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The Museum of [ ] Objects at the Allotment project is now closed

The curators continue to amass the collection and explore their role as cultural anthropologists....

Phase 3 Group Show

Showcasing the work of Christophe Dillinger, Aylwin Greenwood-Lambert, Joanne Hummel-Newell, The Jackson Twins, David Cheeseman, Mel Brimfield, Martin Bardell and Matt Smith

photography: top Mona Casey, bottom Charlie Levine

Matt Smith

Hide and Seek

Found fabric, silk, 2011

History is not democratic. Some are remembered and others are forgotten. Overarching “truths” stand in for the complexity of real lives, erasing out many people’s memories and histories.

I am interested in the people in history’s margins. The histories that are slightly out of line provide great possibilities to re-read the past.

The gaps created by erasing these marginal histories enable a consistent, coherent narrative of the past to triumph. However, they leave shadows and they leave silences. The lives lived in these shadows are open to multiple readings. They can be somewhere for us to project desire or to claim kinship. The murkiness also allows for fears to grow, for these shadows to become monsters.

It may take longer and it may need more effort, but the silences can be heard. When they are, the past feels like a more inclusive place, somewhere for everyone, somewhere more truthful.

www.mattjsmith.com

Martin Bardell

The Cubicle, 2009 c-print on aluminium

The relationship between the self and society forms my general area of interest and I am particularly keen to explore both evolving and declining aspects of social interaction. I am interested in pinpointing changes in our everyday social rituals as an attempt at charting seemingly swift societal change. In this sense I am drawn to notions of Zeitgeist, be they fading or emerging. Today’s shifting experiential boundaries abstract our use of urban and rural environments, and perhaps even our notion of geographical place. A form of collective consciousness becomes muddled amidst such transformations, and social codes of conduct become increasingly elusive.

Through my studio-based practice I aim to address the perceived authenticity or artificiality of our contemporary social reality. The visual language of theatricality provides a suitable theoretical space within which to explore the politics of social interaction. In this sense my recent works seek to document, however atypically, a cross-section of a shared social psychology.

Mel Brimfield

'Whole Lotta Lead', 2011 gouache on mountboard The brute machismo evidenced by Richard Serra¹s early sculptural practice is typical of the period. Promotional materials and media reports emphasized the muscularity and epic scale of his work, and typically featured photographs of the ripplingly muscular young hotshot stripped to the waist, or in revealing spandex outfits, and always with his trademark welding mask and crucibles, as evidenced in this poster for his blockbuster Whole Lotta Lead exhibition. The portrait featured is one of a series shot by Hans Namuth of the artist at work on his 'Throwing Lead' series in a studio at the Leo Castelli warehouse. Originally published as part of an eight-page spread in prominent sculpture journal Rolling Stone, under the headline ŒIs he the greatest living sculptor in the United States?, the photographs were a paean to both masculine animal magnetism, and the raw physicality and drama of the sculptor¹s art.

His magnificent torso is smeared with oil and soot, and glistens in the dim light of the foundry furnace against a backdrop of exposed brickwork and rusty steel he is barely aware of the rude interruption of Namuth¹s probing lens as his studded gauntlets firmly grip the handles of his twin crucible ladles, full to the brim with molten lead. In a flurry of impetuous speed, the artist furiously hurls lariats of the fluid metal at the wall, a blur of superhuman energy and cathartic outpouring, before withdrawing, spent and cooling, a burnt out crater between explosions.

The sculptor is represented as undertaking an epic struggle with the very materiality of the physical world. In his dynamic posturing, he is the picture of a Romantic genius possessed by demonic terribilita.

Joanne Hummel-Newell

Best in Show

found object and ephemera, 2012

Embalmed in what was once readily to hand, these elevated figurines are shrines to societies short-lived fancies and disposable items.

Collecting discarded objects and ephemera is an important part of my creative process. Touched by another’s hand, the objects transcend their material nature and a narrative appears.

I decorate and wrap the figurines like mummies and then place them on book pillars to elevate them.

Snippets of photographic imagery and text peep through the wrapping to suggest a life’s story to create a final display. An ornamental end to the books, magazines, catalogues and receipts which are quickly being replaced by the digital.

