Doug Aitken in Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick at Somerset House

6 July - 24 August 2016

A new exhibition, curated by Mo’Wax and UNKLE founder, artist and musician James Lavelle, featuring a host of contemporary artists, film makers and musicians showcasing works inspired by Stanley Kubrick.

Contributors include:

Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin / Carl Craig / Charlotte Colbert / Chris Levine / Christiane Kubrick / David Nicholson / Dexter Navy / Doug Foster / Doug Aitken / Futura / Gavin Turk / Harland Miller / Haroon Mirza & Anish Kapoor / Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard / Invader / Jamie Shovlin / Jane & Louise Wilson / Jason Shulman / Jocelyn Pook / John Isaacs & James Lavelle with Azzi Glasser / Jonas Burgert / Joseph Kosuth / Julian Rosefeldt / Keaton Henson / Koen Vanmechelen / Marc Quinn / Mark Karasick / Mat Chivers / Mat Collishaw / Max Richter / Michael Nyman / Michele Lamy / Mick Jones / Nancy Fouts / Nathan Coley / Norbert Schoerner / Paul Fryer / Paul Insect / Peter Kennard / Philip Castle / Philip Shepherd / Pink Twins / Polly Morgan / Rachel Howard / Rut Blees Luxemburg / Samantha Morton & Douglas Hart / Sarah Lucas/ Seamus Farrell / Stuart Haygarth / Thomas Bangalter / Toby Dye / Warren du Preez & Nick Thornton Jones

Participating artists have been invited to respond to a film, scene, character or theme from the Kubrick archives, shining new perspectives onto the cinematic master’s lifework. James Lavelle is collaborating with contemporary musicians and composers to produce a soundtrack to some installations creating a multi-disciplinary experience for the visitor. 

Pioneering conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth will create an installation of text from Kubrick's films based on the language of Kubrick's work, while Britain's foremost political artist Peter Kennard will juxtapose images of characters set in the War Room of Dr Strangelove with present day leaders of nuclear states, in a statement about the renewal of Trident. Inspired by the Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey, film maker Doug Foster will invite visitors to experience an endless, widescreen tunnel and referencing the same film, Mat Collishaw will make a spaceman’s helmet featuring otherworldly sights and sounds.

Doug Aitken will provide ‘Twilight’, a public pay phone bathed in a luminous glow, which will be reminiscent of the Dr Strangelove scene where Mandrake attempts to make a collect call to the President of the United States. Sarah Lucas will lend ‘Priapus’, a phallic sculpture suggestive of the iconic murder weapon in A Clockwork Orange.

The exhibition is supported by artist Christiane Kubrick, the director’s wife of 41 years, who will be exhibiting a painting and Jan Harlan, Kubrick’s Executive Producer for 28 years.  It is additionally endorsed by Warner Bros. Pictures, who collaborated with Kubrick on all his films since 1971.

The exhibition is co-curated by James Putnam  who was formerly founder curator of the British Museum's Contemporary Arts and Cultures Programme and is currently Senior Research Fellow Exhibitions at University of the Arts, London (UAL) where the Stanley Kubrick archive is housed. 

Exhibition partners Canon are providing their latest image making technologies to help inspire participating artists and launching a young film makers’ competition to support future film pioneers like Kubrick.

Additional support for the exhibition is generously provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation.