Troubled Waters
2013.03.08～2013.05.05
09:00 - 17:00
Curatorial Statement Chris Wainwright Sarah Dobai - Anne Lydiat - Martin Newth - William Raban - Chris Wainwright A key aspect of the exhibition ‘Troubled Waters’ is a preoccupation with water, its relationship to the land, and in particular how it has become a focus for global concerns about the environment. There is little doubt that the increasingly dramatic effects of climate change, in the last three decades, can be seen in the rapidly changing nature of water evidenced through the melting ice caps, the rising and warming of the sea, high levels of pollution and contamination through our irresponsible attitudes to managing industrial waste. The natural world is showing signs of extreme distress as a direct consequence of our actions, with increase of severe storms and at the other end of the weather spectrum, sustained periods of drought and the lack of water as the world’s climatic order changes. Water is therefore often a contested elemental commodity in that it defines and divides territories and is often the specific site and focus of human conflict, throughout history as well as in the present. Water provides a crucial means of energy, of travel and trade, a source of food from our seas and rivers and sustains our existence as a vital element in our human biological and chemical makeup. It continues to be the most valuable and increasingly unstable resource on earth. The term ‘Troubled Waters’ also indicates in the context of this exhibition, a more metaphorical view of conflict and of contradiction. Aspects of heritage, history, representation, cultural discourse and our relationship to means of production are explored in the work of the five artists and their accompanying texts. The exhibition includes single screen and spatial video installations, sound and photographic works, sculptural elements and light works. The five artists are brought together for the first time with some of the artworks being produced specifically for the exhibition. jointly explore the development of contemporary art direction and issues. Future planning includes pushing towards international recognition using exhibition exchange between young artists, and step out to the international community from Asia.
Curatorial Statement Chris Wainwright Sarah Dobai - Anne Lydiat - Martin Newth - William Raban - Chris Wainwright A key aspect of the exhibition ‘Troubled Waters’ is a preoccupation with water, its relationship to the land, and in particular how it has become a focus for global concerns about the environment. There is little doubt that the increasingly dramatic effects of climate change, in the last three decades, can be seen in the rapidly changing nature of water evidenced through the melting ice caps, the rising and warming of the sea, high levels of pollution and contamination through our irresponsible attitudes to managing industrial waste. The natural world is showing signs of extreme distress as a direct consequence of our actions, with increase of severe storms and at the other end of the weather spectrum, sustained periods of drought and the lack of water as the world’s climatic order changes. Water is therefore often a contested elemental commodity in that it defines and divides territories and is often the specific site and focus of human conflict, throughout history as well as in the present. Water provides a crucial means of energy, of travel and trade, a source of food from our seas and rivers and sustains our existence as a vital element in our human biological and chemical makeup. It continues to be the most valuable and increasingly unstable resource on earth. The term ‘Troubled Waters’ also indicates in the context of this exhibition, a more metaphorical view of conflict and of contradiction. Aspects of heritage, history, representation, cultural discourse and our relationship to means of production are explored in the work of the five artists and their accompanying texts. The exhibition includes single screen and spatial video installations, sound and photographic works, sculptural elements and light works. The five artists are brought together for the first time with some of the artworks being produced specifically for the exhibition. jointly explore the development of contemporary art direction and issues. Future planning includes pushing towards international recognition using exhibition exchange between young artists, and step out to the international community from Asia.
