Artists in residence and public events
15 July – 24 August
Annual Open Weekend
14-15 July 10am-6pm

The Mirror is the second in Wysing’s series of residencies for 2012, preceded by The Cosmos (April/May) and followed by The Forest (November/December). Artists have been invited, through a selection process, to come to Wysing to make new work in response to these themes.

For six weeks from 15 July, artists Ed Atkins, Nicolas Deshayes, Philomene Pirecki and Turner Prize 2012 nominee Elizabeth Price are in residence at Wysing’s rural site, developing  new work that explores the contemporary and alternate realities in response to the metaphor of The Mirror. To launch their residencies the artists took part in a public round-table discussion chaired by Jeremy Millar at 2.30pm on Sunday 15 July as part of our annual Open Weekend.

During each residency distinguished experts, amateur hobbyists and members of the public will contribute to an ongoing talks and events programme.  The three themes, or environments, have emerged from ongoing artistic enquiry at Wysing. The Cosmos, the initial starting points of which were the past, origins and knowledge, The Mirror: the present, reflection and commentary and The Forest: the future and transformation through nature are influenced by literary references to other worlds and the merging of fact and fiction, in particular the writings of JG Ballard, Jorge Luis Borges, Michel Foucault, WG Sebald and Kurt Vonnegut.

 

 

 

The Mirror residency launched during Wysing’s annual Open Weekend, which included a glimpse into the studios of Erica Böhr & Lisa Wilkens, Jackie Chettur, Elena Cologni, Bettina Furnee, Rob Smith, Helen Stratford, Caroline Wendling, Simon Woolham and Caroline Wright, who are based on our rural site.  There were also contributions from guest artists, film screenings, family workshops and refreshments by artist-concept cafe Grantchester Ices (Giles Round and Phil Root).

Reinforcing the literary influences on the residencies, Escalator artist-in-residence Patrick Coyle is documenting the year long programme of residencies through creative writing that can be accessed via an ongoing blog

Work created by artists during the residency programme, which is funded by Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is shown at Wysing Arts Centre before being seen by audiences at venues across the UK and beyond.

15 July — 26 August 2012

Ed Atkins works predominantly in HD video, drawing and writing to explore notions of materiality and corporeality pushing the senses to overload through immersive and thought-provoking work which harnesses the tension between human presence and mechanical process.

Atkins lives and works in London and holds an MA Fine Art from Slade School of Fine Art. He is represented by Cabinet Gallery and his recent work has been shown at the ICA, London, Whitechapel Gallery, London and international venues. Atkins was shortlisted for The Jarman Award in 2011 and has a solo exhibition at London’s Chisenhale gallery opening in Autumn 2012.

Nicolas Deshayes sculptures are preoccupied with surfaces – where they begin, where they end, and what meaning they might carry.  He uses the surface to explore notions of reality, authenticity and desire and the relationship between base materiality and technology.

Deshayes was born in 1983 and lives and works in London.  He complted an MA in Sculpture at The Royal College of Art, London, and his work was shown as part of Wysing Arts Centre’s exhibition The Starry Rubric Set in February/March 2012.  He is represented by Jonathan Viner Gallery and has also exhibited at The Zabludowicz Collection, London, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow and at venues internationally.

Philomene Pirecki’s practice includes painting, photography, drawing, slide projections, sculpture and text.  She uses structures and systems that attempt to organise what are essentially intangible and mutable concepts or situations, for instance ideas relating to perception, time, memory and representation. Many works reference the conditions of their own production as a means to draw attention to the unstable relationship between ideas and their material form.

Pirecki was born in Jersey in 1972 and lives and works in London. She has exhibited internationally including at The Barbican, London, South London Gallery, MOT International, Brussels and Laure Genillard, London. She graduated from an MA in Fine Art (Painting) at the Royal College of Art in 1996.

Elizabeth Price creates immersive video installations incorporating digital moving image, text and music. They draw upon existing archives of film, photography and physical collections of art to invent new, apocalyptic narratives.   Human action is rarely directly featured: instead, the drama is mainly expressed using objects which stand in for humans and are used to present institutional contexts and social histories, as well as aspirations and desires.

Price was born in 1966 and lives and works in London.  She has recently had solo exhibitions at Baltic, Newcastle, and Chisenhale Gallery, London.  She studied at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, and completed an MA (Fine Art) at the Royal College of Art, London, (1991).  She is nominated as one of four artists for The Turner Prize, 2012 and is represented by MOT International.