‘THINGNESS?’ – New exhibition showcases residency outputs at Cooper Gallery
Published On Wed 16 Sep 2015 by Grant Hill
Work produced during a summer residency at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design will be unveiled at a new exhibition that opens tomorrow.
THINGNESS? is the Cooper Summer Residency 2015 Exhibition and features new works produced by artists Oliver Braid and Anouchka Oler and philosopher Joseph Fletcher. The exhibition at Cooper Gallery will showcase the outcomes of the residency, which provides a space for artists, writers and thinkers to reflect upon and experiment with new ideas and strategies that will extend their practice.
Braid and Oler will present divergent new works that dominate the gallery whilst creating purposeful withdrawals from their shared space of cultural production.
Cooper Gallery curator Sophia Hao said she was looking forward to be able to unveil the exhibition from all three participants.
“The Cooper Summer Residency is based on a desire to investigate the means and potential of working in an environment that supports the exchange and sharing of resources and knowledge,” she said.
“During the residency, the artists and philosopher discussed and reflected upon the possibility of philosophical phenomenon of Object Oriented Ontology as a mode of interpretation with which to encounter contemporary art practices. This has led to a body of new works and an online publication which will be presented in the exhibition at Cooper Gallery and on the Cooper Gallery website.”
Anouchka Oler’s installation investigates the precept of the performing and functional thing –object/body/mind – in contemporary society and questions the economy of an artistic practice. Oler’s new body of work has created a multi-faceted hub comprising a moving-image installation, ceramic sculptures moulded by the artist while in residence and at the top, a clay pot made on a pottery-wheel by the artist’s mother.
Oliver Braid’s work consists of a laptop, a white power cable, the Phew website, ten door handles, white tack dots and a distant sound. Braid’s work seeks to answer a question first posed by Quentin Crisp in 1981 - “how, if at all, an object may express its maker to a stranger”. Opposed to tackling Crisp’s question directly, Braid is committed to utilizing oblique approaches in order to generate new modes of understanding.
Fletcher’s written work is grounded in his ongoing research into community. His reflections on the residency can be found in the Thingness? online publication and via Cooper Gallery’s Group Critical Writing website.
The gallery hosted weekly Cooper Summer Salons each Wednesday during the residency. These events provided an interactive element, with conversations between artists and audiences amplifying the thinking and making taking place throughout the residency.
The THINGNESS? preview evening takes place at the Cooper Gallery from 5.30-7.30pm on Thursday, 17th September. The exhibition will be open from Friday 18th September – 18th October (Mon – Fri 9.30am – 5pm, Sat 10.30am – 4.30pm). All three residents will take part in an In Conversation event prior to the exhibition preview evening.
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