Ikon Ikon Horror In The Modernist Block

This exhibition catalogue accompanies the Horror in the Modernist Block exhibition at Ikon Gallery (25 November 2022 - 1 May 2023).

Horror in the Modernist Block presents new and recent work by 20 UK and international contemporary artists. Modernist architecture is often associated with the horror genre. In fiction and film, high-rise towers, concrete estates and glass pavilions form the backdrop to terrifying stories of dystopia.

The exhibition takes Birmingham as its starting point, a city renowned for its brutalist architecture. It explores the troubled histories and legacies of modernist buildings through film, photography, sculpture, installation, painting, drawing and printmaking. Artworks in the exhibition link horror tropes (suspense, darkness, fear) with qualities of modernist design, and the violence and trauma associated with its construction and destruction.

The fully illustrated catalogue contains essays and texts by Melanie Pocock, Acting Artistic Director, Exhibitions, Ikon; Lucy Mounfield, Assistant Curator, Ikon; Stuart Whipps, artist; and Joshua Comaroff, architectural historian and designer. Designed by Fraser Muggeridge Studio.