Peter Scott Gallery
13 January to 6 February 2010
Review by Helen, Events Editor
I was excited by the prospect of a photography exhibition entitled ‘Experimentality’. This showing of “photographic responses by local residents to the title ‘The Experiment’” promises a “variety of ideas and approaches to the subject” with “work that ranges from photography as we might traditionally understand it, through work that examines process, to the depiction of the un-photographable”. I was not disappointed.
This latest showing at the Peter Scott Gallery is a collaboration with Lancaster University’s Institute for Advanced Studies and their year-long research programme on ‘Experimentality’. A predominantly workshop-based programme, the exhibition captures some of the spirit of the events in a visual format.
The pieces on display certainly do incorporate a huge variety of ideas and approaches. From experiments with the photographic method, through investigations of the scientific process, to depictions of experimental art forms and explorations of photography as a social experiment.
At first glance, I couldn’t help feeling that many of the pieces had a rather tenuous link with the ‘Experimentality’ theme. Indeed, my companion expressed disappointment there weren’t more works that had tried a more direct response to ‘The Experiment’: Either experimental photography; or attempts to interpret the common scientific understanding of ‘experiment’, merging the diametrically opposed fields of science and art. Full marks go to Margaret Alvarex with DNA Project, Jane Rushton’s Arctic Dialogue and George Pickett’s Nuclei Moving in a Superficial Near Absolute Zero who, amongst others, endeavoured to achieve the latter feat.
Our favourites that rose to the experimental photography challenge were Robert Kirsopp’s Looking Backwards – using a simple object to create interesting shapes and perspectives (all the more impressive when we learnt Robert is 11 years old), and Gerry Davies’ Potsdamer 1 – an experiment with the use of our most commonly-used 21st century piece of photographic equipment: the phone camera. As I stared at it, I could feel the movement, the fun, the energy behind the piece. Bernard Alvarez neatly encapsulated both experimental photography and the concept of chemical experimentation in his Alchemy.
A unique approach was presented in 27 Exp by Tommie Introna – at first glance it’s an unappealing snapshot of a disposable camera, a letter and some packaging – but it’s the start of an exploration into other people’s world views, attempting to capture their perspectives through pictures. I hope Tommie’s project yields exciting results and Peter Scott Gallery are able to follow up and present the results to the public.
Other highlights for me included: Biennale Gardens, Venice from Wendy Brown, an appealing piece investigating visual disturbances from reflective surfaces; and Jonathan Bean’s Small World #5, a photograph-of-a-photograph that plays with your perception and sense of scale.
After exploring all the entries, and reading the exhibitors’ statements, I decided my initial judgement had, perhaps, been hasty. At the end of the day, isn’t all art a form of experimentation? In fact, don’t we experiment every day of our lives, in everything we do? Admittedly, this tangential thinking may have been fuelled by the free glass of champagne we were given to celebrate the exhibition launch! But the one thing this collection of pictures has in common is the capacity to make you think.
Take an hour out of your day – or squeeze half an hour – but I don’t think you’ll regret spending it at this exhibition. Take a friend, have a coffee afterwards… and ponder “Experimentality”.
Related Links
• Peter Scott Gallery – www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/peterscott/scott.htm
• Experimentality Programme – www.lancs.ac.uk/experimentality