Creative: Handle With Care

24.04.2009

Between March 26-29, 2009, the Shoreditch Town Hall in London showcased a collective exhibition entitled "Handle With Care", displaying the work of 29 young artists from different backgrounds, from fine art and photography, to design and illustration. We are keen to point out this show to you, not only because it has been curated by myself, but also because some of these emerging artists will participate with their works, in the Optical Radio's Gallery.

Through the various ranges of media used by the artists, the exhibition offered the public an overview of a single but really elaborated theme: "Handle With Care." Playing with the intrinsic polysemy of this sentence, the young talents tried to involve the viewers in a prismatic vision of the subject. All the artists were invited to answer the question: "What does handle with care mean to you?", and the different interpretations of the exhibition title as such, determined the show's pathway, one that suggested fragility and delicacy on one side, and destruction and mis-handling on the other, with very unpredictable interpretations coming from the environment and pollution, to memories and relationships, or cultural differences and riot feelings.

The show was founded, organized and promoted by the artists themselves during the four previous months, with the active participation of James Ward, illustrator and ideator - organizer of the exhibition, Samantha Gamble, graphic designer, and myself (Sara Pergola) Curator. This collaboration started at the Design Museum, London, meeting point of all the people involved in the event (most of us work there as gallery, shop or office assistants).

The big industrial and tumble down basement space of the Town Hall seemed perfect for the exhibition. Being suggestive enough without covering the exhibits themselves, it allowed the creation of a sort of narrative, featuring 29 fresh and young visions on the theme. The variety of the works, and the wide range of media used, created a plinth where contemporary concerns and solutions in art practices were presented, without preferring any particular perspective, and without giving a definitive answer.

The great participation of the public, and the positive comments on the show, push us to play an active role in the art world, without awaiting major galleries and art sellers. Artists, designers, creative people, curators and art lovers, all can achieve results like this, demonstrating that "Art" is not only related to the economy and the market, but that first and above all, it's a communication and passion towards the deeper part of our existence, and open to anyone who wants to play with it. For the same reason, Optical Radio invites visual artists to present their works through our web-gallery. We are open to all sorts of styles and point of views, since to us, Art doesn't have boundaries.

Sara Pergola