Aicon Gallery Presents Dali's Elephant, Opens 7/30

Aicon Gallery presents 'Dali's Elephant', a group exhibition that traces the echoes of Surrealism in modern and contemporary art from the Indian Subcontinent.

The title of the show alludes to the episode when Dali was commissioned to produced a limited edition for Air India VIP passengers, he produced an ash tray that resembled an elephant from one angle and a swan when turned around. In payment, he requested an elephant from the airline, which he duly received and lived with for some time before he donated to the local zoo.

'Dali's Elephant' is a show that attempts to unpick the relationship between India and surrealism. It does not intend to be a show about the legacy of surrealism in India, but in the spirit of Air India's commissioning of Dali, more about the unexpected appearances of the surreal in the Indian Subcontinent - unlooked for by viewers, unattributed by artists and splendidly, surrealistically made Indian.

Private View
Thursday 29th July
6:30 - 9pm

Exhibition Dates
30th July - 4th September 2010

The Indian Film Festival of London - IFFL 2010 - is the first major film festival to be held in London that is dedicated solely to promoting cinema from the Indian subcontinent. The IFFL will open on 25 August at London's historic Riverside Studios with the UK premiere of Aamir Khan's Peepli Live. The programme will feature UK premieres of pathbreaking feature films, including Ishqiya, The Waiting City, and Dunno Y..., Indian cinema's first mainstream film about homosexual relationships. The documentary section features the critically-acclaimed Bhutto, and the UK premieres of Deepa Bhatia's Nero's Guests, which casts searing light on inequality in modern-day India, and Koran Children, Shaheen Dill-Riaz's extraordinary film about Islam in Bangladesh. A Retrospective honouring the work of Vidhu Vinod Chopra will feature such classics as 1942: A Love Story, Parinda, Eklavya: The Royal Guard, and 3 Idiots. The festival will be accompanied by other events, including an art exhibition sponsored by Aicon, opening and closing night galas, post-screening Q&As and receptions, and after-parties.

For the full schedule, please visit the festival's website at www.iffl.co.uk or go to Riverside Studios' homepage www.riversidestudios.co.uk

REDO Pakistan launch at Aicon London

REDO PAKISTAN invites artists & writers from around the world to engage with the history and geography of South Asias to envision imaginative and fictive solutions for the troubled nation of Pakistan. Installed as a mock symposium and newspaper stall, the project has travelled Pakistan, London and New York. The project operates as a nomadic production line, generating new art work, film events, performance, writing and critical discussion in relation to its new contexts and journey. The 2010 edition is based on an open call based on a line from the Pan-Islamic philosopher and national poet of Pakistan, Allama Iqbal: Declaration of War Against the Present Times. The scenario of a mock call to war frames the presentation and production and is the focus of the artists submissions.

Curators Fatima Hussain and Hamja Ashan will discuss the project on the evening. It will be the exclusive launch of the second edition of REDO Pakistan, kicking off a series of events around the UK. Artists involved include:
Sana Arjumand, Damon Kaworski and Shezad Dawood amongst many others.

Tuesday 24th August
6 - 9pm
Please rsvp to london@aicongallery.com

 

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