How to Look?
http://e-leven.co.uk/past/how-to-look/
Project Space 11, Plymouth City Market
Wednesday 23rd June 2010 – Thursday 22nd July 2010
Project Space 11ʼs prominent and visible position within a busy market brings
into question how contemporary art can be accessible to a non-art audience.
Four exciting new artist commissions from The Hut Project, Thorsten Knaub,
Craig Barnes and Townley and Bradby explore the role of the viewer, and
how artists can provide a key or tools to assist the audience in engaging with
their work.
This has long been a concern for visual artists, the notion that there is an over
arching ʻthingʼ to ʻgetʼ often dissuading the viewer from engaging with
contemporary art.
“The problem lies in the word ʻunderstandingʼ and its many levels which
cannot be restricted to rational analysis. Imagination, inspiration, and longing
all lead people to sense that these other levels also play a part in
understanding.”
Joseph Beuys, 1965.
This project does not wish to dictate meaning, but instead aims to illuminate
audience engagement with artworks, while emphasising that there is no one
ʻcorrectʼ approach. The work produced is more of an open ended, playful
pondering of ways of looking, rather than a demonstrative gesture.
The Hut Project. How to Sea
Wednesday 23rd June – Saturday 26th June.
How to Sea comprises three films documenting walks made around the Tate
Modern collection by each of The Hut Project artists and their respective
mothers. Instead of revealing the collection visually How to Sea shows the
works on display via the walkers’ conversations. The films last as long as it
took the walkers to navigate the collection and are unedited.
Thorsten Knaub. Dark Cloud
Wednesday 30th June – Saturday 3rd July.
Dark Cloud, part of the Stationary Play Series, explores ideas around the
ʻvirtualisationʼ of the human presence and gesture. By examining the
characters of video and console games Knaub questions the way we engage
with the projected image.
Craig Barnes. Are we there yet? (an act of the Utility Sculpture Scheme)
Wednesday 7th July – Saturday 10th July.
Wednesday 14th July – Saturday 17th July.
Arriving with a library of accumulated redundant materials from his own
studio, Barnes will utilise the project space as a temporary test site for making
sculptures that attempt to capture the fleeting moment of their creation, do apt
justice to the history of their component parts, whilst questioning what these
moments might stand for and what they can convey, if anything.
Week one: Barnes will be resident in the market unit; transforming Project
Space 11 into an active artistʼs studio.
Week two: Project Space 11 will exhibit the outcomes of Barnesʼ residence.
Townley and Bradby. Play Ploy Poy
Monday 19th July – Thursday 22nd July.
Townley and Bradby will use How To Look? as the starting point for a series
of playful and public activities which are open to all. By taking part,
participants can discover alternative ways to interact with Plymouth City
Market; re-imagining it as a site for playful exploration. Events will include
Market Pac-Man, Teleconnection Teledirection and other games that engage
with the location of Project Space 11.
Opening times: 10am – 4pm.
Private view: Wednesday 23rd June, 12pm–3pm.
Location:
Unit 11
Plymouth City Market
Cornwall Street
Plymouth
PL1 1PS
Directions:
Project Space 11 is situated inside Plymouth City Market.
You can find us in between Elder Crafts and The Bag Shop on the outer edge
of the market hall. We are opposite the foot of the steps leading to the Upper
Market Cafés. (Our nearest market entrance can be found at the bottom of
Cornwall Street)
