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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 image of a dark gallery space, with a simple but large wooden box sitting within it. Through the doorway of the wooden box, a room with pink walls, and a messy computer desk is visible.
A landscape image of a messy computer desk. The desk holds a pink mouse, keyboard, and xbox controller, alongside a notebook, a yellow pack of swan cigarette filters, and open medication. A computer monitor is partially visible, featuring an unclear dark image and a caption written in write text that reads ' Table? It's getting scrubbed.' Also on the desk is a small black speaker, a capybara toy, and a mug filled with pens that features an axyoltl.
A landscape image of a screen hung on a wall curtained with black fabric. Purple-blue LED lights shine out from behind the dark screen, illuminating the folds of the dark curtains. On the screen, white text in wavy lines reads ‘Relax as the oceanic sounds swell and dissolve within a glistening cascade of serene cybernetic reverberations.’ The text glows against the dark background it sits on, giving off a soft lilac light.
A landscape image of an exhibition designed to look like a pale pink bedroom. The bedroom contains a messy desk holding a computer set up. Lots of pictures and posters are pinned up on the walls, and stuffed toys sit on a shelf and the floor next to a grey sofa.
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.

a landscape image of a dark gallery space, with a simple but large wooden box sitting within it. Through the doorway of the wooden box, a room with pink walls, and a messy computer desk is visible.

Install shot of ‘Love is Real and it’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exhibition at Grand Union, 2024. Photo by Patrick Dandy.

Install shot of ‘Love is Real and it’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exhibition at Grand Union, 2024. Photo by Patrick Dandy.

A landscape image of a messy computer desk. The desk holds a pink mouse, keyboard, and xbox controller, alongside a notebook, a yellow pack of swan cigarette filters, and open medication. A computer monitor is partially visible, featuring an unclear dark image and a caption written in write text that reads ' Table? It's getting scrubbed.' Also on the desk is a small black speaker, a capybara toy, and a mug filled with pens that features an axyoltl.

Install shot of ‘Love is Real and it’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exhibition at Grand Union, 2024. Photo by Patrick Dandy.

A landscape image of a screen hung on a wall curtained with black fabric. Purple-blue LED lights shine out from behind the dark screen, illuminating the folds of the dark curtains. On the screen, white text in wavy lines reads ‘Relax as the oceanic sounds swell and dissolve within a glistening cascade of serene cybernetic reverberations.’ The text glows against the dark background it sits on, giving off a soft lilac light.

Install shot of ‘Love is Real and it’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exhibition at Grand Union, 2024. Photo by Patrick Dandy.

A landscape image of an exhibition designed to look like a pale pink bedroom. The bedroom contains a messy desk holding a computer set up. Lots of pictures and posters are pinned up on the walls, and stuffed toys sit on a shelf and the floor next to a grey sofa.

Install shot of ‘Love is Real and it’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exhibition at Grand Union, 2024. Photo by Patrick Dandy.

Install shot of ‘Love is Real and it’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exhibition at Grand Union, 2024. Photo by Patrick Dandy.

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.

Find out more about this exhibition and read the access information in our pre-show document 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 →Read the Frieze review of this exhibition here →

Related

a landscape image of a dark gallery space, with a simple but large wooden box sitting within it. Through the doorway of the wooden box, a room with pink walls, and a messy computer desk is visible.

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

Grand Union4 May – 3 August 2024
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a landscape film still taken from Babeworld’s ‘Derby Day’. At the centre of the image, a small blow up man lies on the grey floor in a corridor through a doorway. The smiling face of the man is distorted by the shape of the inflatable, and his body clad in a white t-shirt and black trousers is cartoonish. The low position of the camera provides a clear view of the stacks of DVDs, clothes, figurines, and yellow lighter also lying on the floor in the room before the corridor. Behind the inflatable figure, through a second doorway, part of a cluttered living room is visible.

Unmasking || Remapping x Flatpack: ‘Derby Day’ – Babeworld Screening and Q&A with Anne Duffau

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Mockingbird Cinema
Plus late night gallery opening until 9pm.

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A landscape graphic image of dark blue lines and words on a pale, off-white background. The thick, dark blue lines suggest a simple, Labyrinth map.

Unmasking || Remapping: Emotional Mapping Workshop with Lee Mackenzie

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A portrait image of lots of printed ephemera stuck to a wall, evoking a teenager's bedroom. The poster's and stickers feature various anime characters and boybands.

Unmasking || Remapping: Mask-making workshop with Babeworld and ‘Deco’ keyring workshop with Bunny Bissoux

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a landscape image of a figure dressed in a black tasseled outfit, a brightly coloured harness around their chest and shoulders, a black leather beret, and a pink mask that covers the entirety of their face. The figure has their arms raised and the tassels of the outfit fly outwards, as if in the middle of dancing. The figure is surrounded by pastel toned fabrics in shades of pink, blue, green, and yellow, that hang from the ceiling.

Unmasking || Remapping: Masked Ball with utopian_realism and Naoibh McNamee

Plane Structure7 June 20246–10pm
EventsOutside