We are proud to sponsor Brewers Towner International, a biennial exhibition of contemporary art that takes place at Towner Eastbourne. The second edition will feature a range of artists, local, national and international, coming together to share work which addresses the theme of SANCTUARY. The exhibition has been curated by Noelle Collins, Exhibitions & Offsite Curator, Towner Eastbourne.

Joe Hill, Director, Towner Eastbourne said:
“We’re thrilled to be launching the second iteration of Brewers Towner International this autumn and to once again be presenting work in a diverse range of media by artists living and working here on the South Coast, alongside a range of national and international artists. I’m also delighted to also be welcoming Ayo Akingbade back to Towner and want to take this opportunity to thank Brewers Decorator Centre for their ongoing support, without which we couldn’t have provided Ayo with a platform from which to grow her career and make new work. I look forward to discovering which of this year’s artists the judges choose as the recipient of the award, and for our audiences to join us this Autumn to discover a range of talented artists in the exhibition and public programme.”

The Brewers Towner Award of £10,000, which we are proud to sponsor, is given to one of the exhibiting artists alongside mentoring from the Towner team. The winner of this prestigious award has been announced as Harald Smykla.

About Harald Smykla:

Harald Smykla studied painting/printmaking at Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Art (Germany). Based in London since 1988, his practice evolved into merging unorthodox notions of drawing and other traditional media with performative and participatory strategies, exploring contexts of place and time, materiality, process and interaction. His practice of social engagement in the public realm – especially through street market projects - involves people of all backgrounds as incidental audiences and active participants, e.g. in acts of “re-facing” banknotes, produce-based chess games, collective cardiography, research into art and emotion, dental sculpting, hand-drawn projection mapping and other approaches to artistic interaction with the public. Such works have been commissioned by Axisweb, Ovalhouse (Brixton City), Creative Barking and Dagenham, Deptford X, hÅb Manchester, Beacon artproject, Chester Performs and many other cultural organisations and independent curators. Hehas performed and exhibited UK-wide and internationally, including with Southwark Park Galleries, The Courtauld, QUAD Derby, Cornerhouse Manchester etc al, and on many occasions (including a one-person show) with England & Co, who last featured his “Movie Protocol” drawing performances at the inaugural DRAW Art Fair in 2019.

His current studio practice is focused on 'rewilding' press images by revealing underlying pictorial life forms. Such transformations imply various political readings. In particular, press photos that illustrate the ongoing tensions / conflict between Islamist extremism and Western secularism are 'defused' by being converted into floral imagery ('Iconoclash Press Flowers'): By following classic Islamic art rules rejecting the human image, violent ideological bravado is subverted, and victim exposure reversed.

"Being selected for the Brewers Towner International has given me a strong sense of validation of my current art practice - especially after the dearth of opportunities to present work IRL during the pandemic."

Brewers Towner Award winner Harald Smykla with judges Noelle Collins and Sepake Angiama.

Image credit: Daniel Bartholomew

Harald Smykla at Brewers Towner International.

Image credit: Daniel Bartholomew

Running concurrently with Brewers Towner International in Towner’s ground floor Studio 2 is Duette, an exhibition of new and recent works by Ayo Akingbade, the recipient of the inaugural Brewers Towner Award in 2020.

Akingbade is an artist, writer and director who lives and works in London. She works predominantly with moving image, addressing notions of power, urbanism and stance. Interested in the fluid boundaries between the self and the other, she gathers local and cultural experiences in intimate and playful interpretations. In the exhibition, Akingbade presents a duo of films: 55 Days (2022) and Red Soleil (2021); these works reflect the aspirations and ambitions of an emerging artist navigating the challenges and opportunities of daily life. The work has been partially made in Sussex during the artist's mentorship with Towner Eastbourne.

Shot on 16mm film, 55 Days is a portrait of New York City at dusk. Windows of high-rise apartments, brownstones and bodegas illuminated like light boxes, offer a glimpse of neighbouring occupants. The accompanying audio combines ambient sounds of the city with excerpts from the artist’s diary - written while working in the city over a 55-day period. Inspired by Chantal Akerman's New York films and lifelong creative pursuit of experimentation, Akingbade’s short film is underlined by a sense of isolation and displacement in what would otherwise appear a dream scenario.

Filmed in Peacehaven, on England’s south east coast, Red Soleil traces the journey of a young woman who has decided to chase the sun. Looking out across the Channel her image dissolves over footage of the setting sun, a nod to French filmmaker Éric Rohmer’s The Green Ray/ Le Rayon vert (1986).

Artist Ayo Akingbade and Noelle Collins Towner Eastbourne’s Exhibitions & Offsite Curator

Image credit: Daniel Bartholomew

Ayo Akingbade Duette Exhibition at Towner Eastbourne

Image credit: Daniel Bartholomew