ICF’S DIASPORA PAVILION 2: LONDON
presented in partnership with Block 336

Sonia E. Barrett | Kashif Nadim Chaudry

10th March – 10th June 2023
Thursday – Sunday, 12 – 5pm

Block 336 is pleased to present, Diaspora Pavilion 2: London , in partnership with ICF who are currently in residence at the gallery. In this iteration of DP2: London, we are showing two new, site-specific, solo installations by artists Sonia E. Barrett and Kashif Nadim Chaudry.

The exhibition will be the final presentation in a series of peripatetic events culminating in ICF’s Diaspora Pavilion 2 (DP2) project. This trans-national, collaborative project advances ICF’s engagement with diaspora as a critical concept following the first Diaspora Pavilion during the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. DP2 interrogates and complicates the term diaspora across various curatorial formats as part of an ongoing mapping of the rich and complex material cultures, mythologies, alternative histories and re-imagined landscapes that are born from the distinct and yet shared reality of belonging to a diaspora.

For the exhibition, Sonia E. Barrett will present Here Tell, Quantum Black, which consists of a new sculptural installation and moving image work addressing the material histories of flint, the black sedimentary rock used in Britain to construct tools, property and weaponry.

For his installation Char Bagh, Kashif Nadim Chaudry brings together new and existing sculptural works to stage his first solo presentation in London. Spanning over ten years of his practice, these works showcase Chaudry’s long-term engagement with the colourful and sensual fabrics of South Asia, as well as his fascination with embellishment, adornment and decoration.

Image: Kashif Nadim Chaudry, Char Bagh (2023), ICF’s Diaspora Pavilion 2: 2023, Block 336, installation view

Block 336 is gearing up to celebrate its 12th anniversary and bid farewell to its founders, as Jane Hayes-Greenwood, Executive Director, and Xabier Basterra, Chair of the Board, will step down from their respective positions on 30th June 2023.

To mark this special moment and celebrate the team’s achievements over the last 12 years, we will host a party on Saturday 1st July from 6-11 pm, alongside Songs for an After Life, an exhibition of recent audio-visual work by studio artist, Robert Bell.

Block 336 was founded in 2011 by Jane and Xabier, who were joined shortly after by Alex Gough and Robert Bell. Together, they nurtured Block 336 into an artist-led project space and studio provider, consistently expanding its ambitions and reach over the years. In January 2013, Block 336 became a registered charity limited by guarantee, leading to the appointment of Jane as Executive Director and Xabier as Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Songs for an After Life by Robert Bell will present a series of new digital works, transforming the gallery using multiple projections, installation, sound and painting. Bell presents psychedelic, hallucinatory proposals; forms of weird life, strange monuments and adornments for a dizzying afterlife.

The exhibition will be open as part of the celebration, with music beginning at 8:30pm. The event will also feature the second iteration of AXON, an audio visual collaborative project with Joe Goddard, that was first presented in 2014 and re-surfaces in 2023 as UNIVERSE. Songs for an After Life will be to the public on 1st July 2023 from 6 – 11 pm and on 1st July 2023 and on 2nd July between 12 – 5 pm.