Visual art and pop music meet in Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke's presentation Maps of the New World. Bonnefanten shows several recent acquisitions, which tell how the two long and close British artists continue to inspire each other.
Artist duo Donwood and Yorke
Visual artist Stanley Donwood (1968, Essex) and musician Thom Yorke (1968, Northamptonshire) met as young art students. Since 1994, they have collaborated on numerous artworks, online projects, and iconic album covers for Yorke’s band Radiohead, his solo projects and his new band The Smile. Among others, two artworks that formed the basis of album covers for The Smile will be on display at Bonnefanten. For instance, fans will recognise the cover of The Smile's most recent album in A Woven Wall of Eyes (2022), a 2 x 2-meter tapestry. The accompanying music from The Smile's albums 'A Light for Attracting Attention' and 'Wall of Eyes' make a visit a total experience.
Cartographic and imaginative representation
In their artworks, Donwood and Yorke use elements of historical maps, such as compass roses, winding rivers, mountain ranges, lakes, and craters, but they also abandon this logic. Their first experiments led to a fantasy world; now, they depict the wondrous things that can all be seen there.
Already at Bonnefanten
Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke are no strangers to Bonnefanten. In 2017, Donwood fitted the museum's inner tower with the dazzling black-and-white mural Optical Glade over a four-week period. Thom Yorke added, for the optimal experience of the mysterious and almost sacred space, an endless sound composition.
Maps of the New World is on show from 13.04.2024 to 08.12.2024.
