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| An unexpected other occupant we found in the floor.. |
FILMS, PERFORMANCE, LIVE STREAMING
For the Open Day Event on Saturday 22nd October 2011, Hill and Steele invited other artists to co-occupy the gallery space. Their work explores themes of multiple occupancy from different perspectives with, and outwith the local area.
With special thanks to Katie Bryer for her expert editing help.
Nicola Smith
‘Cut Intervention’ Liverpool, 2009, Video: 5 minutes, 7 seconds.
Nicola Smith created interventions based on the use and history of the site. An ongoing debate as to whether Liverpool One shopping centre is a public or privatised space sparked my interest in testing the boundaries of acceptable activity in the area.
Nicola Smith is a Manchester based visual artist who makes work in response to the context of my surroundings and use different mediums such as live art intervention, performance lectures, sound and video. Smith punctuates situations in public and private spaces by playing out a series of actions, which takes on many forms, in order to disrupt the expectations of the audience.
John Deller
‘Spinning Pillbox’ 2011, Animation: 1 minute, 39 seconds.
This short animation is a part of my long-term fascination with WWII pillboxes – in particular the small hexagonal Type 22. From being hastily built in response to the looming threat of Nazi invasion they have withstood 70 years of functional and cultural change. Derelict forgotten structures being reclaimed by time and nature, reflecting the rapidly fading memories of the volunteers that once kept watch. The pillboxes remain as markers echoing the changing use of the landscape encouraged by industrial and social upheavals within the previous seven decades. The loss of many of our railway lines abandoning some of the pillboxes in uncertain and clumsy locations. Areas of “non-space” that would seem to have little or no strategic relevance to the contemporary landscape. Human-scale camera obscuras they look inwards at a readymade history whilst looking outwards towards an uncertain future yet silently holding a constant vigil upon our beaches and within our towns and countryside.
Helena Doyle
‘Follow Me Home’ 2011, HD Video, 6 minutes, 54 seconds
A continuous shot community film shot in the artist's hometown in Ireland. The town Castledermot in it's heyday used to be a busy market town abundant with culture, now it is a drive through recession town. The piece focuses on moments as they are created through a life time spent in a building central to the town's social life.
Helena Doyle is a filmmaker and installation artist from Ireland. Recently she completed a Masters in Art & Media Practice at Universityof Westminster. She is a member of the Utrophia collective based in Deptford.
Inigo Rousham
‘A place for us’ 2011, Digital video: 4 mins 38 seconds
‘A place for us’, is a patchwork of encounters and observations gathered from the newly developed Windrush Square in the centre of Brixton. In keeping with London`s status as a ‘World City’ the development of the square is part of a larger project, initiated by Ken Livingstone, to build 100 new public spaces in London. Since its opening in 2009 Rousham has made frequent visits to the square documenting the movements and voices of its inhabitants and visitors. Sometimes working collaboratively and, at other times alone, Rousham has found that fugitive patterns and stories emerge only to fall away again.
Inigo Rousham has a background in Fine Art and has recently completed an MA with the Institute of Education and Goldsmiths College exploring models of learning, in relation to fine art practice. Rousham has lived in Brixton for around 17 years, working as a teacher and an artist.
Ahmed and Carpenter
‘Orbit’ 2011, Moving image work: 2 minutes, 59 seconds
Ahmed and Carpenter’s practice is a continual investigation in their collective interest in the author, language and self-reflexive art. They often explore their creative relationship with film, photography and performance.
Orbit, is a moving image work that was originally filmed at Rogue Project Space. In this piece Ahmed and Carpenter circulate the gallery walls, testing not only their own bodily limitations but also the physical constraints of the space. Orbit references, the tradition of artists in their working environment , and how they interpret space.
Lucia Sceranková
‘Always 4:22’ 2008, video: 11 minutes, 14 seconds
The work is dealing with large housing estate Petržalka, where I used to live before.
Project was mapping of my present landscape. I collected various microstories, that had happened there. They have character of diary notes - in the form of text, photos and short videos. My ambition was to evoke the atmosphere of housing estate through behaviour of people. I created images of community-noncommunity. I have tried to research and reflect my present landscape and doing that I have discovered many final landscapes.
Lucia Scerankova graduated this year at Academy of Fine Art in Prague in studio of Vladimir Skrepl. She also studied at Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava (2004-2008). In 2007 she went for exchange at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, School of Arts and Cultures. She has been exhibiting since 2006. In 2011 besides other exhibitions she presented her work at Bienniall of Young Art Scooter in Slovakia, at group exhibition Mountain Lake in gallery Meetfactory in Prague and at solo exhibition Fire, water, wind knows in gallery A.M. 180 (Prague). In terms of non-exhibiting projects she designed cover of album Reading lyrics aloud means singing for Prague-based musician Ondrej Holý aka dné (2011). In 2009 she got the award Best videoart for video Always 4:22 at festival Early melons in Bratislava, Slovakia. These days she represents Academy of Fine Arts in Prague at international exhibition of best final works Start Point prize 2011 that takes place in Wanieck gallery in Brno, Czech republic.
Penny Skerrett
‘Gaze’ 2011: 8 minutes, 1 second
This film was inspired by a period of time I spent sitting in hospital waiting rooms. I was interested in the interplay between the intensely private experience of sitting with oneself and one’s thoughts and the fleeting moments of connection with another person that occur in shared spaces.
In constructing the film it became apparent that the camera, as a surrogate of the eye’s gaze, established a complex relationship with the participants. I became aware of the fluctuations of vulnerability and power between the participant and the viewer and of how the act of being observed affected their behaviour.
Penny is an artist whose practice has moved between the disciplines of performance art, furniture maker, lecturer, activist and curator. Her artwork, mainly films and drawing, is motivated by an interest in attention and onto what and where this is focused. The exchange between external environments and that of internal landscapes and an exploration of ‘belonging’ is something that is repeatedly explored through her work. Whilst studying on the Arts & Ecology MA at Dartington College of Arts she co-founded The Mobile Institute an interdisciplinary artists collective.
