new exhibition within the drawers of Maxwell's Lab cases. The latest exhibition is in the Cavendish Museum in the Physics Department on the West Cambridge site http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/outreach/museum Thinking about making and making through thinking. For artists, the majority of the work they create is
invisible to a public outside their studio. This work often takes the form of
sketches, notes and material tests existing in notebooks and discarded objects
in the studio on its way to becoming something 'finished'.
The collection of double page spreads in the drawers are a form of visual note book. The
pages act as a repository for some of the pieces or 'props' that were created
for and used within finished film pieces. The spreads are full of ideas,
possible starting points and contain many elements of the finished works - they are in effect a sort 'look book' or 'mood
board' of the project.
The idea of revelation is at the core of my history with the
book. Here the action has been recreated by literally opening the drawers to
reveal the inner space where ideas are stored. The placing of the pieces
references the late 19th century practice of displaying objects within cabinets
of wonder or curiosity – these are modern versions of
the contents of Cabinets of Curiosities.
Much of my work has been about exploring space, the space
between and the space of making, the idea of negative space. Within science,
words have a particular and specific meaning, but for me I feel I am allowed to
play with this idea and the articulated structures are tools that heighten an
awareness of the hand movements whilst demonstrating scientific processes. They
are starting points to consider actions in space.
The glove box and the laboratory are very specific spaces.
That they often protect the specimen within the experiment from us rather than
us from it is an intriguing idea. These spaces created to manipulate objects
are contained, clean, dry in an attempt to be 'non'. Within
this extraordinary space, specific materials and situations are monitored,
ready to be recreated, actions controlled to be repeated. These spaces have
their parallel in the art world: the space of the gallery, the white cube where
the art is on show, an anonymous space where the art is supposedly the focus.
Obviously no space is neutral and each have their meanings, which can be read,
but the aspiration to create a static continuum brings to mind the words of Heraclitus
'No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's
not the same river and he's not the same man.'
It appears that science and art are constantly trying to create a time
and space where the river is still.
