Mazecollective Studio Terrace (New Delhi). 19/11/2022 – 24/11/2022
Anna Brass, Anto George, Esteban Torres Ayastuy, Ian Dawson, Irati Urrestarazu, Jignesh Panchal, Jos Martin, Karin Ruggaber, Leire Muñoz, Mark Hosking, Mhairi Vari, Niharika Chauhan, Oona Grimes, Plastique Fantastique, Sachin Tekade, Shivangi Ladha & Aditi Babel, Siddharta Kararwal, Vandana Kothari, William Farr.
Co-curated by Ashish Sahoo and Jasone Miranda-Bilbao.
8x4. Two moons constitutes the second exhibition of a trilogy that started with It glows light in the upper terrace of the Mazecollective Studio in November 2021. Artists presented works in various media that ‘glow in the dark’ and related to things, people and places whilst maintaining a certain distance. A year later 8x4 returns to Mazecollective, this time with an exhibition Two moons, that occupies the two levels of the terrace.
The artworks at Two moons are filmed from above and the aerial view situates them in the location from within a perspective that is different to that from the ground. Both aerial and terrestrial views, actual works and filmed footage, form part of the exhibition.
The idea of ‘two moons’ is inspired in the sci-fi novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem ‘Solaris’ (1961). Solaris is an uninhabited planet that has two moons. Its surface is covered with an ocean that creates extraordinary waves and patterns. The mission of the main protagonist, Kevin, is to study this vast mass of water but when he arrives at the research station he notices that it brings memories to life. The scientists have investigated this and compiled a lot of information but they cannot understand what it means; eventually the experiments have to be abandoned. They conclude that the ocean could be an enormous brain whose fluctuating surface is the deepest recesses of the mind.
Aerial view photography is often used by archaeologists to search for patters in the landscape that might indicate activity under the surface and by topographers to explore connections between points at distance that could be difficult to perceive from the ground. In Tarkovsky’s film adaptation Solaris (1972), the aerial views of the surface of the planet are suggestive of deep-space and mind altering states of perception. Artists tend to think of the aerial view in terms of ‘perspective’ and the illusion of the depth of field but the mind can only perceive depth and three dimensions under a limited set of conditions; at distances that are too far or too close and speeds of approximation that are too fast or too slow, it cannot process the information and space flatness and becomes two dimensional. Then what the eyes see and the mind knows are overlapping realities that need reconciliation.
It is interesting to think of the fluctuations of the mind and not the material quality of space as the underlying condition that might mediate our experience of reality. The artworks at Two moons are presented alongside the filmed footage taken from above and the video situates them within the context we are in, at a different time from ours. The mind navigates between the two situations transferring information from one to the other, creating new formations.
Text Jasone Miranda-Bilbao
View of the works in the upper terrace
Left to right Mhairi Vari, Sachin Tekade, Vandana Kothari, Oona Grimes, Ian Dawson, Plastique Fantastique.
Plastique Fantastique, Exquisite Corpse Meme-Animals, 2022. Polystyrene, exterior eggshell and enamel paint, magnets, incense sticks. 60 x 30 cm and 70 x 30 cm
‘Plastique Fantastique's Exquisite-Corpse-Meme-Animals are non-identical twins. Named by Plastique Fantastique as Phobus and Deimos, the pair were born into a family of animals that have slowly adapted to life as memes and images, a process that responds to the problem of life in former habitats becoming increasingly unsustainable. They burn incense in memory of their former physical lives.’
Extract of Mhairi Vari ‘s installation ‘Zone of middle dimensions’ at Two Moons
Mhairi Vari, Zone of middle dimensions, 2022. Bose soundlink micro speakers, paper mache (’Information: Documents of Contemporary Art’ ed. Sarah Cook, ’The Poetics of Space’ Gaston Bachelard, ‘Complete Tai Chi Chuan’ Dan Docherty). Duration 7hrs 28mins 18secs.
‘A durational sound composition composed form over fifty layers of Transport for London noise is transmitted from the rooftop into the broader Dehli soundscape through Bose bluetooth mini speakers. The rubberised stereo speakers sit on top of paper mache bricks composed from pulped books. Sounds of cities and written word merge into one another, dissipating into the world …’
Ian Dawson, Sturge.2291.remix 2022. WG.2350.remix 2022. PLA 3D Printed. 18 x 18.5 cm and 22 x 23 cm.
‘Both pieces are re-imaginings of Neolithic stone-age objects. These objects were first encountered on a field trip to The British Museum Archive, where they reside. These Neolithic carved stone balls, found across the British Isles, come from a period of transition from hunter gatherer to plant cultivation. Much is discussed about their origins. Some think that they evidence advanced mathematical skills, others that they were part of didactic processes. These objects were first scanned and transformed into 3D digital artefacts before being reinstantiated as physical objects through the 3D print process, thus conjoining technologies separated by 6,000 years.’
Vandana Kothari, Dinner table, 2020. Mixed media and collage. 20 x 20 cm each.
