For the past 13 years Deptford X has provided a creative platform for its community promoting the best in contemporary visual art and celebrating unique thought provoking displays across the thriving area, which has one of the highest artist populations in London.
Today it announces its 2011 festival programme to celebrate once again some of the best contemporary and urban art forms, not just in London but from across the globe. This year Deptford X has partnered with the Torun Polish Arts Festival and the Santander Foconorte Festival, opening the event to an international audience and bringing another inspirational layer for visitors to enjoy.
The 10-day festival kicks off on September 23 with over 50 primary exhibits and performances and more than 40 local galleries and studios programming their own shows.
Those who have showcased work alongside the local community in the past include an impressive list of modern cultural icons including Mark Tichner, Spencer Tunick, Will Self, David Mack, Yinka Shonibare and Bob and Roberta Smith.
Twelve key pieces of work will this year be displayed on billboard sites around Deptford, alongside sculptural works, street art, the spoken word, performance works, installations and walking tours of the festival. The programme combines the Main Festival, Street Gallery, Fringe, Open Studio’s and Independent Galleries.
This year will also see the start of a year-long programme of work by the Deptford X organisers, culminating in next year’s festival being held to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics. This will allow visitors to the games a chance to enjoy the festival, particularly those visiting nearby Greenwich for equestrian events.
Over 15,000 visitors are expected to attend the festival while well over 200,000 will have been involved in the contemporary art event. This year’s lead artists and curators are Hew Locke and Indra Khanna, who have created a statement of intent to artists:
*Surrender to the pleasure of the decorative. Revel in the excessive, embrace it, be dazzled. A stall stacked with lurid artificial flowers, rhythmic serpentine graffiti, baroque mermen carved over the old town hall door, all are equally a joy to the eye. Indulge yourself.
But there is more than just the surface. Layers of decoration contain levels of meaning, messages and codes. Symbols of power, conspicuous consumption, signals of elitist knowledge, patterns of control, signs of social belonging.
Is it all just Too Much? Visual overload, information overload, too much to digest – too much work, not enough time. Are our eyes bigger than our stomachs?*
