'Sleep in Witness' at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK

 The presentation of work entitled 'Sleep in Witness' by South African artist Lungiswa Gqunta opened at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds on 8th July and runs until 30th October.

The three rooms have each been treated as an installation, with a single work taking over each space as Gqunta continues to examine how colonialism has restricted and curtailed traditional knowledge systems.

The leitmotif running through this exhibition is water and this recurs constantly through the show in different forms and incarnations. As is described fully in the accompanying catalogue, water stands as a powerful symbol of destiny, for both the regenerative life and development of the region, but also for the terror and suffering inflicted upon people of the region, terror and suffering that came to the shores of Africa from overseas.

The first room of the exhibition opens suddenly before us as an earthen plateau composed of clay and sand, mostly flattened but also featuring cracked lumps seemingly descending into a state of higher entropy. Placed at intervals throughout the space are globules of blown glass in blue, purple and clear examples. The shapes of these globules are irregular, suggesting the liquid state from which they came and also referencing 3D pools of water, somehow remaining on the surface of the sand and clay. 

Lights shine on these glass globules increasing our awareness of their smooth, fragile surface and assisting in their likeness to water pools. The smooth nature of the glass globules seem to emphasise the gritty nature of the sand beneath them, while the sand and dry, cracked clay in turn emphasise the smooth, fragile surfaces of the globules.

As visitors walk around the room, their weight compresses the sand and clay, breaking down lumps and often cracking the surface. As we appreciate the installation, we also assist in the increasing entropy. Areas of the room begin to appear smoother, as the sand and clay begin to combine to form a hard surface as the soil of a countryside footpath hardens and smoothens over time due to the use it experiences and as the soil dries out. It is as if the nature of the materials slowly changes over time.

Zinodaka  2022 (Detail)

Zinodaka  2022 (Detail)

Zinodaka  2022 (Detail)

Zinodaka  2022 (Detail)

The second room changes dramatically once we enter it. The sensation is akin to walking across a beach towards the sea edge, where large waves crash down onto the sand. Walking into the room feels as if the visitor is being enveloped by waves crashing around them. We negotiate the waves by walking through the open spaces left for visitors to explore the remaining space of the room. Once we are accustomed to this division of the room's space, it is possible then to focus on details of the wave structures, barbed wire, wrapped in fabric dyed three shades of blue. The shape barbs are a warning that though these may be waves crashing onto the beach, they are also a barrier, we are unable to enter the water. 

Here and there it is possible to pick out small collections of silver coins, hanging amid the waves. Are these coins the flotsam from some shipwreck or could they be offerings cast into the sea from the beach? 

It is also possible to identify orange threads hanging within the wave structures, the orange resonates against its complimentary opposite - the blue of the wave, increasing their visibility. Could they be signals, or way-markings? Or are they further items of flotsam being tossed around randomly in the turbulent sea? 

As the visitor reaches the far side of the room, rhythmic song can be heard from the third room. The song draws the visitor towards the final, small room and there is the definite sensation of having crossed a barrier, overcome an obstacle, reached a destination. 

Ntabamanzi  2022 (Detail)

Ntabamanzi  2022 (Detail)

Ntabamanzi  2022 (Detail)

Ntabamanzi  2022 (Panorama)

After the physicality of the previous two rooms, the final room feels like a refuge. A bench allows the viewer to sit and relax while taking in the HD video. As the rhythmic singing drifts through the space, large cream-coloured sheets appear to billow in the wind. After a few seconds there are glimpses of figures who seem to be manipulating the sheets, perhaps communally drying them? This work reflects upon the ritualisation of repetitive, domestic activities such as washing and folding sheets on Sunday afternoons in South Africa.

The sheets also resemble waves or even ships' sails being buffeted by the wind. The poetic, sensitive way that this exhibition has been constructed and curated continually throws up metaphors such as these. 

Gathering  2019 (Photo of Video Projection)

This is an enjoyable show and well worth the visit. A lot has been condescend into a relatively small exhibition. 

