Buffer Zones

Preview: Thursday 11 July 2019, 6:00-8:30pm, with donations bar and wood-fired pizza.
Exhibition open: 12 July – 3 August 2019, 12-5pm or by appointment.

Paradise Works is delighted to present BUFFER ZONES, a group exhibition of thirteen critically acclaimed contemporary artists, curated by Nat Pitt (Division of Labour, The Manchester Contemporary).

Exhibiting Artists: Sally Payen, Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Edward Clydesdale Thomson, Yelena Popova, Hilary Jack, Gavin Wade, Jeremy Hutchison, Simon & Tom Bloor, James Bridle, Marco Godoy, Ella Littwitz.

Buffer Zones brings together the works of thirteen artists in a physical commentary on the geo-political, social economic and cultural impacts of borders. The audience is invited to make a precarious journey though barricades, borders and partitions to experience Buffer Zones at Paradise Works. Conceived during the United Kingdom’s attempts to leave the EU, themes of division, separation of community and physical space take the fore in this immersive exhibition.

“Space is not a scientific object removed from ideology or politics. It has always been political and strategic. There is an ideology of space. Because space, which seems homogeneous, which appears as a whole in its objectivity, in its pure form, such as we determine it, is a social product.” ― Henri Lefebvre

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Larry Achiampong & David Blandy present Finding Fanon II from the series inspired by the lost plays of Frantz Fanon, (1925-1961) a politically radical humanist whose practice dealt with the psychopathology of colonisation and the socio-cultural consequences of decolonisation. Achiampong is based in London and has an MA in Sculpture from The Slade School of Fine Art. He is represented by Copperfield, David Blandy has an MA in Fine Art Media from the Slade School of Art and is represented by Seventeen.

Simon & Tom Bloor are artist brothers working collaboratively and based in Birmingham. For Buffer Zones they present spray-painted fences and barricades that question play, urban change and neglected space in the built environment.

James Bridle is an artist, writer, technologist and publisher working across technologies and disciplines. His artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide and on the internet. His film, Flag For No Nations, first shown as a temporary installation at Ellinikón, Greece 2016 retells the history of an ill-fated satellite mission interwoven with narratives of borders, migration and another future.

Marco Godoy was born Madrid and studied Fine Arts at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the School of the Art, Institute of Chicago. He holds an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art. Godoy explores the relationship between images and ideology. He searches for alternative ways in which to talk about current social and political issues through the use of video, sculpture and performance. Recent work has focused on how authority is visually constructed by those who exercise power, and the tools that we have to confront it. For Buffer Zones he presents The Distance Between Us, a film exploring the systems used to maintain value and authority in relation to migration.

Jeremy Hutchison works across performance, sculpture, text and video, he constructs situations that insert disobedience and confusion into hegemonic structures. Hutchison’s Movables Project begins with a photo showing the inside of a Mercedes car, taken by police at the Balkan border. The headrests have been torn open to reveal a person hiding inside each seat attempting to disguise themselves as inanimate objects Combining elements of marketing and high-end fashion, the work enacts an anthropomorphic fusion between the male form and the consumer product.

Hilary Jack has an MA Fine Art from Manchester School of Art and holds a TIPP Postgraduate award from Goldsmiths and the Hungarian Academy. Hilary Jacks work has an activist element and focuses on the politics of place. Her neon art work No Borders currently at Yorkshire Sculpture Park inspired this show. The quotation is borrowed from the aviator, and feminist icon Amelia Earhart whose words can be viewed through a contemporary political lens referencing issues posed by BREXIT and continuing border conflicts across the globe. For Buffer Zones Hilary Jack creates Little Britain, an intervention into the gallery exploring suburban boundaries and the divisions revealed across the UK by the EU referendum.

Ella Littwitz studied in HISK, Ghent, Belgium (2016) and received her BFA from Bezalel, Jerusalem, Israel, in 2009. Her works have been exhibited in Israel, Europe and the US. For Buffer Zones Ella presents Natural Borders, utilising a piece of eucalyptus bark found in the shape of Israel borders without the occupied territories of both Gaza and the West Bank. The Eucalyptus tree is regarded as a symbol for the failure of the JNF (Jewish National Fund) project: In the 1950’s eucalyptus trees were brought to Israel to dry a specific area of swamps, at a cost of 25 million dollars. The project unintentionally revealed peat soil, causing wildfires over the region and a significant ecological crisis.

Dr Sally Payen has an MA in Painting from The Royal College of Arts, and a practice based PhD from Universty of Brighton. Payen shows a painting The Fence and The Shadow from her series based on her exploration and research about the contested landscape of Greenham Common and the women’s peace camps and anti-nuclear protests that took place in the 1980s.

Yelena Popova studied in USSR, and is based in Nottingham, UK She has an MA in Painting, The Royal College of Art. Popova’s practice encompasses painting, video and installation. Her work is tied together by an interest in exploring the concept of balance, whether in politics, representation, or in our relationship with machines. For Buffer Zones Popover exhibits This Certifies That, a tapestry designed to mark the exit of UK from the EU.

Edward Clydesdale Thomson’s is a Scottish/Danish artist based in the Netherlands. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam and the BArch program at the Glasgow school of Art. His practice addresses contemporary conflicts of time by rethinking and reshaping the space and conditions of his artistic production along durational lines. His work is often concerned with places and objects on the margins – physically, socially or symbolically – of outside and inside, of wild and tamed landscapes, of decoration or function.

Gavin Wade is an award-winning artist, producer and curator, and director of Eastside Projects. For Buffer Zones, Wade exhibits Europa and The Bull (After Trewin Copplestone) a billboard from 2014 as David Cameron announced the referendum after being elected in 2015. Europa and the Bull features the Birmingham ‘Bullring’ Bull a public sculpture by Trewin Copplestone surrounded by the united stars of Europe.

Address: Paradise Works, East Philip Street, M3 7LE, Manchester

Access: Paradise Works is accessible by 2 flights of stairs.

Contact & viewings by appointment: info@paradise-works.com

Further information: www.paradise-works.com

Press release dated: 20 June 2019

Jeremy Hutchison - Movables, 2017, Fondazione Prada Athens.jpg