Extract of Oona Grimes installation ‘u.e.u.’ at Two Moons.
Full video at https://vimeo.com/307105492
Oona Grimes, u.e.u. 2018. 16mm & i.phone. Duration 9.28 min.
‘u.e.u. from Pasolini’s Uccellacci e Uccellini filmed in Garbatella. Bird calls haunted me in the studio, their repetitive song & dawn chorus invaded my dreams. It is a sublime dance of mis-communication, mis-translation, absurd jumpy hand gestures referencing both kinesics from paintings and everyday communication. Using 16mm film cut with iPhone clips I chased language - both the learning and losing of it - the omissions, the torn, the discontinuity, the patches, the bad repairs. Walking, watching, hand gestures, sign language, language of hands, mis-translation, mis-communication, bird language, dance language. Drapes and folds, pleats and drapes, fabric fashion folds all seeping into the work’.
Sachin Tekade, Untitled, 202. Paper cut, framed. 30.5 x 30.5 cm.
Two Moons, installation at the Mazecollective Studio Terrace
Anto George, Enshrined keepsakes, 2022. Paper and fibre glass. 122 x 122 cm.
Siddharta Kararwal, Untitled, 2022. Charred wood, iron, animal skull. 31 x 20.3 x 10 cm.
Anna Brass, Hacwod, 2022. Canvas, charcoal, ink, thread, wadding. 129.6 x 53.4 x 4 cm.
Extract of Esteban Torres Ayastuy installation ‘Industrial unit’ at Two Moons.
Full video at https://vimeo.com/400944969
Esteban Torres Ayastuy, Industrial Unit, 2020. HD video on Ipad. Duration 14 min.
‘Two mannequins converse in voice-over in an abandoned factory. They are women, although one of them disguises herself as a man. They ornament with their dramatizations this industrial park in demolition, developing an unusual protocol of dialogues and monologues…’
Right to left Anna Brass, Irati Urrestarazu, Karin Ruggaber, , William Farr, Jos Marin, Jignesh Panchal, Ian Dawson.
Karin Ruggaber, Brooch #105 - #110, 2022. Steel wire, clip hook; Brass wire, wool, cotton; Expanded aluminium mesh, brass wire, safety pin; Wire, acrylic airtex, polythene; Steel wire, cotton; Nylon rope, vinyl coated aluminium wire. Different sizes.
'Brooches are an ongoing series of small wire sculptures made with different materials and in various scales. They suggest wearability and relate to jewellery and the body’.
William Farr, Wisteria, 2022. Polymer resin. 23 x 14 x 39 cm.
Jos Martin, Infinite, 2008. Pen on paper. 91.5 x 71.2 cm.
Jignesh Panchal, Untitled, 2022. Golden/silver/copper leafing on paper in 3 parts. 103 x 78 cm each.
Left to right Leire Muñoz, Jignesh Panchal, Ian Dawon, Shivangi Ladha & Aditi Babel, Mark Hosking, Irati Urrestarazu.
Leire Muñoz, Pneuma, 2022. Bucket, water, pump, pipe, timer, overhead metal grid. 26.7 x 20.4 x 304.8 cm
‘At some point the flow stops. It abandons itself to the outside conditions. It soon restarts again, strikes and is interrupted, once more. Rhythm and arrhythmia. It stops and starts and restarts. There is tension and relaxation. The pulsations of the rhythm attract and contract the pipe-material at particular moments, then liberate it.’
Left to right Shivangi Ladha & Aditi Babel, Ian Dawson, Irati Urrestarazu, Mark Hosking
Irati Urrestarazu, Pendulo, 2022. Chain, resin, overhead metal grid. Dimensions variable
Shivangi Lada & Aditi Babel, Becoming Tree, 2022. Handmade Artist Book. Etching, Aquatint on Hahnemuhle Paper. Text Contribution by Chhavi Jain. 26.5 x 25.4 cm.
Niharika Chauhan, Receding river, 2022. Photo transfer, paper collage. 55 x 48 cm.
Mark Hosking, HARP, 2022. Painted steel with suction cups, contact microphone, amplifier, cable, tuning pegs, pulleys, guitar and cello strings. 40.7 x 39.4 x 7.6 cm
‘HARP Is a continuation from an ongoing series of functional sculpture that serve as prototypes for alternative musical instrument design. In this work, Hosking has included suction pads, allowing the piece to be attached to the blue surface of the Two Moons exhibition design. When played the musical instrument strings, tensioned within the welded metal frame, utilise the attached structure as a resonant sound box. Like the space craft in Lem’s book - Solaris, sent to study the planet’s ambiguous surface. Hosking imagines this relationship (to the exhibition) as a physical and potentially, musical interaction.’
Kunj Chawla, plays Mark Hosking’s sculpture-musical instrument HARP at the Mazecollective Studio Terrace, 2022. Duration
View of the works in the upper terrace
View of the video in the lower terrace