When The Vinyl Factory first took over the vast brutalist former office block on 180 The Strand that it now calls home, the company put on an exhibition the likes of which London had never seen. Curated in collaboration with the Hayward Gallery, ‘The Infinite Mix’ placed immersive audiovisual installations around every corner of the cavernous, labyrinthine spaces of the building. But this wasn’t projections of Van Gogh or Klimt paintings, or balloon rooms or piles of Lego, this was proper, brilliantly conceived, intelligent contemporary art.
Quite the way to announce the arrival of a major new London art venue. Since then, 180 The Strand has put on plenty of good exhibitions – and some not so good ones – but the venue’s next show is promising to be a return to what the The Vinyl Factory does best.
‘Reverb’ explores the ‘intersection of art and sound’, featuring the work of over 100 artists who like making a racket. There’s noise maverick Carsten Nicolai, conceptual giant Hito Steyerl, the brilliant Theaster Gates (who has shown in London quite a bit recently) and the return of Devon Turnbull’s Hi Fi Listening Room, which got five stars in this very publication not long ago.
Alongside them, there’ll be installations by Kahlil Joseph, Stan Douglas, Virgil Abloh, Cecilia Bengolea, Jeremy Deller, William Kentridge and Jenn Nkiru. On paper, it reads like a harking back to what made The Vinyl Factory so special – let’s hope it reaches that lofty sonic potential.
‘Reverb’ is at 180 Studios from May 23. More details here.
Can’t wait? Here are the top ten exhibitions you can see in London right now.