Interest area: art

Bahar Noorizadeh is an artist, theorist, writer and filmmaker based in London. Her work explores the histories of neoliberalism, speculation, finance, fiction, credit, value, the weird and the unknown. In Free to Choose, she explores the credit banking system as a time-travelling machine through a story set in Hong Kong that spans decades. Free to Choose is created in collaboration with animator Rudá Babau and the experimental opera group Waste Paper Opera.

Free to Choose begins with an opening monologue from economist Milton Friedman, taken from his 1980 US Public Broadcasting Service television series. Milton believed neoliberal systems were the surest route to a prosperous and free society. Following its release from the UK’s governance, Hong Kong retained control of its economic system despite being handed over to the Chinese government. Milton hailed Hong Kong as a “free market utopia” that would “set an example for the rest of the world”. Much like the economic worlds built within the metaverse and gaming platforms of today, Hong Kong was a testing ground for neoliberalism, spearheaded by its Western colonisers. The results shaped the economic policies of Western powers in the decades to come. In 2023, despite once claiming the highest rate of public housing in the world, Hong Kong now holds one of the widest wealth gaps and most lucrative real estate markets on the planet.

Free to Choose pushes Milton’s theory to the extreme, presenting Hong Kong as a delirious and absurd financial utopia. Bahar describes Free to Choose as a “financial science-fiction opera” or “fi-fi opera” that depicts the credit system of the future as a Central Time Travel Agency, regulating time travel between Hong Kong circa 1997 and Hong Kong in 2047.

Underpinning the opera’s narrative is Bahar’s extensive research on Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Michel Feher, and Rem Koolhaas, various proponents, architects and critics of the neoliberal foundations of modern Hong Kong. Free to Choose brings together a luminous animated CGI world of a vivid and disorienting future megacity and a cast of unpredictable inhabitants with a playful script and dream-like plot.

The narrative follows Philip Tose, the former racing car driver and CEO of Hong Kong-based Peregrine Investment, as he attempts to survive the 1997 economic crash by borrowing a lump sum from his older self in Hong Kong in 2047. Travelling through a wormhole time tunnel, Tose navigates the floating public housing megastructure of the ‘Space of Flows’, which extends across the Pearl River from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and Macau to Hong Kong, in a networked constellation of cities named the Pearl Megalopolis. Tose encounters the hierarchies that divide a future world in his search for his future self. Financial nepotism is rife: the credit system is corrupt, ‘McRefugees’ seek sanctuary in McDonald’s, and a group of low-credit-score activists, the ‘Untrustworthies’, are fighting back and demanding free time travel for all.

The phrase’ the risk is my company’s…the risk is mine’ repeats throughout the opera, highlighting the differences between personal risk and collective impact. Free to Choose demonstrates the effects of singular interests and actions on our present and future.

Christopher Kulendran Thomas’ work explores the complex legacies of imperialism. A British artist of Sri Lankan-Tamil descent, Christopher has been using artificial intelligence technologies over much of the last decade to examine the foundational fictions of Western individualism.

His new exhibition, Safe Zone, features two bodies of work that manifest the historical mediums of soft power: a series of paintings that metabolise Sri Lanka’s colonial art history and a video work that auto-edits American television footage.

“Two artists explore human figures and the spaces they inhabit”

The LAKE gallery welcomes in 2025 with its first exhibition of the year, and a new collection of works by printmaker Lindsey Moran and figurative artist Peter Macaulay.

Inspired by cultural heritage, Lindsey Moran’s work explores the rich tapestry woven into architectural landmarks and spaces. Her creative practice explores the intricate relationship between printmaking and photography, using photopolymer etching plates to produce prints with beautifully rich textures and continuous tones. Lindsey is a master of this process, receiving well-deserved recognition in prestigious print exhibitions in London and Bristol.

Peter Macaulay has been on our radar for a long while and we are excited to be showing a new series of his figurative paintings. Peter’s work explores and develops images of what has been a lifelong inspiration – the human form, often distorted to a degree to express an idea. Strong free-flowing lines, colours that sing; his work is a celebration of his chosen subject.

The exhibition opens on Thursday 30th January, and runs until Saturday 1st March. The gallery will be hosting a preview evening on Thursday 30th January between 6pm and 8pm and all are welcome to join us for a glass of wine and to meet the artists.

Opening Times: Thurs – Sat, 10am – 4pm

Following on from Lee Tsai, the Bluecoat will screen Farah Al Qasimi’s Everybody was Invited to a Party, which takes inspiration from ‘Iftah Ya Simsim’, a 1980s Arabic version of Sesame Street, and borrows text from translation books found in London.

The film features hand-sewn puppets, voiced by the artist, and captures moments where language falters and breaks down, but in doing so opens up new avenues of meaning. The slippages in language, mispronunciations and awkward translations build a world of melancholy and humour. Everybody was Invited to a Party also features music composed and performed by Al Qasimi.

Tue 11-Sun 23 Feb, 11am-5pm. Free entry.

Walker Art Gallery is proud to present Graham Crowley: I Paint Shadows, a new exhibition of works by Graham Crowley, winner of the 2023 John Moores Painting Prize. Opening 14 March 2025, this solo display offers visitors unprecedented insight into Crowley’s distinctive exploration of light and shadow through painting.

The exhibition marks a significant return to Walker Art Gallery for Crowley, who first entered the John Moores Painting Prize in 1976. Nearly five decades later, his 2023 Prize-winning painting ‘Light Industry’—now part of the gallery’s permanent collection—serves as a cornerstone for this comprehensive showcase of new works.

Through his signature style, Crowley investigates what he terms ‘sites of creativity’, from gardens to workplaces, using varied brushwork to create images that appear simultaneously familiar yet disrupted. His tonal approach builds layers of meaning, challenging viewers’ perceptions of everyday scenes through masterful manipulation of light and shadow.