Anne Lydiat studied BA Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University (1978/81) and MA Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University (1981/82). She was awarded a Henry Moore Fellowship at Birmingham Polytechnic (1985-87) and has taught Fine Art in various art schools in the UK. In 1992 she was appointed Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University until 2002, working at MA and PhD level, and as Acting Course Leader. In 2008-2010 she was appointed Senior Adviser Research and Publications at Bergen National Academy of the Arts (KHIB) and in 2010-2011 she became Research Consultant at Columbia College, Chicago, USA. Her solo exhibitions include Psychogeographical Traces – (performing the city drawings). Tourism & Performance Conference. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, (2005): Permission to Speak(Installation) Freud Museum, Maresfield Gardens. London (2002): One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer – video installation, External Projection at Site Gallery. Sheffield (2002). Her recent group exhibitions include: Langford120 welcomes 2013. ‘7 Arctic Pebbles/And 7 tides’, (Drawings), Langford120 Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. (2013): filling in the blanks (an event, investigating how one could perform the blank book: reading ‘lost for words…’ (1999)at X Marks the Bokship. London. (2012):International Art and Science Exhibition. ‘Time and Tide’, (Drawings), National Museum of Science and Technology, Beijing, China. (2012): Timepieces, ‘Time and Tide’ (Drawings), Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts, Lancaster. (2011): space(river)between ’Rising Tides’ (Drawings)International Gallery, Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool. (2010): Specula: Drawing Time. ‘Performing the City’ a Global Centre for Drawing Project shown at: RMIT Melbourne, Australia; Drawing Space, Dubai and Drawing Space, Hong Kong. (2010). ‘Return Flight’in ‘An Orchestra of Strings’ TheCryptGallery, Euston Road, London.(2010): ‘Between Time and Space’, Fly by Night (Video installation), Heijo Palace, Nara. Japan: ‘The Moons of Higashiyama’, ‘Moon Moth’ (Installation). Night Garden Art Project, Kodai ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan (2008): ‘Atmosphere’ ‘Moon Moth’ (installation) Ginza Art Lab. Tokyo. Japan and Heterotopia(dvd,Purcell Rooms, Southbank. London, (2009). Publications include ‘I wonder where you are?’ in Expedition. Bright 9. pub.CCW, University of the Arts London, (2012) and ‘Casuistry’ (a text and drawings) in Pilgrimage. Confluens 1, Fine Art Research at Middlesex University. Issue Editor, Nicky Coutts. For the past eleven years she has been living and working as an artist on a ship moored on the River Thames at Tower Bridge, London and is currently registered for a PhD at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London.
Anne Lydiat studied BA Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University (1978/81) and MA Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University (1981/82). She was awarded a Henry Moore Fellowship at Birmingham Polytechnic (1985-87) and has taught Fine Art in various art schools in the UK. In 1992 she was appointed Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University until 2002, working at MA and PhD level, and as Acting Course Leader. In 2008-2010 she was appointed Senior Adviser Research and Publications at Bergen National Academy of the Arts (KHIB) and in 2010-2011 she became Research Consultant at Columbia College, Chicago, USA. Her solo exhibitions include Psychogeographical Traces – (performing the city drawings). Tourism & Performance Conference. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, (2005): Permission to Speak(Installation) Freud Museum, Maresfield Gardens. London (2002): One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer – video installation, External Projection at Site Gallery. Sheffield (2002). Her recent group exhibitions include: Langford120 welcomes 2013. ‘7 Arctic Pebbles/And 7 tides’, (Drawings), Langford120 Gallery, Melbourne, Australia. (2013): filling in the blanks (an event, investigating how one could perform the blank book: reading ‘lost for words…’ (1999)at X Marks the Bokship. London. (2012):International Art and Science Exhibition. ‘Time and Tide’, (Drawings), National Museum of Science and Technology, Beijing, China. (2012): Timepieces, ‘Time and Tide’ (Drawings), Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts, Lancaster. (2011): space(river)between ’Rising Tides’ (Drawings)International Gallery, Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool. (2010): Specula: Drawing Time. ‘Performing the City’ a Global Centre for Drawing Project shown at: RMIT Melbourne, Australia; Drawing Space, Dubai and Drawing Space, Hong Kong. (2010). ‘Return Flight’in ‘An Orchestra of Strings’ TheCryptGallery, Euston Road, London.(2010): ‘Between Time and Space’, Fly by Night (Video installation), Heijo Palace, Nara. Japan: ‘The Moons of Higashiyama’, ‘Moon Moth’ (Installation). Night Garden Art Project, Kodai ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan (2008): ‘Atmosphere’ ‘Moon Moth’ (installation) Ginza Art Lab. Tokyo. Japan and Heterotopia(dvd,Purcell Rooms, Southbank. London, (2009). Publications include ‘I wonder where you are?’ in Expedition. Bright 9. pub.CCW, University of the Arts London, (2012) and ‘Casuistry’ (a text and drawings) in Pilgrimage. Confluens 1, Fine Art Research at Middlesex University. Issue Editor, Nicky Coutts. For the past eleven years she has been living and working as an artist on a ship moored on the River Thames at Tower Bridge, London and is currently registered for a PhD at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London.
Professor Chris Wainwright is an artist, curator and Pro Vice Chancellor of The University of the Arts London and Head of Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon Colleges of Art. He is currently a member of The Tate Britain Council and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Cape Farewell, an artist run organisation that promotes a cultural response to climate change. His artistic practice is primarily in photography and video and his recent exhibitions include: ‘A Catalogue of Error’s at The Diawa Foundation, London: ‘Futureland Now’ at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK: ‘Between Time and Space’, Heijo Palace, Nara, Japan: ’The Moons of Higashiyama’, Kodai-ji temple, Kyoto, Japan: ‘Between Land and Sea’ at Box 38 Ostende, Belgium: ‘Trauma’ at the Culturcentrum, Brugge in Belgium. He is currently co-curating a major international touring exhibition for Cape Farewell called ‘U-n-f-o-l-d’ that profiles the work of 23 artists addressing the issues of climate change. The exhibition has been shown in Vienna, London, Newcastle, Newlyn, Liverpool, Chicago and New York and will be touring to Beijing, Nanjing and other venues Asia from 2013 onwards. Chris Wainwright’s work is held in many major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Arts Council of England; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: the Polaroid Corporation, Boston, USA: and Unilever, London.
