Stuart Simler & Tete de Alencar - Finale

As you might have guessed this is our last entry to the Cardboard City exhibition.

The Tate Modern, London

The final doors on our Social Advent calendar have been opened. It has been a long road and we fittingly pay tribute to the man behind this intervention and introduce another new face to the fray.

Tete de Alencar's door &
the Golden Hinde
 

First we open Tete de Alencar's submission beside the Golden Hinde, which was the galleon of Sir Francis Drake. Then we reveal our final Social Advent outside London's Cathedral of Modern Art. Housed in the old Bankside Power Station it is a great example of how to change a redundant space into a gallery. Here at CollectConnect we are adept at doing just this, finding and transforming public spaces, often I might add without millionaire backers.   
 

The Penultimate door

Tete de Alencar studied in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil before moving over to these fair shores. She studied in Wales (Coleg Menai), Liverpool (John Moore's University) and finally in London (Central St Martins). As a truly international artist she has exhibited worldwide and draws her inspiration from complex social issues embedded in contemporary society.

Tete de Alencar -
'OCD and the Silver Spoon dialogue!'

She is a perfect fit for the Cardboard City Exhibition with her playful ideas that experiment with what is revealed and in turn, what is concealed.

“What you see is never what you are going to get…the real work is usually hidden and sacred in a container - a disguise to protect the real art piece, transforming it into an enigma.  It’s an ancestral magic, an ancient tactic...they will have to be aware that breaking the spell and revealing what is inside, involves a kind of death of the piece and transforms it into ordinary gold…”

Stuart Simler

The final door belongs to Stuart Simler who has devised and organised this exhibition. All the artists we have spoken to over the past month would like pass on their thanks and Christmas wishes to him. He is a man who feels passionately about the themes behind the Cardboard City and the ethos that we at CollectConnect are so proud of. During the final planning stages the Southwark Police Force advised us against this exhibition but Stuart was undeterred and he wrote us,

Stuart Simler - ‘Outside Looking In’

"I do think though that this particular project theme encompasses many of the mission objectives of collect connect and instead of giving into these fears created by government democracy come propaganda we do what we set out to do, which is to highlight these fears and share them with everyone"

We were suitably galvanised.

Thank you for visiting these pages over the past month and being a part of the exhibition even if you have been unable to see the artwork in situ.

Now for a little break from blogging and exhibiting. We'll be open again for business in the New Year where we'll be revisiting our first ever street-art exhibition, the one and only FAB Fridge.

We have been awarded one of the coveted curatorial platforms at the Fringe Arts Bath Festival in May 2014. It will be an open submission with 500 spaces up for grabs so get involved -
FAB FRIDGE Call out

Have a wonderful Christmas from all of us at CollectConnect,
Bryan, Dean, Alban and Stuart.

AL.