As part of its 60th anniversary year, from 2 October – 23 February 2025, Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery in partnership with macLYON presents Friends in Love and War – L’Éloge des meilleur·es ennemi·es, an exhibition on the nature and role of friendship in contemporary life.
Borrowed from the British Council Collection and macLYON, works by over 20 artists, including the likes of Sonia Boyce, Pogus Caesar, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid, Goshka Macuga, Madame Yevonde, Paula Rego, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, amongst others, will be on display, spanning painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, textile, film, sculpture, and installation.
The full artist lineup includes: Kenneth Armitage, Sonia Boyce, Tereza Bušková, Pogus Caesar, Patrick Caulfield, Jimmie Durham, Tracey Emin, Marie-Anita Gaube, Lola Gonzàlez, Emma Hart, Lubaina Himid, Géraldine Kosiak, Delaine Le Bas, Markéta Luskacová, Rachel Maclean, Goshka Macuga, Madame Yevonde, Gordon Matta-Clark, Hetain Patel, Paula Rego, Luke Routledge, Niek van de Steeg, Francis Upritchard, Fabien Verschaere, Gillian Wearing, Bedwyr Williams, Rose Wylie, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
The artworks address friendship as a fundamental aspect of human life, both on the interpersonal, quotidian level as well as the diplomatic, further regarding alliances between regional capitals like partner cities Lyon and Birmingham and cultural institutions. Friends in Love and War ultimately explores how the complex bonds defining friendship of all kinds are significant — affection, trust, mutual respect, and competition can evolve, rupture, and transmute friends into strangers, lovers, enemies, or a mix of them all.
Curated by Marilou Laneuville (Head of Exhibitions and Publications, macLYON) and Melanie Pocock (Acting Artistic Director, Exhibitions, Ikon), the exhibition was presented in Lyon from 8 March – 7 July 2024 before arriving in Birmingham, with support from the British Council.