UK’s first major contemporary art kite exhibition to open in Wales

Nation.Cymru Staff

The UK’s first major exhibition dedicated to contemporary art kites will open in Wales this month, bringing together creatives who transform the ancient craft into art.

Art in the Sky: An Exhibition of International Contemporary Art Kites will show at Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea from 19 June to 27 September.

Curated by Isabel Griffin, the exhibition features leading international artists whose work transforms the ancient tradition of kite flying into experimental art, from sculpture suspended in the gallery’s Atrium to crafted kites from several cultures, and previously unseen kites from private collections.

Large-scale installations, rare loans and works from private collections will sit alongside a selection of photographs from Amgueddfa Cymru, presented as part of CELF (National Contemporary Art Gallery Wales).

Artists include Frances Anderson, Kadek Armika, Anna Rubin, and Yoh Yasuda, alongside Abby Poulson, Cy Kuckenbacker, Steve Brockett, Nida Sinnokrot, whose work explores the relationship between humans, the sky, movement and the natural world.

Wonder

For more than 2,000 years, kites have held cultural, spiritual and practical significance across continents as tools for communication, ritual, measurement and play.

Contemporary art kite makers embrace the collaboration with nature, combining engineering, craftsmanship and imagination to create works that move, shift and respond to their environment.

Art In the Sky explores how today’s artists build on this shared history, transforming kites into kinetic sculptures that only fully exist when they are in the sky.

Many of the kite artists work with traditional and sustainable materials, using traditional techniques while pushing the limits of scale, form and flight.

The exhibition draws inspiration from the Art Volant Manifesto, written during the First Symposium of Art Volant (Flying Art) organised by the Miró Foundation in Mallorca in 1995.

The manifesto described the kite as a poetic meeting point between the physical and the spiritual, offering artists, ‘unmatched opportunity to play, to explore, to experiment, manipulating scale and distance, making an immense space visible, unlocking the imagination.’

Isabel Griffin, curator, said: “For centuries, the making and flying of kites has captured the imagination. Art In the Sky builds on this rich heritage and reveals the remarkable potential of kites as a medium for artistic expression and as works of art in their own right.”

‘Art In The Sky’ is a progression from a successful community kite making project Griffin initiated in 2015. Subsequent research has led her to a passion for Art Kites and a desire to bring these unique sculptural forms to a wider audience.

Alongside the exhibition, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery will present a programme of talks, events and workshops, offering opportunities to engage with the art of kite making and flying.

These include a panel discussion with Isabel Griffin, and artists Kadek Arnika, Anna Rubin, Yoh Yasuda and Frances Anderson on Friday 19 June at 2pm.

On Saturday 20 June at 11am, there will be an opportunity to take part in a free, hands-on kite-making activity with the features artists.

Art In the Sky is supported by the Arts Council of Wales, the Henry Moore Foundation, and CELF, national contemporary art gallery for Wales.

The Glynn Vivian Gallery is located on Alexandra Road, Swansea, SA1 5DZ. For more information, visit their site here.