“All the Time in the World’ at the Steamship PS

In this (and my next) post I’m going to consider art made during the unique experience of lockdown. Last weekend I went to see the exhibition ‘All The Time In The World’ at the Steamship Project Space. I’ve posted about the Steamship before: it is an artist collective in Blackwall, East London, where a range of diverse artists of different practices live and work together in an old 18^th century Dockland Inn.

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Periodically the collective puts on exhibitions inviting a range of artists, however this time the exhibition is about the experience of the collective itself during this year of lockdown. From April 2020 to April 2021 the members of the collective have spent enormous amounts of time together, as if they were on a real-life steamship that had run out of steam, floating aimlessly through the mysterious waters of an unknown ocean. Occasionally they spotted land and were able to briefly come ashore but soon it was back to the ship again for another enforced journey.

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Luckily as artists they were able to keep themselves active and occupied by their own creativity. I’m not sure that this was easy; most of us found the lockdown Very difficult for creativity. But it turns out they managed to produce some excellent work.

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Photographer, curator and collective member Gabriela Zigová has put together a small, fine exhibition of work by some of the collective. I’ve seen the show twice and it’s a fascinating insight into how an artist collective copes with the shock and isolation the last 12 months have wrought.

“An empty city and a full house, a house that is a home filled with people who are alone. Being locked in one place but travelling the world via google maps, creating fictional holidays or building a new home. Watching the housemates. Creating raves to enjoy amongst themselves or trying to clear the mind through forest walks. Sinking into stories and dramas, transferring them to psychedelic experiences where nothing makes no sense. A seemingly endless circle of ups and downs lived for one year in a community of artists – and all the time in the world.”

– Gabriela Zigová

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Exhibiting Artists:

Abi Burt, Edie Flowers, Charlie Guy & Otto Taylor, Jordan Hall, Anna Chiarini, Ieva Stakaitė (with Tamsin Kavanagh & We Are Replica) Peter Sulo, Gabriela Zigová

All photos ©Gabriela Zigová Instagram @gabriela_zigova