There are some free research events organised to coincide with the exhibition:

A panel discussion on Wednesday 28 September at 6pm / An exhibition tour on Wednesday 12 October at 6pm / and an online conversation event with Lungiswa Gqunta and Melanie Keen (Director of Wellcome Collection) - date to be announced. Book your place here.

'A State of Matter' at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK

 The exhibition 'A State of Matter' runs from 18th Feb - 5th June 2022 at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, UK and is divided into three rooms that represent the three states of matter, solid, gas and liquid. 

The exhibition proceeds to demonstrates how glass can be explored in those three states via the utilisation of a range of techniques and processes. The exhibition also revives the argument surrounding glass as a material and on which side of the craft / art divide it lies. For me, there is no divide and I approach all works with the same attitude, seeking to allow the work to speak to me (or not) and then following that thread as I attempt to construct meaning.  

I have chosen a handful of examples from the exhibition to photograph here, though I would recommend the reader to visit the show themselves rather than relying on my selection of representative works.

Elliot Walker was the winner of the Netflix series 'Blown Away' and manipulates glass with ease. His work 'Spillage' suggests pop-art style graphic representations of still life, with an interesting commentary on the materiality of glass and its solid/liquid, almost contradictory, existence. In this still life, which elements are solid and which are liquid? He manages to represent and contrast both states with a single material.

Spillage, 2019 - Elliot Walker

Silvia Levenson's work dramatically embodies fragility, the fragility of childhood, the fragility of democracy, the fragility of freedom, the fragility of life itself.  Subtle drawings are encased within the object, like nostalgic dreams or memories, and the work lies protected within an acrylic box as though in an effort to prevent those dreams and aspirations from being shattered. 

Untitled, 2007 - Silvia Levenson

Since I saw a large exhibition of Mona Hatoum's work at the Tate Modern in 2016, I have been entranced by the poignancy and poetry of her work. I love the way she balances often unsettling combinations of materials in relationships that seem almost inevitable. In the piece presented at the Henry Moore Institute, we are presented with blown glass forms that suggest internal organs with their haemoglobin colour and which, on closer inspection, appear soft, lightweight, and delicate. These are locked in zinc-plated steel cages and the intense contrast between the soft globular forms and the rigid steel box triggers a feeling of discomfort and pain.

Cells, 2014 - Mona Hatoum

Czech artist Petr Stanicky combines a surreal biomorphic form with a car window, with the molten mirrored object appearing to take a bite from the car window and it this action that animates the arrangement and causes it to rise up from the plinth. Once again, we are reminded of the versatile nature of glass. The car window is familiar to us and therefore we read it as inert, while the biomorphic form takes on the appearance of a living form and we interpret the conjunction of the two objects as a 'bite' in order to make sense of the scene. 

Mirror-Mondeo Bite, 2014 - Petr Stanicky

As an art student in the late 1970s I was introduced to conceptual art by the work of Joseph Kosuth. His work introduced me to semiotics, and how we construct meaning from what we see, how we develop preconceptions, how we understand what we think we know and how these thought processes stimulate the interpretation of the world around us. I was pleased to see his work included in the show and his work was the first and the last I looked at when I visited the exhibition. It was a great way to 'book-end' my visit and my reflections on the work of the artists represented. Often we are so seduced by the work of talented creators as we marvel at the incredible virtuosity and skills on display, that we forget to ask the simple questions such as what am I actually looking at? what are the materials used? What associations do these materials have for me? How have these associations been reinforced or subverted by what I have seen here? 

As I left the building my head was full of questions about the work I had seen and what they suggest to me individually and collectively, and I couldn't ask more from an exhibition.

Any two metre square sheet of glass to lean against any wall, 1965

- Joseph Kosuth

10 Mars Bars

Recently I received the sad news that an old college friend of mine (Mick - Michael Dean) had passed away. Although those days were now 35 years in the past, the memories remain as vivid as ever and probably will remain so unless I suffer a lapse of memory brought on by old age.

