Recent and up and coming events
Art in Touch presents:
Just Under the Surface
a multi-sensory, cross-media collaborative installation from the pioneering international artists collective
Artists: Rosalyn Driscoll, Bonnie Kemske, Tereza Stehlikova, Anais Tondeur
SOUNDSCAPE Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner
WRITTEN WORD Kay Syrad
LIGHTING DESIGN Dan Tobin Smith
The Crypt Gallery, St. Pancras Church, London
6th - 19th May 2011
Press and Private View: 6.00-9.00pm, Friday 6th May 2011
'The only pure, virginal sense that remains is touch. It's also the only one that hasn't been catered for by the arts. It hasn't been aestheticised. I see it as an unexplored plain; I believe there is a buried treasure there.' - Jan Švankmajer, Czech Surrealist Artist and Film-maker
Just under the Surface is a unique exhibition for a unique gallery space. The first exhibition by the pioneering artists' collective Art in Touch, it explores the aesthetic, emotional, bodily and metaphysical possibilities of an art that is keenly aware of the senses, especially touch. Working directly with the remarkable atmosphere and dimensions of the Crypt, and through sculpture, moving image, sound and installation, Just Under the Surface will create deeply immersive environments where multi-sensory encounters are actively encouraged.
"The concept of the exhibition lies in an idea of integration and unification," says artist film-maker Tereza Stehlíková, co-founder of Art in Touch, "whether in terms of our various artistic disciplines, the exhibits themselves and finally the space as a whole, which acts as a literal and metaphorical container of the diverse impressions and experiences brought to it. The crypt, therefore, becomes one of our crucial collaborators. Rather than imposing external ideas onto the environment, we want to draw out the hidden stories from a space that is already rich with them."
The tactile is a critical, but often overlooked, element in contemporary fine art practice, relevant here both thematically and practically, as the means by which time, emotions and events imprints their histories and memories into objects and sites and as the process whereby these stored impressions might subsequently be retrieved.
In Just Under the Surface, all artists will present both discretely and in paired collaborations. Multi-textured installational sites - featuring rawhide, ceramics, film-projection, reedbeds, sand, water and flowers - along with the subtlest interventions onto the walls and into the alcoves of the underground space, will showcase a rich, committed - and beautiful - new direction for contemporary art.
For further information, artists interviews and images, please contact Art in Touch:
mail@artintouch.co.uk; 07974 572 059;
The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, Euston Road, London NW1 2BA: Tuesday to Sunday: 12noon-6pm (except Friday 6th May, 12noon - 4.30pm); www.cryptgallery.org.uk
info@cryptgallery.org.uk; 020 7388 1461; tube: Euston, Euston Square, Kings Cross; bus: 30, 73, 205… We regret that there is no wheelchair access
Safe to Touch Exhibition
Dates: 23 May - 2 August 2009
Art in Touch has just finished a collaboration for 'Safe to Touch', a group exhibition taking place at The Hub National Centre for Craft and Design, Lincolnshire. Here they have been exploring the relation between film projection and the tactile screen, creating a dynamic dialogue between the material and intangible.
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Crypt Gallery Exhibition
Dates: 5th May - 19th May 2011
http://www.cryptgallery.org.uk/
As part of their efforts to raise awareness of an increased tactile experience in art, both for artists and audiences, Art in Touch has decided to curate a dedicated London exhibition, consisting of a number of artists whose work in various media is directly concerned with the sense of touch and which utilises it as a tool for a heightened, conscious exploration of human perception.
Concept of the Crypt Gallery exhibition:
We propose to engage with and utilise the inherently tactile, organic qualities of the Crypt Gallery, bringing the artwork on display into a dialogue with its surroundings, resulting in a unified and enriched experience for all concerned, one where the common factor becomes the direct sensual experience of the body within a space, and its encounters with the various tactile artworks.
In this case, the variety of media deployed is important, as a means to stress the general applicability and resonance of touch across the spectrum of cultural expression.
Participating artists are:
Rosalyn Driscoll
Bonnie Kemske
Tereza Stehlikova
Anais Tondeur