Safe Space Reading Circle: ‘Present Tense’

Join us at Hauser & Wirth Somerset for our ‘Safe Space Reading Circle’, which celebrates texts spanning prose, poetry, critical and creative writing rooted in the practices of the artists in ‘Present Tense.’

Taking place in the Implement Shed, these sessions explore the work of innovative writers, fostering learning through open discussion, connection and knowledge sharing. These events are free, however advanced booking is required. Where possible, text extracts will be made available prior to the event. 

Schedule
• Sunday 25 February, 2 – 4 pm
Victoria Cantons will lead first reading circle which will focus on key texts that have inspired her work. Participants viewed Cantons’s work in ‘Present Tense,’ and then discussed the selected extracts from artist Phillip Guston’s ‘I Paint What I Want to See’ (2022); classicist Mary Beard’s ‘Women and Power: A Manifesto’ (2018); writer Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ (1868); and some of the artist’s own poetry.  

• Sunday 24 March, 2 – 4 pm
Emanuel de Carvalho will lead our second reading circle, which will discuss texts by novelist and playwright Kathy Acker, philosopher Michel Foucault and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. 

• Sunday 21 April, 2 – 4 pm
Christopher Page will lead our final reading circle, which will explore psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s essay ‘The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function’ (1949), using it as a lens through which to examine his work in ‘Present Tense.’ The essay forms a major part of the thinking behind Page’s work, as it probes our fascination with images and specular.

About ‘Present Tense’
‘Present Tense’ spotlights the next generation of artists living and working in the UK, from emerging to mid-career, celebrating a breadth of creative talent and socially engaged practices. The multifaceted group presentation consists of 23 contemporary artists outside of the Hauser & Wirth roster, testing the boundaries of their mediums to address and confront notions of identity, consciousness, humanity and representation. Through their individual lens, each artist is responding to the cultural climate of the UK right now, depicting a range of lived experiences that co-exist and connect within the rich fabric of the same location.

The exhibition is on view through Sunday 28 April.

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Please be advised that photographs will be taken at this event for use on the Hauser & Wirth website, social media and in other marketing materials.