Aylwin Greenwood-Lambert

Genuine Artefacts, 2012

The 2 parts forming the display presented on the shelf to the left / right are, in terms of their existence as whole things, new. However the component objects from which they are assembled – postcards, frames, cigarette cards - were all produced in the early 1930’s.

The potential for the component objects to have been combined in this manner dates from their time of production; should this potential have been fulfilled at this point then the term ‘Genuine Artefacts’ would have initially applied purely to the monuments featured on the postcards.

It is now 80 years since the component parts were manufactured and therefore the term ‘Genuine Artefacts’ may be applied not only to the monuments on the postcards but also to the postcards and other components which make up the two parts of the display.

At some point in the future the term ‘Genuine Artefacts’ will begin to apply to the two parts of the display.

#artefacts genuine museum

David Cheeseman

‘The changing room’

‘As if by magic the shopkeeper appeared’ is a familiar phrase to those of us that grew up watching T.V in the 1970’s. Mr. Benn has now left the building and all that remains is his crisp black bowler and shiny bright shoes, the discarded attire of an ordinary businessman or banker. This mysterious gateway that unlocks extraordinary adventures is a conduit for the other selves that find space in the alternate realities of a quantum multiverse.

This piece is a conflation of my research interests. The gadgets and gaffs of the magicians trade propose material possibilities that contemporary physicists seek to observe. A mirror the device that confirms and confounds the others subjectivities.

Dimensions variable.

Mirror, shoes, bowler hat, stress ball, crystal balls, magnet, radiant light film and leather.

The Jackson Twins

‘He had recognised how well the gentility had obscured the delirium (self portrait. 55)’

Our work pays particular focus to 'The Twin', what it is to be an identical being - to in essence, share an identity with you re double. We explore the worldwide fascination with twins: in terms of the pop culture fixation of the 'evil-twin', the depths of the twin in folklore (The Doppelganger) and the themes explored through psychology and psychoanalysis. We aim to take advantage of the visual power - the awkwardness, the lack of fit and belonging, the freakish feel – of the twin motif. Within the performance of our self-portraits we illustrate the relevance of such an evocative motif in the context of a culture still fixated on the individual.

Our series of work entitled ‘The Cataclysmic Accounts from the Binary Institute’, in which ‘He had recognised how well the gentility had obscured the delirium (self portrait. 55)’ is taken, presents the viewer with folklore-inspired narratives where we take on the roles of story-book archetypes. This exploration into the Doppelganger theme has been combined with psychological research, in particular studies into delusional misidentification syndromes and multiple personality disorders.

We conceive the characters for this work so that they fit the particular scenario we have in mind, yet still remain extensions of ourselves. The costumes and make up have become more important as we have progressed, as it allows us to fully immerse ourselves within the role, performing these new identities. We do however place a certain importance on the viewer constructing the narrative. We aim for the pieces to raise questions as to whether we are literally seeing a double or whether the twin becomes a metaphor for a singular identity split and battling itself, one fighting one’s own inner demons, or a visual play on ideas such as the ego versus the id, or the conscience versus the hedonistic.

#twins uncanny gentility

Christophe Dillinger

Children must be supervised at all times

This sound installation is a reflection on information and the way it is distributed and consumed. The 10 minute soundtrack is a constant flow of commands, warnings and statements that one is confronted to every day. These phrases are sclerosed: they were born complete one day and never evolved. Because of their very ubiquity and because they have been ceaselessly repeated to us, they have become set pieces of information that are now devoid of meaning and strength. They are like stamps on a passport: they don't say anything about the country you're going to, they simply state that all necessary administrative task needed to go there have been completed.

The soundtrack is accompanied by a printed sheet containing all the phrases and words used, printed as one big, continuous, punctuation-free block of text (the spoken phrases do not contain punctuation either). I encourage visitors to grab a sheet and read it. Hopefully, they will try and find the place in the text that is matching the spoken words, and therefore pay proper attention to the information delivered to them. My aim is to create a kind of game in which the visitor interacts passively with the artwork. The fact that the sheet can be folded and taken home, and that the sound files are available on line, is an incentive to carry on playing outside the gallery environment.

