Socialist Worker 2132, 20 December 2008
www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=16701
Reviews
This exhibition looks at the lack of control that children and parents have over the manufacturing of their toys.
Part of the exhibition is made up by hybrid toys made by children from a local school. The original toys were broken or discarded. The idea is that children can both shape the toys they play, with and think about sustainability and recycling.
Artists, technologists, children and adults have all shaped the Supertoys season. The exhibition is part-factory, part-zoo and part-play area. It includes opportunities for visitors to destroy, examine and re-make toys.
Some works will develop during the exhibition as teams of robot experts and artists work to modify toy dogs.
There will also be visits by guest robots, and opportunities for discussion and debate. In the lead up to Christmas (and after), Supertoys explores a new way of thinking about toys.
Arnolifini Galley, Bristol Until 18 January. Free
Christiane Baumgartner is a German photographer who transforms her film and video stills into woodcuts.
All of her pieces are monochrome and often take on a deserted feel.
Ordinary scenes such as a road tunnel look haunted or abandoned. Many of the pieces feature military equipment in otherwise peaceful settings.
Photography exhibition by Christiane Baumgartner
Spacex Gallery, Exeter
Until 21 Febuary 2009
This exhibition of looks at whether the city of Newcastle was gripped by the culture, music and fashion of the 1960s.
With newspapers of the time, as well as stories from local people, it shows British history through the eyes of people living in the city.
Discover Museum Newcastle
Until 11 January 2009