A new exhibition that will explore the chilling relationships between modern architecture and horror is set to open at Westside’s Ikon Gallery next month.
Horror in the Modernist Block will feature work by 20 contemporary artists and will include a mix of film, installations, photography, sculpture, textiles, sound and printmaking.
Just some of the artists to be featured will be Maria Taniguchi, Ho Tzu Nyen, Richard Hughes, Shezad Dawood, Ruth Claxton and Diego Marcon.
Melanie Pocock, curator of the exhibition, explained that modern architecture was often associated with the horror genre.
She said that high-rise towers and concrete buildings form the backdrop to terrifying stories of dystopias in fiction and film, with one example being the dystopian 1975 novel High-Rise by author JG Ballard.
Ms Pocock said: “Today, buildings constructed in the modernist style stir mixed reactions. For some, they are architectural icons; to others, they are haunting relics of failed concepts and bygone eras.”
She added that in some parts of the world, modernist architecture prompts feelings of fear and trauma because of its link to oppressive political regimes.
The exhibition takes Birmingham as its starting point, a city renowned for its brutalist architecture.
It considers how artists unpack the troubled histories and legacies of modernist buildings through the lens of horror by linking its tropes (suspense, darkness, fear) with qualities of modernist design.
Configured in dialogue with the architecture of Ikon’s galleries, the exhibition will aim to take viewers on a journey that highlights how the design and features of a building can shape not only our movement and perception, but also our deepest fears.
The new Ikon exhibition runs from 25 November to 1 May next year, and entry is free.
Main picture: Still from Ho Tzu Nyen’s film The Cloud of Unknowing.
Inset picture: If Socks Aren’t Pulled Up Heads Will Roll, by Richard Hughes
