review of association at castlefield gallery
I went to Association's Call out to Collaborators exhibition launch yesterday. Association's collaborative experiment was part of Castlefield Gallery's Summer House project.
The Call out to Collaborators was described like this ahead of time:
From memory there were five invitations:
Pencils with words that might be taken as instructions.
Envelopes containing titles.
Directions for a circular walk.
A short audio file.
A live drawing event in Salford. I intended to attend this one but got caught up in the work I was doing.
These invitations have resulted in what I think are very subtle 'lower case' responses, many of which are barely there.
I'll quickly list some of my favourite responses:
A scan or photograph of a page from a notebook with two drawings of women with their heads and faces veiled.
Two pencils with the instructions 'draw backwards' and 'draw lightly' arranged vertically side by side. The first has the wood peeled back almost to the middle in places in short curls, some of the shavings are on the surface around the pencil. The second pencil is lightly scraped removing the paint in places but barely touching the wood.
A toy-like musical mechanism you wind rotating a continuous printed card of music, making a halting and frail tune. As a friend observed at times the squeaking of the mechanism is louder than the tune. At the launch both were overwhelmed by the sound of people in the space.
Some clay prints of objects found in the street, one with small leaves embedded in it.
Somewhat different from most other items, a dense and long but playful poem created on a spreadsheet.
Two pencils with the instructions 'touch' and something I can't remember. The pencil marked touch is placed in a pencil sharpener and hangs vertically from the wall. The pencil who's instruction I can't remember is laid on a shelf with one side below the instruction scorched by matches. Displayed on the wall between the two is a piece of paper with two parallel horizontal lines of scorching my matches, a wavering and sometimes absent line of untouched surface between them.
A drawing of what might be veins or any other system of interconnected organic seeming tubes.
I think what I like about a lot of the work is that it seems slightly hesitant. It appears to be asking questions. And I mean genuinely asking questions not pretending that it's 'questioning something or other'. There don't seem to be any answers or conclusions provided.
You only have to today to go and see it now, so pull a sickie and get down there.
The Call out to Collaborators was described like this ahead of time:
Throughout the summer Association will send out a series of invitations to
artists in Manchester. Each invite will be a carefully considered gesture and
the responses may take the form of a piece of work, conversation, further
questions, or in some instances, nothing at all. The artists will arrive at
Castlefield Gallery armed with the responses they receive and embark on a week
of activity; digesting, collating and responding to their replies. Association
is Nina Chua, Ying Kwok and Jessica Longmore.
From memory there were five invitations:
Pencils with words that might be taken as instructions.
Envelopes containing titles.
Directions for a circular walk.
A short audio file.
A live drawing event in Salford. I intended to attend this one but got caught up in the work I was doing.
These invitations have resulted in what I think are very subtle 'lower case' responses, many of which are barely there.
I'll quickly list some of my favourite responses:
A scan or photograph of a page from a notebook with two drawings of women with their heads and faces veiled.
Two pencils with the instructions 'draw backwards' and 'draw lightly' arranged vertically side by side. The first has the wood peeled back almost to the middle in places in short curls, some of the shavings are on the surface around the pencil. The second pencil is lightly scraped removing the paint in places but barely touching the wood.
A toy-like musical mechanism you wind rotating a continuous printed card of music, making a halting and frail tune. As a friend observed at times the squeaking of the mechanism is louder than the tune. At the launch both were overwhelmed by the sound of people in the space.
Some clay prints of objects found in the street, one with small leaves embedded in it.
Somewhat different from most other items, a dense and long but playful poem created on a spreadsheet.
Two pencils with the instructions 'touch' and something I can't remember. The pencil marked touch is placed in a pencil sharpener and hangs vertically from the wall. The pencil who's instruction I can't remember is laid on a shelf with one side below the instruction scorched by matches. Displayed on the wall between the two is a piece of paper with two parallel horizontal lines of scorching my matches, a wavering and sometimes absent line of untouched surface between them.
A drawing of what might be veins or any other system of interconnected organic seeming tubes.
I think what I like about a lot of the work is that it seems slightly hesitant. It appears to be asking questions. And I mean genuinely asking questions not pretending that it's 'questioning something or other'. There don't seem to be any answers or conclusions provided.
You only have to today to go and see it now, so pull a sickie and get down there.
Comments