Christophe Dillinger, August 2011

The work is available to download at http://www.cdillinger.co.uk/sculptures-installations-relational-aesthetics-pieces/sound-installations/

#sound

The Museum of [ ] Objects third phase

Announcing our forthcoming artists in the third phase of the Museum presentation;

Christophe Dillinger

The Jackson Twins

David Cheeseman

Aylwin Green

Joanne Hummel-Newell

Mel Brimfield

Martin Bardell

Matt Smith

Dates: 3 July to 28 August, and group show 1 - 9 September 2012

Phase 2 Group Show

Adam Burton in Conversation

Saturday 23rd June - 4pm - at the allotment shed, mac birmingham, Canon Hill Park, Birmingham

Adam Burton as part of the Museum of [ ] Objects, will be holding a conversation with the public on his recently distributed pamphlet on the political situation in Haiti.

http://adamburton.com/pamphlet/tpiraiiwatwf.html

All are welcome

The Museum of [ ] Objects is curated by Mona Casey & Sonya Russell-Saunders

Sara Dobson

Vestige

From the series ‘The completed nature of things’

Mixed Media Installation, 2012

People create emotional investment with particular objects. We bind them in narratives and memories or use them as a source of inspiration. We all have our own museum of objects or collections, usually in our homes. All displayed in unique compositions, individual to the person’s character and environment. The value of the object whether found or bought can bring out an array of emotional responses and even change the way we behave.

The private collections of my parents have greatly influenced my artistic style and interests.

I grew up surrounded by beautiful objects from fossils, twisted drift wood, vintage tins, Mediterranean pottery, to childhood collections of stamps and cards. They heightened my curiosity in the surrounding world and acted as models for observational drawings, which strengthened my artist vocabulary.

It is not a surprise that I am fascinated by the hybridization of different components not normally married. The technique of collage is strongly used within my practice to enhance such interests. I use drawing to examine, dissect and transform details. The dialogues between mediums create a bizarre and surreal compositions and content.

Vestige is an amalgamation of my parent’s real collections and my own collections translated with techniques used in my practice. It celebrates these objects, the inspiration and imagination created by them.

#vestige museum objects personal collage mixed media

Adam Burton

Pamphlet

http://adamburton.com/pamphlet/tpiraiiwatwf.html

The work is a pamphlet, the handing out of the pamphlet, and some

discussions about Haiti. The pamphlet contains an article based on

Damming the Flood: Haiti and the Politics of Containment by

Peter Hallward. I stitched together quotes of the book in an attempt

to concisely re-present certain themes of the original that I wanted

to tell people about. As the pamphlet is pinned up for the exhibition

I will hand out copies of it in the local area. The pamphlet makes

notice of a meeting to be held at the exhibition space - a meeting

to discuss the political situation in Haiti.

Shelf made by Kaavous Clayton

#haiti political pamphlet Adam Burton

Lisa Roffey

Once More With Feeling

My practice focuses on how we as viewers engage with a moving image.

To what part do we contribute when we watch a moving image?

Do we lose control, become immersed then get thrown back out or do we relinquish it gladly then snatch it back at will?

What are we doing in the middle of all that, where are we between one place and the other?

This fluctuation and what lies within and around it are at the core of my practice. As viewers we naturally look for meaning, if it’s not there we’ll try to find it and weave it into the fabric of the work.

My practice investigates contemporary expectations of the viewer, the videos are devised as single shot edits, choreographed together and presented as a large-scale projection/s.

The installations are intended to explore a concept of the viewer as complex, activated and decentred and how this impacts on the relationship between viewer – practice – artist.

There are multiples and variables threaded throughout this fluid relationship. The decentred viewer: is active and independent within the space always in a state of flux, negotiating the interplay between subject and object.

L.A. Roffey

#Lisa Roffey film museum

10plots-blog

In conversation with Plot Holders

Trevor Pitt, ‘in conversation’ with the ten ALLOTMENT plot curators

Tuesday 17th July 2012

19.00 – 21.00

FREE ENTRY (please pre-book your free ticket)

ALLOTMENT is an innovative programme that has been running in mac birmingham’s Arena...

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