Professor Chris Wainwright is an artist, curator and Pro Vice Chancellor of The University of the Arts London and Head of Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon Colleges of Art. He is currently a member of The Tate Britain Council and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Cape Farewell, an artist run organisation that promotes a cultural response to climate change. His artistic practice is primarily in photography and video and his recent exhibitions include: ‘A Catalogue of Error’s at The Diawa Foundation, London: ‘Futureland Now’ at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK: ‘Between Time and Space’, Heijo Palace, Nara, Japan: ’The Moons of Higashiyama’, Kodai-ji temple, Kyoto, Japan: ‘Between Land and Sea’ at Box 38 Ostende, Belgium: ‘Trauma’ at the Culturcentrum, Brugge in Belgium. He is currently co-curating a major international touring exhibition for Cape Farewell called ‘U-n-f-o-l-d’ that profiles the work of 23 artists addressing the issues of climate change. The exhibition has been shown in Vienna, London, Newcastle, Newlyn, Liverpool, Chicago and New York and will be touring to Beijing, Nanjing and other venues Asia from 2013 onwards. Chris Wainwright’s work is held in many major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Arts Council of England; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: the Polaroid Corporation, Boston, USA: and Unilever, London.
Martin Newth is an artist and lecturer. He studied at Newcastle University and the Slade School of Art. Martin Newth makes photographic, video and installation work, which emphasise the processes by which the works are made as much as the product. His work explores the historical roots of photography, harking back to the era of its discovery, and raises questions about the aesthetics of the medium in the 21st century. Martin Newth’s work often investigates the relationship between architectural features and the landscape, making direct links between the two. Martin Newth has exhibited nationally and internationally including solo and group exhibitions at: George and Jørgen, London; The Visual Arts Centre Gallery, Tsinghua University, Beijing; The Downstairs Gallery, Hereford; Axel Lapp Projects, Berlin; Focal Point Gallery, Southend; Ffotogallery, Cardiff; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; the Kunstverein Konstanz, Germany; and the V&A Museum of Childhood, London. Martin Newth’s work has been published in books and catalogues including: ‘Sentinel’ (2011); ‘Future Images’, (2010); ‘Sequences: Contemporary Chronophotography and Experimental Digital Art’, (2009); ‘Martin Newth: Solar Cinema’, (2007); and ‘Slow Burn’, (2006). Martin Newth has organised and co-curated numerous exhibitions including a series of artists' projects at Central Space, west London (2001-2004). Between 2005 and 2011 Martin Newth was Course Director of BA Photography at Camberwell College of Arts. He is now Programme Director of BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design.
Martin Newth is an artist and lecturer. He studied at Newcastle University and the Slade School of Art. Martin Newth makes photographic, video and installation work, which emphasise the processes by which the works are made as much as the product. His work explores the historical roots of photography, harking back to the era of its discovery, and raises questions about the aesthetics of the medium in the 21st century. Martin Newth’s work often investigates the relationship between architectural features and the landscape, making direct links between the two. Martin Newth has exhibited nationally and internationally including solo and group exhibitions at: George and Jørgen, London; The Visual Arts Centre Gallery, Tsinghua University, Beijing; The Downstairs Gallery, Hereford; Axel Lapp Projects, Berlin; Focal Point Gallery, Southend; Ffotogallery, Cardiff; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; the Kunstverein Konstanz, Germany; and the V&A Museum of Childhood, London. Martin Newth’s work has been published in books and catalogues including: ‘Sentinel’ (2011); ‘Future Images’, (2010); ‘Sequences: Contemporary Chronophotography and Experimental Digital Art’, (2009); ‘Martin Newth: Solar Cinema’, (2007); and ‘Slow Burn’, (2006). Martin Newth has organised and co-curated numerous exhibitions including a series of artists' projects at Central Space, west London (2001-2004). Between 2005 and 2011 Martin Newth was Course Director of BA Photography at Camberwell College of Arts. He is now Programme Director of BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design.
