Melanie Manchot
The Street
15 Jan - 22 Feb 2009
London-based artist Melanie Manchot explores portraiture as a performative and participatory practice. Working with photography, film and video, her projects often propose constructed events or situations in public spaces and form engaging explorations into our individual and collective identities.
For The Street, Manchot presents the first part of her ambitious new project Celebration, commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella. The exhibition brings together archive material portraying the rich history of public street celebrations in London’s East End, forming a poignant commentary on the changing demographic and social climate of east London’s communities.
These documents will then form the basis for a major new film, which will depict the construction of a group portrait that takes an east London residential street as its setting and involves its residents as active participants. The finished work will be presented in the expanded Whitechapel Gallery in 2010.
For The Street, Manchot presents the first part of her ambitious new project Celebration, commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella. The exhibition brings together archive material portraying the rich history of public street celebrations in London’s East End, forming a poignant commentary on the changing demographic and social climate of east London’s communities.
These documents will then form the basis for a major new film, which will depict the construction of a group portrait that takes an east London residential street as its setting and involves its residents as active participants. The finished work will be presented in the expanded Whitechapel Gallery in 2010.