The artists who will be in-residence at Wysing during 2015, taking the theme of The Multiverse as a starting point from which to make new work, are Kit Craig, Electra (Irene Revell), Joey Holder, Essi Kausalainen, Paul Purgas, Takeshi Shiomitsu and Erica Scourti.

Click on each of the artists' images for more work.

Perceiving the world as an organic entity; a chaotic body in which all parts are equally important, Essi Kausalainen makes works in which the space, different species of beings and ‘things’ are approached as performers and partners. Inspired by plant thinking, feminist science studies, new materialisms and quantum physics, Kausalainen creates ambiguous works in the form of gestures and actions. Essi Kausalainen (b. 1979) studied performance art and theory at Turku Arts Academy and the Theatre Academy of Finland. Her work has been exhibited and performed in venues including KIM? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Malmö Moderna Museet; Frankfurt Kunstverein; Museum for Contemporary Art Roskilde; Nikolaj Kunsthalle, Copenhagen and Kunstraum Bethanien, Berlin.

With the support of The Finnish Institute in London and Frame Visual Art Finland.

Kit Craig deals with the problems of how an idea or thought process can translate into an externalised form. The resulting sculptures, drawings and videos investigate this imperfect process of communication emphasising their absurd, out-of-sync and holographic nature. Recent solo exhibitions include: A Room Without Sculptures, Arcade, London, (2014), Shuffle, Parfitt Gallery, Croydon (2013), Nine Men’s Morris, La Galeria Maria Grazia del Prete, Rome, (2011). Recent group exhibitions include: Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London (2015/13/11); Ginko Goethe Garden, Arcade, London (2011); With words like smoke, Chelsea Space, London (2010).

Electra curates, commissions and produces projects by artists working across sound, moving image, performance and the visual arts. Through close dialogue with a range of venues and collaborators, Electra presents projects across the UK and internationally. At the heart of their practice is a process-based relationship between artist, curator and audiences, which seeks to give the projects space to find their own rhythm, public outputs, and discourse.   Electra's core aim is to foster a dialogue between a range of disciplines of contemporary artistic practice, to provide a platform for debate and engaged, dynamic investigations of urgent social, political and cultural questions. Projects include: Someone Else Can Clean Up This Mess (Flat Time House, 2014-15); Her Noise: Feminisms and the Sonic (Tate Modern, 2012); Sound Escapes (Space 2009); The Wire 25 (2007).

Joey Holder mixes elements of biology, nanotechnology and natural history against computer program interfaces, screen savers and measuring devices. Working across trans-media platforms her work operates through an ongoing state of transformation, constantly morphing and inhabiting different realms. Holder was a recent finalist for the Converse/Dazed Emerging Artist Award (2013); included in Vestige: The Future is Here, Design Museum, London (2013) and Multinatural Histories, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Massachusetts, USA (2013). Recent solo exhibitions include HYDROZOAN, The Royal Standard, part of the Liverpool Biennial program (2014) and BioSTAT. at Project Native Informant, London (2015).

Paul Purgas has a multi-disciplinary approach that brings together elements of sound and composition, architecture, industrial design and software programming. Originally trained as an architect and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2004, he has since been based in the curatorial department at Arnolfini, Bristol and curated contemporary art and performance projects for Tate Britain, De La Warr Pavillion, Spike Island and Frieze Art Fair.  Alongside this he is also the co-founder of Emptyset with James Ginzburg, a project that operates as a meeting point for sound, architecture and performance considering full frequency audio, psychoacoustics and the legacy of Structural/Materialist production. Emptyset have produced installations for Tate Britain and the Architecture Foundation in London, and live performances at Bergen Konsthall, CTM/Transmediale and Kunsthalle Zurich.

 

Takeshi Shiomitsu questions the ways power and ideology affects our intuitive interactions with the world, particularly a rapidly technologized and networked life through exposure to images. From this source, he creates a slippery aesthetic, opening, leading to and suggesting multiples and contraries. Recent solo/two persons show Spirit Level with Jesse Darling, Andor, London, (2015); WASH, Happy Times, Milcote House, London (2014); Every line ever spoken (with Sandra Vaka Olsen), 68, Copenhagen (2014) and You Are Beautiful, LimaZulu, London (2013). Recent group exhibitions include June Snow, Evelyn Yard, London (2014); Unified Fabric, Arcadia Missa, London (2013); and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012). Shiomitsu has contributed to publications Palace of Peace & Reconciliation (2014) and (networked) Every Whisper Is a Crash On My Ears (2013), both published by A_M.

Erica Scourti draws on a personal biography to explore the notion of a subject aware of herself as caught within a system of techno-social representations, reflecting on questions of post-authenticity, intimacy and connection in a fully mediated world. Her work in video, performance, online and with text has been shown recently in groups shows and festivals, Transmediale 15, Haus De Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, (2015), End User, Hayward Project Space, London (2014), Soft Machines, IMPAKT Festival, Utrecht, (2014), P/N/19 Foam, a peripatetic project by Mat Jenner at Project/ Number, London, (2014), Snow Crash, Banner Repeater, London, (2014). She has also presented performances and talks at the ICA, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, DRAF and the Southbank Centre