Archived press release

Arts and environment combine in Whitechapel exhibition

13 January 2008

Cornelia Parker: 13 February - 30 March 2008. Preview opening, 13 Feb, 6.30 - 9pm

A new exhibition by Cornelia Parker opens at the Whitechapel on 13 February, organised in partnership with Friends of the Earth.

Cornelia Parker's latest work is a 40 minute film - Chomskian Abstract, 2007 -presenting her interview with world-renowned writer and theorist Noam Chomsky. By answering Parker's questions Chomsky addresses the failings of government, corporations, institutions and the media to take responsibility for the ecological safety of our planet. He urges us to take responsibility, change our lifestyles and bring about socio-economic change.

In addition to Chomskian Abstract, 2007, the artist's Poison and Antidote Drawings, 2004 are on show, featuring black ink containing snake venom and white ink containing anti venom. The format of the drawings reflects the question and answer format of the interview with Chomsky.

Inspired by the powerful Poison and Antidote theme, Friends of the Earth is encouraging visitors to pose their own questions about the state of the world during the exhibition. These questions will form part of an installation at the Whitechapel and used to provide inspiration for a one-day event on Saturday 29 March, bringing together a host of artists, thinkers and activists to examine the issues raised (www.poisonandantidote.co.uk).

The exhibition and event launch a collaboration between the Whitechapel and Friends of the Earth that will explore responses in the visual arts to environmental issues.

Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth Executive Director, said; `Many of the themes addressed in Cornelia Parker's film resonate with the work of Friends of the Earth. But the piece also stimulates us to think about the empowering nature of enquiry. With our involvement in this exhibition we hope to inspire people to ask their own questions about the state of the world and get them thinking about the solutions. Our one-off Poison and Antidote event on Saturday 29 March will give the public a chance to hear the answers offered by some of Britain's most exciting thinkers and doers.'

The opening of Cornelia Parker is Wednesday 13 February, 6.30 - 9pm. To attend the opening email RSVP@whitechapel.org

Notes

• Turner Prize nominated artist Cornelia Parker (born 1956) creates art-work characterised by a forensic enquiry that often transforms modest substances in order to awaken their poetic potential. She has made earplugs out of dust from the Whispering Gallery in St Paul's Cathedral, drawings using snake venom, plucked feathers from Sigmund Freud's pillow and stretched out a teaspoon to measure the Niagara Falls. Parker is also renowned for large installations, such as Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, where a blown-up garden shed's charred remains are reassembled into its original shape, like a ghostly 3D puzzle, suspended in mid-air.

• The exhibition is curated by Anthony Spira, Curator, Whitechapel, and is presented in partnership with Friends of the Earth.

• Cornelia Parker is presented in partnership with Friends of the Earth.

• The exhibition is a major part of the Mayor of London's East - a festival championing the best the best of East London, 6-11 March 2008

• Cornelia Parker was recently commissioned by Art on the Underground (the London Underground art programme) to create a new work for the front cover of the pocket tube map, available to pick up now from stations across the capital. www.tfl.gov.uk/pfa

• Talks & Events:

  Preview opening, Wednesday 13 February, 6.30 - 9pm

  Poison and Antidote, Saturday 29 March, 12 - 7pm:

  www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=4163

• The partnership between Friends of the Earth and the Whitechapel Gallery aims to kick-starting a dynamic new dialogue about art, politics and our environment. The fit is perfect: the Whitechapel, acclaimed as one of Britain's outstanding promoters of cutting-edge arts, has its roots in the local community and a commitment to empowering people through the arts; Friends of the Earth inspires solutions to environmental problems and enables people to change things for the better. Creativity and involvement are essential to both.

• Visitor Information

  Via a new visitor entrance at Angel Alley during the 18-month construction phase of the Gallery's expansion open Weds - Sun 11am - 6pm. Thursdays until 9pm with talks, events, poetry and music. Admission free. Whitechapel, Whitechapel High Street London E1. Nearest tube Aldgate East. T +44 (0) 20 7522 7888

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust