Art show explores modern architecture’s links with horror

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Still from Maria Taniguchi's film Mies 421, which is part of the Ikon Gallery's Horror in the Modernist Block show

Still from Ho Tzu Nyen's film The Cloud of Unknowing, which is part of the Ikon Gallery's Horror in the Modernist Block show

Horror in the Modernist Block features If Socks Aren't Pulled Up Heads Will Roll, by Richard Hughes

Source: Nils Stærk

The Directorate, by Shezad Dawood, is one of the works that will be exhibited as part of the Ikon Gallery's Horror in the Modernist Block show

Source: Sharjah Art Foundation

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A new exhibition featuring work by 20 contemporary artists is set to explore the relationship between modern architecture and horror.

The show at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery – based in the Victorian grade II-listed former Oozells Street School, converted by Levitt Bernstein Architects – will include a mix of film, installations, photography, sculpture, textiles, sound and printmaking.

Horror in the Modernist Block curator Melanie Pocock said modern architecture was often associated with the horror genre, pointing to the work of author JG Ballard, such his dystopian 1975 novel High-Rise.

“Today, buildings constructed in the modernist style stir mixed reactions,” she said.

“For some, they are architectural icons; to others, they are haunting relics of failed concepts and bygone eras.”

Pocock added that in some parts of the world, modernist architecture prompts feelings of fear and trauma because of its link to oppressive political regimes.

Horror in the Modernist Block highlights how the design and features of a building can shape not only people’s movement and perception, but also their deepest fears.

Among the featured artists are Maria Taniguchi; Ho Tzu Nyen; Richard Hughes; Shezad Dawood; Ruth Claxton; and Diego Marcon.

Horror in the Modernist Block runs at the Ikon Gallery from 25 November to 1 May. Entry will be free.