Curating

News from Everywhere

News from Everywhere (July - September 2024) was a series of artworks created for a noticeboard in London’s Ravenscourt Park. Six artists - one from every inhabited continent - were invited to respond to the board’s function and surrounding environment. Displayed over the summer holidays, News from Everywhere brought the world to Ravenscourt Park.

The exhibition title responds to the 1890 utopian novel ‘News from Nowhere’ written by Hammersmith artist and activist William Morris. Set in 21st century London transformed by agrarian revolution, Morris imagined a more equal society, united by creativity, collective land ownership and respect for nature. 

The selected artists represented a range of disciplines and cultures reflected in Hammersmith’s international population. Each commission embraced the board’s local context and function, as a humble yet powerful civic space for fostering community and encouraging democratic participation. 

Ravenscourt Park opened to the public in 1888, having previously been the grounds of a private manor house. A short walk from Morris’ home, it is very likely that he visited. Situated beside the park’s threshold, News from Everywhere dismantled boundaries between art and the everyday, nature and the urban, local and the global - activating publics and public space.

Supported by London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with special thanks to the Parks team, Rural School of Economics and MyVillages, POSK Gallery and The William Morris Society.

1 - 14 July Gele Hailu (Ethiopia) 

14 - 28 July Gudskul (Indonesia) 

28 July  - 11 August Amy Franceschini (USA)

11 - 25 August Yinjaa-Barni Collective (Australia)

25 August - 8 September Fernanda Galvão (Brazil)

8 - 22 September Uriel Orlow (Switzerland)

Events

Mapping the Commons

Sunday 14 July, 11am - 2pm, meet at the noticeboard

Free foraging walk + creative workshop

Inspired by the ancient custom of ‘beating the bounds’, Curator and Horticulturalist Olivia Bright will lead the 2km walk sharing knowledge of the park’s plants and history. We’ll then enshrine Hammersmith’s commons by creating a giant map of free local resources, events and spaces. This will be displayed on the board as an artwork. This event was initiated by Indonesian artist ‘collective of collectives’ Gudskul.

Download a free Ravenscourt Park Plants Guide

Reveries of Collective Walkers (London)

Sunday 22 September, 11am - 2pm, meet at the noticeboard

Free, open to all ages

Take part in Reveries of Collective Walkers - an ambulatory collective reading performance. While walking amongst plants participants are invited to read selected texts in different languages which feature human-botanical entanglements and plants as protagonists. The addressees are the plants themselves, they love the CO2 emitted in the act of reading: the audience is invited to walk between the readers and tune in and out of different texts or spontaneously join in.