Exhibition

The New Adolescents

21 September – 15 October 2023

After the stop the world fell quiet. Cars and buses ceased to run, planes lay grounded and trains sat rusting at station platforms. At first people didn’t leave their homes. Yet those born into the stop, for whom life before was but a story, had an altogether different relationship with the world outside, for, as they grew to reach adolescence they emerged, en-masse, out onto the streets to explore, to construct and to find out what it was to live again.

Entering the neo-medieval aesthetics of Theo Turpin’s new story-world, The New Adolescents at Chemist Gallery will pick through the ruins of what went before, searching for cultural artifacts to build world anew. The project takes the form of an exhibition under construction, a sight of generation and renewal, a literal act of world-building. Punctuated by weekly events in the form of workshops and artistic inhabitations during which artisans and artists will respond to the world and contribute to its fabric. The project, produced alongside Lou-Atessa Marcellin, will explore the capacity of a storied approach to contemporary art to create the conditions to build worlds together.

Events programme:

22nd September - Deptford X - late opening until 9pm.

23rd September - 2-5pm - Writing workshop by Theo Turpin and Lou-Atessa Marcellin, will draw from and expand on the storied world of the exhibition.

24th September - 12-4pm - Inhabitation by Ariel caine and Kineret Lourie will scan, map, make sounds and sew a garment.

1st October - 12-4pm- Inhabitation by Martha McGuinn , will work on metal woven structures in connection to the world. There will be live weaving and an opportunity to get involved.

7th October - 12-4pm- Inhabitation by Maito Jobbe-Duval and Gabriel Stones will conduct an interactive game session, painting a scene of a tight 'new- teenager' community, as an intro to a resource gathering game.

8th October - 12-4pm- Inhabitation by Thomas Pellerey Grogan will develop a 3D sculpting of an ‘eternity staircase’, using a VR headset. The audience will be able to view the process via a display screen.

15th October - 4-7pm - Performace, collective reading and publication launch The New Adolescents band: Theo Turpin, Lou Atessa, Anne Duffau, Phil Serfati, Ariel Caine and Kineret Lourie will be performing a new music piece.

Theo Turpin

Born in Sussex, U.K in 1986. Lives and works in London. Theo Turpin is an artist producing installations which explore how language, narrative and romance combine to make ideal and idealised space. Between 2012 and 2013 he was artist in residence at Palais De Tokyo, Paris, where he realised numerous works including a solo presentation. Between 2015 and 2016 Theo undertook residencies at The Embassy of Foreign Artists, Ministry for culture, Geneva as well as taking part in the summer school of the ICA Moscow. He has exhibited widely at, amongst others, Palais De Tokyo, Manifesta 13, the Bienale
D’Anglet, The Forgotten Bar in Berlin and DKUK, Auto Italia, Tenderpixel and Bold Tendencies in London. His work can be found in magazines and publications such as Beaux Arts, Palais and Twin and he has just published his first book entitled ‘Into the Night’, a collection of short stories published by Atlas Projectos.https://www.theoturpin.com/

Lou-Atessa Marcellin

Born in Paris, France 1986. Lives and works in London. Lou researches ideas of ecosophy in the ecological framework which interconnects social and environmental spheres. With a background in fine art, a graduate of the Royal College of Art (MA Performance) and UAL Camberwell College of Art (BA Photography), she founded the multidisciplinary research platform Diaspore and more recently a seasonal school called RONCES exploring the making of landscapes in the rural and the urban environment. She has been a visitin lecturer for UAL, the Royal College of Art, The Slade and Goldsmith University.
https://diaspore.org/

Participants

Maito Jobbe Duval & Gabriel Stones share a fictional game studio which is in the process of making a Marguerite Duras fan fic rpg. Over World is a side quest made specifically for this event but it uses a lot of the mechanics and code from other projects. Maito has a background in theatre design and world building. Gabe works as an artist and developer, mostly making other peoples’ work.

Martha Mcguinn is a designer working in London. She currently works in aluminium, using and developing experimental techniques to make furniture.

Thomas Pellerey Grogan is a French-British artist and researcher currently based in London. His practice focuses on esoteric rituals, and their meaning when projected onto contemporary settings driven by technological tools.

Ariel Caine and Kineret Lourie co-direct Chemist together. Ariel is an artist and researcher working with spatial imaging in the context of human rights violations and tracing of cultural memory. Kineret is an artist working through curation around themes of collaboration, temporality, narrative and theatre in the context of exhibition making.