I love John Akomfrah's film work and I love Bristol so much, this is just a cherry on the cake.
The showing of Vertigo Sea at the Arnolfini - that I saw more than four times... - was a moment to remember among the twelve weeks I've spent in the West country so far.
It's of course not the end of our love affair, Bristol.
Here are John Akomfrah's words in The Guardian about Bristol and the Arnolfini Gallery as it is nominated on the Museums of the Year shortlist.
Emporiums of inspiration: the Museum of the Year 2016 shortlist
From a Scottish country estate to a psychiatric hospital, the Museum of the Year shortlist is announced this week. Tracy Chevalier, Grayson Perry, Norman Foster, Antony Gormley and John Akomfrah champion their favourites
John Akomfrah on Arnolfini, Bristol
The Arnolfini. Photograph: PR Image
I’m part of the generation that knew the Arnolfini in the 80s. Bristol had this incredible energy and a lot of it crystalised around the gallery. If you were in the city to watch bands or see shows then the Arnolfini was a Friday night watering hole, a refuge and the place you had to be to find out what was going on. It seemed tied up with the excitement of bands such the Pop Group, Rip, Rig + Panic and then Massive Attack. Almost inevitably, as the 90s went into the 00s, there was a sense that the venue had slightly lost that centrality; these things always move on. Which makes it all the more pleasing, and impressive, that in recent years the Arnolfini has again found its voice and place, and a new distinctiveness that chimes with people.
It has done this by keeping true to its roots – it was founded in 1961 – as one of the earliest interdisciplinary contemporary arts venues, presenting programmes of performance, dance, film and music alongside visual art. Last year it pulled off a significant coup in staging a large exhibition by Richard Long. It was a fine illustration of the level of its ambition as well as its capacity to successfully carry off big projects. The director, Kate Brindley, approached me about hosting the UK premiere of my video installation Vertigo Sea. That she came to me before the work had received any press, in effect before any critical consensus had gathered around it, impressed me. She really stuck her neck out and that sort of decisiveness and commitment, just being a bit ahead of things, has marked the Arnolfini out in recent years. The gallery then followed through in terms of execution and I was blown away by the quality of the installation. It is the best I’ve seen, and that includes the Venice Bienalle.
When the gallery moved in 1975 to its present home, a converted warehouse in the docks area, it was a trailblazer for a movement that has become the norm for cultural transformations of formerly rundown inner city areas. Its example was followed by Tate Liverpool, the Sage Gateshead and many other institutions. Back then the Arnolfini felt ahead of its time, so it is wonderful to see that it has found that role again; a home for ideas and work before they become orthodoxies.
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The winner of the ArtFund prize for Museum of the Year 2016 will be announced at the Natural History Museum, London SW7, on 6 July. artfund.org.
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A picture, by myself:
February 2015
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