Making A Splash: Artists Explore Waves And Waterfalls

Tabish Khan
By Tabish Khan Last edited 108 months ago

Last Updated 15 April 2015

Making A Splash: Artists Explore Waves And Waterfalls ★★★☆☆ 3
This cascade, by Noemie Goudal, using sheets in a forest is designed to mimic a waterfall. Courtesy Saatchi gallery.
This cascade, by Noemie Goudal, using sheets in a forest is designed to mimic a waterfall. Courtesy Saatchi gallery.
Martin Parr examines the less glamorous side of days at the beach. Copyright Martin Parr / Magnum.
Martin Parr examines the less glamorous side of days at the beach. Copyright Martin Parr / Magnum.
This still is from a video series called Seven Streams - it explores Bradford Beck in Yorkshire and its tributaries. Copyright Simon Warner.
This still is from a video series called Seven Streams - it explores Bradford Beck in Yorkshire and its tributaries. Copyright Simon Warner.
This innovative video work by Chang Kyum Kim includes shadows that cast across the water and disturb the surface. Copyright the artist.
This innovative video work by Chang Kyum Kim includes shadows that cast across the water and disturb the surface. Copyright the artist.

Londonist Rating: ★★★☆☆

Hall Place and Gardens in Bexley may be out in zone 6 but it makes for a fantastic day out when the weather is sunny. It features an impressive garden, some great hedge animals and a hothouse filled with tropical plants. It also plays host to contemporary art exhibitions — back in 2013, Beastly Hall was one of our favourite exhibitions of the year.

The latest exhibition takes the theme of water and expands on it in many directions from the local to the international, and from the political to the playful. There are shadows dancing across a video of the water's surface, a giant interweaving form, a wearable sculpture and the ghostly silhouettes of plant-life just above the water's surface.

Martin Parr shows us the less glamorous side of beaches with litter everywhere, and this is contrasted with the adjacent photograph of a Mediterranean beauty spot by Massimo Vitali. Tania Kovats explores the concept of why we have separate names for oceans when they are all joined to one another, she does this by taking water samples from the world's oceans and placing them in connected flasks.

Our two favourite artists in this show are Robert Polidori for his shocking images of the post-Katrina aftermath in New Orleans, and Noemie Goudal's synthetic creation of a waterfall in a forest and using polystyrene to replicate an iceberg.

This is a solid exhibition filled with some great works, it can be hit and miss but it's still a strong showing of contemporary artists in a great venue.

Watershed: art, play and the politics of water is on at Hall Place and Gardens, Bourne Road, Bexley, DA5 1PQ until 6 September. Tickets are £8 for adults and include admission to the historic house, the gardens are free to visit.

Two other Southern gems to see is the newly opened Museum of the Mind and the refurbished Strawberry Hill House. Plus here are some more centrally located South London options.  

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