ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION TOURS 'IN MY SHOES - ART & THE SELF SINCE THE 1990S' at RSC
ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION TOURING EXHIBITION ‘IN MY SHOES – ART & THE SELF SINCE THE 1990S’
Saturday 6 October 2018 – Sunday 6 January 2019, 10am-close
PACCAR Room, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
https://www.rsc.org.uk/exhibitions/in-my-shoes
Box Office 01789 403493
Self-portraits and artworks by artists including Hayley Newman, Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin go on display at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre this week, as part of The Arts Council Collection national touring exhibition In My Shoes.
In the setting of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the artists’ use of performance creates a parallel to the RSC’s work on stage, as does the exploration of self-identity. Questions of identity are weaved throughout Shakespeare’s plays. His characters’ identities are hidden and revealed, controlled and liberated, empathised with and misunderstood.
In My Shoes explores the ways in which UK-based artists have included themselves in their work since the 1990s. Self-portraiture has provided a source of inspiration across time. In recent years, artists have updated the genre by incorporating action, performance and storytelling.
Encompassing a range of media including film, photography and sculpture, In My Shoes
reflects the ever-increasing interest in self-expression, an interest that can now be seen beyond the art world with the universal 'selfie’ phenomenon. It is also a chance to reflect on the lasting impact of so-called ‘Young British Art’.
In My Shoes presents a wide range of contemporary approaches to self-expression across different art forms, presenting major works from the Arts Council Collection alongside loans from other UK collections.
In My Shoes: Art & the Self since the 1990s runs in the PACCAR Room, second floor, Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 6 January 2019. Open daily from 10am. Free.
For more press information and photos please contact:
Emily Magdij
RSC Press Office
01789 412657, 07920 541729
emily.magdij@rsc.org.uk
Notes to Editors
About Arts Council Collection
The Arts Council Collection is a national loan collection of British art from 1946 to the present day. With nearly 8,000 works and more than 1,000 loans made to over 100 venues a year, it is seen by millions of people in public spaces from galleries and museums to hospitals, libraries and universities. Representing one of the most important collections of British modern and contemporary art in the world, it includes work from Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore to Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley and Grayson Perry. The Collection supports and promotes British artists by acquiring art at an early stage of their careers. The Arts Council Collection is managed by Southbank Centre, London and includes the Sculpture Centre located at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park. www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk
About Arts Council England
Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. www.artscouncil.org.uk
Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. We produce an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers.
Everyone at the RSC - from actors to armourers, musicians to technicians - plays a part in creating the world you see on stage. All our productions begin life at our Stratford workshops and theatres and we bring them to the widest possible audience through our touring, residencies, live broadcasts and online activity. So wherever you experience the RSC, you experience work made in Shakespeare’s home town.
We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre. We reach 530,000 children and young people annually through our education work, transforming their experiences in the classroom, in performance and online. Registered charity no. 212481 www.rsc.org.uk.
About Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as The National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk