was on at Bielefelder Kunstverein, running November 7, 2015, to January 17, 2016.

David Horvitz

Camille Henrot @ Serpentine Pavilion, Jun 17

Transparencies (2015-16) exhibition photos

The TRANSPARENCIES group exhibition was on at Bielefelder Kunstverein, running November 7, 2015, to January 17, 2016.

Header image: David Horvitz @ Transparencies (2015-16). Install view. Courtesy Kunstverein, Bielefeld.