Five artists, selected via an open submission, are taking over Pump House Gallery and using it as their studio for a five-week period. It will give the artists an opportunity to experiment with new ideas and directions in their practice, with each receiving bespoke peer critique from invited art professionals. The gallery will remain open during its normal opening hours enabling the public to see a range of different artistic practices and work in progress. An informal exhibition will take place during the final week.
Chosen from over 190 applications by curator David Thorp and artist Nigel Cooke the five selected artists are diverse in their theoretical and working approaches, motivations and responses to the space. Glasgow-based artist and writer Fiona Jardine’s inter-disciplinary practice draws upon a range of literary, architectural and art historical sources. She intends to use the residency to develop a site-specific sculpture and performance and continue her research into the Greek philosopher Diogenes that she started during her recent residency at Cove Park. She will be also working towards her forthcoming solo exhibition at Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow, in June 2007.
Pil and Galia Kollectiv’s current practice explores Modernism and the legacy of the avant-garde in popular culture. They will be working on their new piece Asparagus: A Horticultural Ballet, a live performance and video project which will be exhibited in their forthcoming solo show at The Showroom, London in March 2007. They will use the space to make costumes and have dance rehearsals as well as film in the park.
Jon Ford will use the gallery as the next temporary station for hisFordvogeltechnik Research Laboratory, a living archive of avian folklore and heritage. Chance meetings and sightings of the Pied Wagtail will become the starting point of his next investigation and visitors will be encouraged to contribute to his research. Ford has had solo exhibitions at Rugby Art Gallery and Florence Trust, London as well as exhibiting in the group show Rare Birds at Store Gallery, London.
David Kefford reconfigures ready-made, found and second-hand objects using low-tech ‘craft’ processes. He will use this residency to create a site-specific intervention and begin to experiment with performance including attaching structures and assemblages to a choreographed live model. He has been artist-in-residence at Wysing Arts, Cambridge and has had a number of solo exhibitions including at 1000000mph, London.
Robert Stone is a figurative painter. With a less predetermined approach than some of the other artists his aim is to simply produce a substantial new body of work. He is a recent graduate from Slade School of Art and was in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2005
Kindly supported by Arts Council England and Outset.
