Coffee-Table Notes

Sudbury Town Tube Station in London is set to be the striking venue for a large scale public art commission of permanent and temporary works by Glasgow-born artist Lucy McKenzie. Pleasure’s Inaccuracies is the latest venture by Art on the Underground, set up to bring work by contemporary artists to the heart of tube stations, public spaces which are constantly in motion. From April 2 nd 2020, commuters will be able to witness two permanent hand- painted ceiling murals by McKenzie featuring maps of the local area. An architectural model of the station will also be on permanent display, while two large billboards will be installed on each platform, with silk screen posters shown within the station until April 2021. T he cavernous central hall and waiting rooms of Sudbury Town station’s listed Piccadilly line building were designed by Charles Holden in 1931, and now resembles a relic from a lost London. Originally built after the original station was demolished in preparation for

As Britain leaves Europe for now at least on the back of the Brexit referendum, the artistic response has been one of muted mourning and quiet defiance. Both notions are embodied in Europe Endless: A performance for handbells, a video work by Gair Dunlop and Lucy Smith, which films a performance of Smith’s handbell arrangement of the opening track of Kraftwerk’s 1977 album, Trans-Europe Express. Played by a cross-generational team of ten volunteers from various European nations, Smith’s arrangement takes Ralf Hutter’s romantic electronic meditation on Europe and transforms it into a piece of participatory art in which communication and co-operation are crucial to its execution. Where Hutter’s lyrics speak of ‘Parks, hotels and palaces, ‘Promenades and avenues’ and ‘Elegance and decadence’ as observed through a fast-moving train window, Dunlop and Smith use the grounds of the ruined Balmerino Abbey in Fife as a backdrop for a wordless and elegiac rendition of an already ennui-l

V&A Dundee looks set to come alive this month as it hosts the latest edition of a two-day ‘festival of art historical research’. RES|FEST x Dundee is a quick-fire compendium of talks, performances and participatory events that aims to put the audience at the centre of the gallery experience, and have them experience as much art as possible in an engaging environment. Speakers from the visual art world include artists Mick Peter and Dalziel + Scullion, who will each present bite-size ten-minute provocations alongside ones from representatives of V&A Dundee, Dundee Contemporary Arts and The Courtauld Institute of Art. The latter organisation has presented previous iterations of RES|FEST in London and Belfast. Music is provided by Cat Hepburn and Nadine Jassat, a radical reimagining of the Courtauld’s collection comes in Queering the Cannon, an installation by drag artist Rujazzle, and a DJ set by Sarra Wild will follow. There will also be a tour of V&A Dundee’s curre