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A landscape graphic image on a pale blue background. Across the centre of the image, is a horizontal line of simple black drawings within black outlined squares. In order, these images depict an envelope sealed with a heart, a speech bubble with a small star in its centre, a pair of lips, and an old fashioned computer with a pink heart on it's screen. Beneath the images, text reads 'Love is Real & it's Inside of My Computer'.
A landscape graphic image on a pale blue background. Across the centre of the image, is a horizontal line of simple black drawings within black outlined squares. In order, these images depict an envelope sealed with a heart, a speech bubble with a small star in its centre, a pair of lips, and an old fashioned computer with a pink heart on it's screen. Beneath the images, text reads 'Love is Real & it's Inside of My Computer'.

‘Love is Real, and it’s Inside of My Computer’ graphic courtesy of Babeworld, 2024.

Babeworld x utopian_realismLove is Real, and it’s Inside Of My Computer

Grand Union4 May – 3 August 2024

Launching Friday 3 May, Grand Union are excited to announce Babeworld’s biggest exhibition to date. Working in collaboration with sound artist utopian_realism they present a project reflecting on the ever-ubiquitous need within the arts to have new and innovative ideas. Told through the eyes of a neurodivergent coded character, ‘Love is Real, and it’s Inside Of My Computer‘ plays on the structures of the gallery and art world, asking us to question and renegotiate how we define what is considered ’new’, ‘exciting’, and ‘taste making’ in the arts.

Fusing immersive design, pop-culture-infused soundscape, anime-inspired moving image, and embedded access, ‘Love is Real, and it’s Inside Of My Computer‘ utilises gaming and internet cultural references as entry points for arts and non-arts audiences; offering new perspectives on neurodivergent obsession as a creative process and problematising the impact of gallery expectations on mental health.

Based on Babeworld’s lived experience as an intersectionally disabled collective, this commission navigates the fine line between mental productivity and mental burnout through an experiential understanding of disability whilst exposing the alienation of marginalised folk in the art world. To support Babeworld’s shift from objective and medicalised discussions about disability to empowered personal experiences, the artists will prioritise multiple access modes, including digital and online.

Exhibition launch: Friday 3 May, 4-8pm

Exhibition open: Saturday 4 May – Saturday 3 August

Further details will be shared in the coming weeks. Pre-show information is available below, but this will be updated with further information as the show is installed.

You can find pre-show information here →Find out more about this exhibition's launch here →

There will be an extensive public programme presented in connection with the exhibition, put together in collaboration with University of Birmingham and Flatpack Festival. Full details of these events will be shared in due course, but the dates are listed below.

Emotional Mapping Workshop with Lee Mackenzie

Winterbourne House & Garden Wednesday 8 May, 10.30–12.30pm

Derby Day: Babeworld Screening and Q&A with Anne Duffau

Mockingbird Cinema
Wednesday 15 May, 6–7.30pm
Plus late night opening of the exhibition at Grand Union until 9pm

Mask-making workshop with Babeworld

Plane Structure, Minerva Works Friday 7 June, 4–6pm

‘Deco’ keychain/photocard workshop with Bunny Bissoux

Plane Structure, Minerva Works Friday 7 June, 4–6pm

Masked Ball with utopian_realism and Naoibh McNamee

Plane Structure, Minerva Works Friday 7 June, 6–10pm

Digbeth First Fridays

Friday 3 May, Friday 7 June, Friday 5 July, Friday 2 August 2024, 6–8pm

Find out more about Babeworld x utopian_realism →