#MiALIntersection Installations
As you may be aware, Made in Arts London recently held our fourth annual independent exhibition at Hoxton Arches Gallery Space.
The exhibition, ‘Intersection’, explored the challenges emerging artists in London face today, the importance of supporting these artists and the vitality and creativity that they bring to the city.
As part of ‘Intersection’ we commissioned four MiAL Artists to create installations for the exhibition that reflected their experiences of working as an artists in London and how the city had inspired their work.
Each of the commissions were funded through Arts Council England, this funding provided the artists with an opportunity to put into practice ideas they had been developing, and for some was the first time they had been commissioned to create a large scale installation.
Here we look at each of the installations that the artists created, and the ideas behind the work…
Alexander Devereux
BA Sculpture, Camberwell College of Arts 2014
‘Supporting an Arch’
The inspiring nature inherent to Victorian methods of making, in particular the industrial revolution and its steel structures, is Alexander’s true passion. He has created Devereux & Co. the branding of his own imagined Victorian company as part on his ongoing practice to create theatrical encounter with his work. The signs make people question what they think is real, even down to the fact that the pieces are not really made of steel.. that it is all a fake.
Alex’s piece created for Intersection, ‘Supporting an Arch’ was inspired by the built environment that conditions our lives in ways we are still discovering. Whether they are imposing, inspiring, subtle or spectacular, the structures that surround us have always been designed to influence the way we see, think and move.
“As an artist who was brought up and currently practices in London, the industrial aesthetic, ornate ethos and passion for Victorian structures will always influence my sculptures, installations and paintings.”
Cadi Froehlich
MA Fine Art, Camberwell and Chelsea College of Arts 2013
‘In Context’
Cadi is drawn to work which is meticulous in concept, execution and material, whilst still keeping true to the wider investigation of the world we live in, and the human experience of modern life. Ideas of consumption, production, obsolescence and interaction are key.
Cadi gets great inspiration from the sheer volume of different incarnations of copper that pass through scrap metal yards. In particular the seemingly never ending variety of cables and hot water tanks, she considers these objects’ place in the wider context of production, consumption and recycling of this commodity.
Cadi’s piece for Intersection ‘In Context’ is informed by data donated by the fellow exhibitors, all of whom are emerging London-based artists. The information collected is related to the length of time people have been making art, and the process, which inevitably features challenges and successes. Cadi asked her peers to recall highlights and lowlights they’ve experienced in their practice, how they were affected by them, and how they feel about their practice today.
Cadi feels that making art is a profoundly emotional process which vies for space in artists lives in addition to common financial and personal constraints. The determination which drives artists seems profoundly optimistic, strong enough to keep them going steady through slumps and successes.
‘In Context’ is an artwork which suggests a sense of shared connection as well as the energies exerted to get work made. The collected results are presented as one work, offering the sense that artists share in this process. Ups and downs, in the long term and short term and perseverance.
The salvaged cables represent the contemporary experience of communication, the way in which artists share and support each other, exchanging ideas and investigating ways to improve their practices.
Marta Barina
BA Photography, Camberwell College of Arts 2016
‘Great Waves’
Marta aims to playfully explore the natural and artificial circumstances that condition the ‘exhibitability’ of artworks with a sympathy for the journey and various processes that lie behind the visible things.
Marta’s work also addresses the 1936 Walter Benjamin’s prophecy for which art, especially since the introduction of Conceptualism, has been experiencing a shift from cult-value to exhibition-value. This shift results nowadays in an increase of importance for those elements that were before considered just a contour – like the gallery space, the curator, the encounter with the public, the exhibition momentum.
Marta’s piece ‘Great Waves’ created for Intersection was a multimedia installation that encloses, celebrates and gives shape to the components of the artistic process.
The momentum of the artist finding their ideas is camouflaged among everyday life encounters in the real and the online worlds. These encounters are common to the ones that most of the people experience when living in the same city, but they develop differently behind the artist’s eye.
The title of the piece is taken from a Japanese koan that tells the story of a wrestler called Great Waves. He is visiting the Zen master in seek of help to become a stronger wrestler, so the teacher invites him in the temple to meditate on his own name. While meditating, he thought of many different things, then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger, until they swept away everything and inundated the temple. Since that day, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.
Marta’s amorphous voiced shell-like sculptures explore the meaning of this koan applied in a contemporary context, inviting the viewer to have a look under the surface of an artist’s practice.
Pamm Hong
MA Material Futures, Central Saint Martins 2015
‘In order to feel rainbows, you must find eternity’
Pamm’s design approach is one that explores the intersection of art, craft, science and technology. The delicate nature of her multidisciplinary work is essential to her observation of the world and pursuit of intricate materiality.
Her work has become more informed by technology, gaining curiosity within subjects like materiality and interactivity.
Pamm’s Intersection installation ‘In order to feel rainbows, you must find eternity’ is a physicalisation of her print work, Soma – a collective series of surface tension observations in macro. Each Soma is an expression of material by its most natural form. Fantasy informs the character of this series, preserving a dreamlike context to discovery within science. #inrainbows is an intersection that reflects the fast realities of London with its hidden moments of beauty.
The life-sized representation of Soma, allows the viewer to share Pamm’s observations through a magnified lens. The installation acts as an interface for momentary gaze. The slowness of the projection is a desire for pause.
‘In order to feel rainbows, you must find eternity’ moves slow while you study its stream. It melts swiftly when you turn away. The hint of rain arrives before you see it, quick, look away and tease it.
Each of these pieces are available for external exhibitions and are for sale through Made in Arts London. If you have any questions about any of the artists or their work please contact rosa@madeinartslondon.com
Made in Art London’s next exhibition will be at Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead from 16-19th June 2016.
