5 – 21 April 2013
Preview: Thursday 4 April, 6 – 9pm
Architrope | Jack Eden | Mimi Joung | Chris Taylor | Sebastian Thomas
Proudly presenting a group exhibition of new work made in response to OVADA’s warehouse. ‘Proposed Additions’ is a collaboration between Oxford and London-based artists who have each used their residency period to explore architectural considerations such as scale, perspective, function and materiality; in turn providing multiple ways for the viewer to perceive, negotiate and relate to the space. The artists have creatively responded to the history and industrial nature of the warehouse and have redefined both architectural boundaries and the behaviour of the building to reflect functional, technical, social, environmental, and aesthetic considerations.
Directly intervening into the constructs of the warehouse, Jack Eden focuses on the interplay between sculptural material and form, and how one affects the other physically, aesthetically, and conceptually. Eden explores how the objective perfection of mathematics can inform, augment or constrain the artwork and how different materials can enhance or negate this formal perfection.
Sebastian Thomas highlights the basic architectural forms typically found in this type of industrial warehouse. Since the building’s construction in 1928, additional rooms, walls and structures have been built, removed and then built up again to accommodate various trades. The constant re-modeling has scarred the interior fabric of the building, leaving a visual history of how the space has functioned over the years.
Also exploring transitional spaces, Architrope disrupts boundaries by using video to explore aspects of what the ‘house’ means to us today. Directed by artist Tom Wolseley, Architrope uses the example of a derelict Georgian town house in Marylebone, where it was shot and first projected. Observations about a variety of subjects are narrated, from descriptions of corroded brickwork to politics and economics, each juxtaposed with the next to create a reflexive space.
Exploring issues of displacement, Mimi Joung uses objects to address a wider discourse, beyond origin and usage, to reference human situations and experience. Joung’s work primarily asks the viewer to respond to the fragility of material. However, it also asks them to think about how our relationship with a particular building changes over time.
Addressing the ‘mapping’ of space, history and architecture, Chris Taylor borrows elements of the warehouse’s structure by recreating and casting sections of the space. This method maps and measures by delving into the history of the building. Taylor presents a more complete view of the warehouse space, its content, layout, construction, history and location both geographically and in time.
The exhibition also examines the relationship between the artists during the production of their work for this group show. The residency period has encouraged both formal and indirect collaborations within the space to create this ambitious and explorative exhibition.
VENUE: OVADA warehouse
OPEN: Thursday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm
FREE ADMISSION