At times like these there is often an exchange of memories and photographs between friends and, though we feel have a clear picture of events, there are also surprises or 'blasts from the past'. I received one of these 'blasts' in the form of a tangible record of something that occurred within the first few weeks of arriving at college.

In the Autumn of 1981 I arrived at Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic (Later to become Northumbria University) to study on the BA (Hons) Fine Art degree course and initially stayed at the Lovaine B Halls of Residence. There I met a group of friends, most of whom I am still in contact with to this day. Within the first 2 months we collectively decided that life in the Halls of Residence was horrendous and so 7 of us rented a house in the Benwell area of Gateshead, just across the river from Newcastle. However before we moved out an event occurred one Wednesday evening the memory of which has now been brought to the fore.

During a casual and mundane conversation, mention was made of Mars bars and how filling they were. I personally liked them and declared that I found them so tasty that eating one would be as easy as anything, in fact I could probably eat more than one. I'm not sure how this happened or what exactly was said but within a short time I had stated that I could eat 10 Mars bars without problem.

Consequently, on Wednesday evening on the 21st October 1981 a group of friends gathered in the Lovaine B Halls of Residence, primarily to eat dinner but also to witness me eat 10 Mars bars. As 8 of my friends sat down to eat a perfectly normal meal, I lined up the 10 Mars bars in front of me on the table. At 7:00pm I began eating the first one and by 7:40pm I had consumed all 10. Surprisingly, after dinner I accompanied the others into the city to have a few drinks and didn't feel worse for wear. In those days, it is worth noting, Mars bars were considerably larger than they are today.

In recent weeks, following Mick's sad passing, among many truly nostalgic photographs there was one of a page in a notebook. It turned out that this page, in one of Andrew Brown's notebooks, commemorated the Mars bar event in the form of a declaration, stating:

'Between 7:00pm and 7:40pm on Wednesday the 21st of October Patrick S. Ford at 10 Mars bars in quick succession without any break longer than a minute and without throwing up. We the undersigned are witness to this event.

Andrew Brown

Jane Watmough

Mark Dunn

D. Todd

Alan Laffey

Nigel Roberts

Michael Dean

Heather Craig (I took some pictures)'

I could only marvel at this document, seeing it now after so many years. It is a terrible tragedy that this news only surfaced due to Mick's untimely passing, but this is often how the world works. Mick was a hard-working, kind man and deserved to live out many more years with his family. It just doesn't seem fair at all.

Despite the event being the result of a silly, playful wager among friends, it is also quite prescient as it seems to point towards performance as an activity to be explored. This is quite possibly my first performance piece. If only I could track down those photographs taken by Heather Craig!

I would need to check the dates but the event may possibly have been inspired by visits to The Basement in Newcastle where, as a first year Fine Art student I saw artists such as Alastair Maclennan performing a 24 hour walking performance. Seeing him perform was such a privilege and I feel grateful that I had such an experience and I feel exactly the same way about attending a lecture by the great Joseph Beuys at Leeds Art Gallery (Henry Moore Institute) back in my Foundation Course days, wonderful experiences that should be treasured. 

The page in Andrew Brown's notebook

*NB. 

Since this account was posted I have been contacted by Alan Laffey, one of the signatories to the 10 Mars Bars event. He made two pertinent comments that are worth adding here:

A) He felt sure that the event occurred not in the Lovaine B Halls of Residence, but in the house we subsequently moved to in Rectory Road, Benwell, Gateshead. He remembered that the wrappers from the 10 Mars Bars were attached to the wall in Rectory Road as a memento of the event. I remember this but cannot recall if the event happened there, or if the wrappers were brought from the Halls of Residence when we moved. I need to find my now misplaced diaries to check as I'm sure there would have been an entry to record exactly where the event took place.

B) He also reminded me that following the 10 Mars Bars event there was talk of a follow-up project, namely the eating of 25 Cadbury's Cream Eggs. I can remember this now and I wonder why it was never followed up. Perhaps I gained some sense?