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FRIDAY 21st August – SUNDAY 23rd August 2020

In the latter years of his life, legendary cult filmmaker Derek Jarman moved to Prospect Cottage, a fisherman’s shack on the sparse Dungeness desert terrain. A haven away from the wards and hospitals where he was being treated for HIV, and the British film industry, here he tended to an exquisite garden that you can visit to this day – and well worth a visit.

While living in Dungeness, Jarman found a new sense of creativity that birthed a series of works crafted from detritus washed up on the Dungeness beach. Mixing natural debris such as volcanic black tar and chunks of land with found objects like photos, horsewhips and barbed wire.

Now, a new exhibition at London’s Garden Museum – the first to focus on Jarman’s love of gardening, and the role of the garden in his life and work – explores how Jarman found happiness in horticulture. Displaying works of art and film alongside personal artifacts borrowed from inside the cottage, which is not open to the public, the exhibition offers a new glimpse into Jarman’s fascinating life.

Derek Jarman: My Garden’s Boundaries are the Horizon runs until 20th September at The Garden Museum.

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Remembering his days spent gardening with Derek Jarman at Prospect Cottage, photographer Howard Sooley writes: “The first part of the morning would usually be spent in the garden doing various jobs of the day, later a walk along the beach to see what treasures had been washed up in the night… Bits of orange plastic may be from Mexico or from Mablethorpe. A connection to somewhere else, to mystery, possibility and the unexpected. Twice a day the sea would deposit its treasures on the shoreline. The sticks were amongst the best of them, all curiously around the same two foot length, seemingly ancient, twisted sculptural bones of the sea.” This extract is from Howard’s essay in the exhibition catalogue for Derek Jarman: My Garden’s Boundaries are the Horizon. Link in bio to order your copy, or book tickets to the exhibition. Image: Derek Jarman at Prospect Cottage c.1990 © Howard Sooley

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Bombs away
The Imperial War Museum are marking their re-opening with a special season dedicated to migration. They’ve invited a number of artists to create specially commissioned works including Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, whose 2017 film Human Flow investigated the sheer scale of our current refugee crisis.

Filling the museum’s atrium is a new site-specific artwork from Weiwei titled History of Bombs. This immersive and freely accessible work investigates conflict as the root of human migration and forms the latest strand of investigation into the artist’s preoccupation with power and politics. In the words of Weiwei himself:

“History of Bombs is about the essential facts of our modern history, which have not been shown all in one space to the public. The work focuses on our human capacity for destruction; how we attempt to solve political, religious, and economic crises through the use of explosives, which is against any humanity and rationality.”

History of Bombs is on until 24 May 2021, book advance tickets here. 

Transportive art 
Chinese artist Cao Fei specialises in multimedia works and, as part of her repertoire, builds immersive installations that viewers are invited to explore and investigate. Sometimes this is on a miniature scale, such as her 2014 work La Town, in which the artist created a post-apocalyptic scene in miniature, but for her new show at Serpentine she’s dreamed bigger.

Blueprints sees the artist recreate important places in her life, starting with her Beijing studio and including old factories, sterile chambers and cinemas. Visitors will get a chance to see the aforementioned La Town, but more importantly, a deep-dive into the workings of Fei’s mind, where pure sci-fi visions of the future run wild.

Blueprints is free to visit at Serpentine Gallery until 13 September 2020.

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Baseline Bellini’s
Elephant and Castle’s legendary nightspot Corsica Studios has had it as rough as anyone over the past few months. Not only has Covid-19 washed their revenues away, the area is facing massive regeneration projects that bring ominous signs of change. They’re not going down without a fight though, and have resurected their 2014 The Paperworks project that brough food, drink and good tunes to punters of the eponymous venue.

Now they’re in Peckham, just off Old Kent Road, serving more of the same under Covid-safe conditions. It’s outside, naturally, and with a roster of Corsica-approved DJs it’s the closest you can come to actually attending one of their nights. Book now and support one of London’s most precious clubs while you still can.

The Paperworks is open on Fridays from 17:00 to 22:00, and Saturdays from 15:00 to 22:00. Find more info and book a table here.

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