Babeworld x utopian_realism

In Spring/ Summer 2024, we hosted Babeworld’s biggest exhibition to date. Working in collaboration with sound artist utopian_realism they presented a project that reflected on the ever ubiquitous need within the arts to have new and innovative ideas.

Told through the eyes of a neurodivergent coded character, the project 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.

As a collective Babeworld seeks to create a more representative art world through the creation of art, fundraising, grants, and facilitation of events, especially for those who are marginalised in the arts. With an emphasis on collaboration and co-creation, Babeworld’s practice focuses on themes of political and societal identity, specifically disability/access, neurodivergence, sex work, and race.

The project comprised of an exhibition in the gallery and a series of events that connect in particular with a neurodiverse public.

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. — To support Babeworld’s shift from objective and medicalised discussions about disability to empowered personal experiences, the artists have prioritised multiple access modes, including digital and online, and embedded access within ‘Love is Real, and it’s Inside of My Computer’.

We recognise that not everyone can get to and visit the gallery for a multitude of reasons and wish to provide access to the work in multiple ways beyond the gallery space, so the video work featured in the exhibition is available below:

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 darkened gallery space with black walls and a grey concrete floor. Within the room, there sits a simple but large wooden structure built of industrial stud-wall timber. There is a doorway on one wall of the structure, through which a room with pale pink walls can be seen. A mirror and clothing rack are partially 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.

Visit 'Love is Real, and it's Inside Of My Computer' online here →You can read the Frieze review of Babeworld x utopian_realism's exhibition here →

'Love is Real, and It's Inside Of My Computer' opened at Grand Union in May 2024, and ran until August of the same year.

Learn more about Babeworld x utopian_realism's exhibition here →