VSSL Studio are proud to present the third offering from the FACET series with a group exhibition that unites the 5 participating lead artists from the programme's multiple exhibitions.
Offering a unique and diverse range of artistic practices, the exhibition features work from Benjamin Sebastian, Alicia Radage, June Lam, Rocío Boliver, & Marcin Gawin; serving as a window into the non-homogeneity of expanded queer communities, allowing for multifaceted readings of contemporary queer experiences.
Through a variety of mediums such as performance (to camera), sculpture, video, photography, and installation, the group exhibition showcases different perspectives on contemporary queer experiences - connecting the various exhibitions and artists in the FACET programme - while highlighting the diversity of queer artistic practice.
Overall, the group exhibition offers a comprehensive and captivating look into the breadth of artistic approaches explored in the FACET programme, showcasing the unique perspectives of each participating artist and the interconnectedness of the expanded queer experience.
Launch Event:
6-9 pm | Friday | 6th of October, 2023.
Exhibition Opening Hours:
12-5 pm | Thursday - Sunday | 5th - 29th of October, 2023.
Curatorial Interventions:
VSSL has partnered with Ugly Duck & Queer Art Projects and will be taking part in Pretty Doomed … more information coming soon!
About Our Participating Artists:
JUNE LAM | Multidisciplinary artist, activist, and community organiser, working across nightlife and with the trans community. For October’s group exhibition, FACET takes a fresh look at June’s evocative collages following his month-long, solo exhibition at VSSL Studio in August. June’s collage practice began during lockdown, initially reflecting isolation, anxiety and fear. Recent pieces explore his ancestry, spiritual practice and journey as a Vietnamese-Chinese person within the context of diaspora and displacement. Graduating from Slade School of Fine Art with an MA in sculpture, Lam’s work centres queer desirability politics, fag
effeminacy and embodied experiences of intergenerational trauma. In his collage work he takes imagery from amongst other sources, vintage magazines rooted in a dehumanising and anthropological Western gaze upon Southeast Asian people and people of colour. Now liberated from objectification, Lam honours the spirits and individuals depicted, restoring their agency and acknowledging their complexity. He sees this as a spiritual reclamation, offering those depicted space for love, attention and care.
@assignedfagatbirth
ALICIA RADAGE | Manifesting through performance, video, sculpture and sound, Radage’s current research looks at the intersection between the neurodiverse experience and animist practice, looking at ways of communicating and being outside of the neurotypical. Alicia has taught fine art and theatre at both MA and BA level. They have shown work in the UK and internationally including Whitstable Biennale, MOMA Bogotá, Venice International Performance Art Week, GIANT Gallery, SPILL Festival, Perfolink (Chile), Parlour (London)
and Meno Parkas (Lithuania). Alicia graduated from Central School of Speech and Drama in 2011 with a Distinction in Advanced Theatre Practice. Their work featured in FACET’s inaugural exhibition at VSSL Studio this summer and October’s group exhibition revisits some highlights.
@alicia_radage_artist
BENJAMIN SEBASTIAN | trans-disciplinary artist-curator based in London. Their practice might be imagined as a constellation of mirrors, reflecting aspects of the body, time and spaces they inhabit, or as world-making experiments, manifested through processes of bricolage, assemblage and ritual. Sebastian received their BA Fine Art (HONS) from the University of Lincoln and is currently enrolled on the MA Curating
Art and Public Programmes through Whitechapel Gallery & LSBU. They are Chief Curator & Co-founding Director of ]performance s p a c e [ and Co-founding Co-director of VSSL Studio. Recent projects include curating PSX: A Decade of Performance Art in the UK at ]performance s p a c e [, speaking as part of Art, Memory & Place at Turner Contemporary, exhibiting Working With Entities//Setting Intent at VSSL Studio and their performance 3 Reflections2 at the ICA. Sebastian recently contributed to a commission from NIKE in
collaboration with Greater Goods highlighting the artistic potentials and sustainability of circular economies. For this group show, Sebastian exhibits artworks from FACET’s inaugural exhibition at VSSL Studio earlier this summer.
@benjaminsebastian
ROCIO BOLIVER | Collaborating with photographer Karolina Bazydlo and model Bartlomiej Gudejko in a bold response to the invisibility of the ageing female form within the realm of sexual pleasure, desire, and erotic play, the artist has reimagined the conventional 'pin up' calendar concept creating portrayals of womanly autonomy. Boliver confronts the absurdity of society's narrow beauty standards and the consequent marginalisation of older women. The works offer an empowering and unapologetic message, encouraging viewers to recognise and celebrate female sexuality, ownership, pleasure and the power that this holds.
Known as La Congelada de Uva, Boliver is a key figure in underground performance art in Mexico and beyond. For over thirty years, her work has confronted the ideological grid that shapes women's lives, challenging ageism and capitalism's impact on women in the stage of life between menopause and old age. Boliver's performances have been presented extensively in Europe, Asia, North and South America and she has participated in festivals globally; she is a grantee of the National System of Creators of Mexico. VSSLStudio is delighted to be given the auspicious opportunity to present Rocio’s performance-to-camera photography for the first time ahead of her solo exhibition this November.
@rocioboliver
MARCIN GAWIN | Interdisciplinary artist based in Bristol, whose work encompasses image construction, installation, and live art. His fascination with the human body and its potential for transformation is evident in his practice, which explores the body’s function in mundane practicality, as well as in speculative and occult realities. In 2019, Marcin completed Marina Abramovic’s Cleaning the House training in durational performance, further developing his expertise in this area. He also honed his skills in The Sunday Skool for Misfits, Experimenters, and Dissenters, where he studied under Martin O’Brien, Shabnam Shabazi, and Joseph Morgan Schofield in 2021. Currently, Marcin is pursuing an MA in Virtual and Extended Realities at the University of the West of England, where he is researching the concept of embodied cognition in virtual environments and utilising immersion as an artistic strategy. Marcin's work has been presented at the Palace International Film Festival in Bristol, Modern Art Oxford, Terytoria Festiwal in Poland, and Oxford Brookes University.
@mrcn.gwn
About VSSL Studio:
VSSL Studio is a place of gathering and creation. We are a not-for-profit creative studio, home to multiple artists and projects, located in Deptford, London. Our studio is a site for artistic production and engagement, dedicated to the holding and nurturing of time-based practices and their satellites. We are a queer-led organization and we centre queer and trans* artists in our work. For more information on the FACET programme and its participating artists, visit vssl-studio.org/FACET and follow @vsslstudio on Instagram & Facebook for updates on curatorial interventions and additional programming for each exhibition.
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Image Credits:
1. Cover Image - [left] Marcin Gawin | The Great One (2023) + [right] Alicia Radage | Soft Shield (2023) | images courtesy of the artists.