Sarah Dobai works with photography, film and video, she has exhibited widely in the UK, Europe and America. Recent exhibitions include Twenty Second Hold, Works Projects, Bristol and The London Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery (both 2012). At the Whitechapel Gallery 2012 she staged her first live performance Study, which was based on her photographic and film shoots. Later in 2012 a development of this live work was commissioned and presented at Spike Island, Bristol. Other recent shows include On the Nature of Things, Kamloops Art Gallery, Canada (2011), A Fire Is Set in His Masters House, Chapter Arts, Cardiff (2011), Theatres of the Real, Antwerp FotoMuseum (2009), Darkside 2, Winterthur FotoMusuem (2009), Innocence and Experience, Gimpel Fils, London (2007) and Artists’ Space, New York (2003). In 2006 Kettles Yard, Cambridge presented a major solo show of selected photographs and film works. In the mid 1990‘s Sarah Dobai completed an MFA at the University of British Columbia, Canada. From 2004-2006 she was awarded a Residency at Delfina Studio Trust, London and in 2008 she was made a Visual Arts Laurete by the Centre International des Recollets, Paris. Her work is featured in Charlotte Cotton's ‘The Photograph as Contemporary Art’ Thames & Hudson, and in the second edition of Michel Poivert’s’ ‘La Photographie Contemporaine’, Flammarion Presse 2010. She lives and works in London.
Sarah Dobai works with photography, film and video, she has exhibited widely in the UK, Europe and America. Recent exhibitions include Twenty Second Hold, Works Projects, Bristol and The London Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery (both 2012). At the Whitechapel Gallery 2012 she staged her first live performance Study, which was based on her photographic and film shoots. Later in 2012 a development of this live work was commissioned and presented at Spike Island, Bristol. Other recent shows include On the Nature of Things, Kamloops Art Gallery, Canada (2011), A Fire Is Set in His Masters House, Chapter Arts, Cardiff (2011), Theatres of the Real, Antwerp FotoMuseum (2009), Darkside 2, Winterthur FotoMusuem (2009), Innocence and Experience, Gimpel Fils, London (2007) and Artists’ Space, New York (2003). In 2006 Kettles Yard, Cambridge presented a major solo show of selected photographs and film works. In the mid 1990‘s Sarah Dobai completed an MFA at the University of British Columbia, Canada. From 2004-2006 she was awarded a Residency at Delfina Studio Trust, London and in 2008 she was made a Visual Arts Laurete by the Centre International des Recollets, Paris. Her work is featured in Charlotte Cotton's ‘The Photograph as Contemporary Art’ Thames & Hudson, and in the second edition of Michel Poivert’s’ ‘La Photographie Contemporaine’, Flammarion Presse 2010. She lives and works in London.
Born in Norfolk, UK, 1948, William Raban started making films whist he was a student studying painting at Saint Martin’s School of Art in 1970. Since then, he has made over 40 films, many of which have London as their subject. They include the feature length Thames Film (1986), the more politically charged Under the Tower trilogy (1992-96) and About Now MMX (2010). The Houseless Shadow was a film highlight of the Dickens and London exhibition at the Museum of London (09.12.2011 - 10.06.2012). Raban presented films and an installation at Tate Modern’s The Tanks: Art in Action programme (16-21 October 2012) and is currently working on the film 72-82 commissioned by Acme Artists’ Studios, to premier at Whitechapel Gallery, London in December 2013. Retrospective programs include Rotterdam International Film Festival (2001); Multi Media Centre, Zagreb (2002); Strange Screen, Thessalonica (2002); Zimbabwe Film Festival (2003); Museum of Contemporary Art, Strasbourg, (2005); Musée des Beaux Arts, Brussels (2007); Gate Cinema, London (2010) and Media City Ontario, Canada (2011).
Born in Norfolk, UK, 1948, William Raban started making films whist he was a student studying painting at Saint Martin’s School of Art in 1970. Since then, he has made over 40 films, many of which have London as their subject. They include the feature length Thames Film (1986), the more politically charged Under the Tower trilogy (1992-96) and About Now MMX (2010). The Houseless Shadow was a film highlight of the Dickens and London exhibition at the Museum of London (09.12.2011 - 10.06.2012). Raban presented films and an installation at Tate Modern’s The Tanks: Art in Action programme (16-21 October 2012) and is currently working on the film 72-82 commissioned by Acme Artists’ Studios, to premier at Whitechapel Gallery, London in December 2013. Retrospective programs include Rotterdam International Film Festival (2001); Multi Media Centre, Zagreb (2002); Strange Screen, Thessalonica (2002); Zimbabwe Film Festival (2003); Museum of Contemporary Art, Strasbourg, (2005); Musée des Beaux Arts, Brussels (2007); Gate Cinema, London (2010) and Media City Ontario, Canada (2011).
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