Adventures of the Black Square - Whitechapel Gallery

I finally got round to seeing the new Whitechapel Gallery show after being constantly reminded by my lecturer that I should definitely go. I actually think it was better to go and see it at the end of the course because I actually know who some of the artists were (but not many) and understood general themes that were being pieced together in the show.

Adventures of the Black Square focuses on the universal role of geometric abstraction has being a lanugage utilised for political and social situations. The name takes its inspiration from Malevich's Black Square from 1905 which can roughly be seen as the beginning of geometric abstraction, however there are overlaps from various countries. As a general exhibition, the theme is clear - the first rooms is packed with images, sculptures, photographs and video art that fit the brief of abstraction, yet they all seem to be lost beside each other. I appreciate that the show is emphasising the universality of geometric abstraction and it may have been for this reason that there are no geographical groupings or time-line developments apparent in the rooms, but to a viewer who doesn't fully understand the birth, development and ongoing experimentation with geometric abstraction, the rooms can be confusing and daunting.

The broad range of media made the exhibition consistently engaging, linking together Suprematism, Minimalism, Neo-Concretism and New Objectivity, among many others, in a way that shows the various ways that abstraction was utilised. But the ultimate aim of the exhibition was to show this artistic technique as a language for political and social issues of the time, which in itself is a huge theme to try and capture in the small exhibition space at the Whitechapel. By emphasising the global and all-encompassing nature of abstraction, some social, historical and cultural context was lost. It was clear that the works were addressing certain issues but these issues were often lost or missed. If the rooms had been geographic then maybe it could have been emphasised more.

Adventures of the Black Square is an exhibition I feel I may have to go back to to fully appreciate - the vast amount of works on show made it hard to digest all at once and needs a longer time to fully take in all the information and digest the links and themes between the artists.