Newcastle University Virtual Exhibition 9th April 2021
The Hatton Newcastle (Virtual space)
A Breach of the Surface Boundary
'A Breach of the Surface Boundary'
In this virtual exhibition, curators have compiled an installation of my work that is sympathetic to my idealised install that was intended for my Degree Show exhibition. It includes two photographic pieces 'Entrance of Yordas' mirrored photographic piece mounted on lead sheeting with a copper strip and my film soup 'Allenheads Continuous Photographic Print' that traces the surface boundary.
The exhibition includes an image of my idealised installation. See below for more detailed shots of my work and for details of the ideal installation.
A Breach of the Surface Boundary
Mirrored Photographic print 'Entrance of Yordas', mounted on aged lead with a strip of sheet copper.
Allenheads Continuous Photographic Print
Film soup. Print of 8 continuous strips 1-8 [30x12cm]
Ideal installation of work.
'A Breach of the Surface Boundary'
Thematic interest: the underground landscape, disorientation, memory, shrines.
Artwork:
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Film soup (experiment 1) photography strip (30x12cm) x20
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Yordas mirrored photographs, mounted on aged lead sheeting (45x60x0.3cm)
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Glazed ceramic Upside down tree stump sculptures (50x35x45cm) x2 on steel tripod stands (28x150x28cm) x2
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Lead sculpture couplet (10x2x10cm) x2
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Lead framed trays (120x5x300cm) x2
Exhibition space: I have chosen to exhibit in room 6.03 due to its unique architectural features of the alcove, the stairway and the large windows. The theatrical architecture has connotations of a place of worship, making the room like a shrine. Architecture is important to my subject matter with the underground being an interior environment and the calcite formations create arches and columns.
The room will have controlled lighting with spotlights, with the windows obscured with vinyls to control the light coming through them.
Audience interaction with space:
I have chosen to create an immersive installation in a uniquely architectural solo space. The room is restricted using large steel trays filled with water, preventing the viewer from accessing most of the space. The underground landscape is an alien environment and the restriction to space reflects the distance of memory of the underground. A sacredness is created by restricting the space, similar to a graves sacredness in a graveyard. Visitors have access through both doors in this space, with a lead sculpture at either entrance.
Install:
The ceramic upside-down tree stumps explore the fluidity of the surface boundary, similarly to the mirrored photographs (lead mounted). In my work I have been considering the disorientation of the underground landscape, I want to distort the space using the trays of water to reflect the space and artwork. This conveys the underground as a distorted reflection of the surface.
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The lead sculptures are a couplet, they are accessible to the audience at either entrance. The pair are tethered together creating a spiritual connection to the underground landscape.
The install echoes my memory of the underground landscape, by distancing and restricting the viewer vision and access.