Jane Dallaway

Oct 31 2011

"Excavating Babel" by Tina Hill - The Pie Factory, Margate

On Saturday, whilst wandering around Margate, we popped in to The Pie Factory to see what exhibition they had on this time. It turned out to be Pushing Print - an exhibition of printmaking.

The stand out exhibit for me was Excavating Babel by Tina Hill. It's a structure, representing the story of Genesis apparently, made up of approximately 2,500 books which is big enough to stand inside and to have your vision and communication to the outside world blocked by books. Quite wonderful really.

Tina Hills says:

Excavating Babel is also a monument to books in general and on a personal level, the important place they have played in my life.

It reminded me of being in a second hand book shop in Hull that my Mum used to visit to stock up on books - there were always piles of books, seemingly randomly placed.

My kindle can hold approximately 3,500 books, so another 1000 on top of this, quite astounding really, and really gave me a sense of the scale of the number of words I can fit onto such a small device.

Filed under // exhibition margate photo

Comments (0)

Aug 21 2011

Heather Barnett @ Margate Photo Fest

Physarum Experiment No: 016
A collective study in culinary likes and dislikes.
Made at Margate Photo Fest, August 2011.

via heatherbarnett.co.uk

Last weekend, whilst we were visiting Richard's folks, we stopped by the Pie Factory to see what was happening at the Margate Photo Fest and stumbled across Heather Barnett's experiments with slime mold. On the video, at about 1:25 some "more oats" are added - these were Richard's interactions with it, and below is a quick snap of Richard interacting with Heather herself.

Filed under // margate photographer video

Comments (0)

Aug 17 2011

Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate

On Saturday, whilst visiting Richard's family in Margate, we decided to pay a visit to the recently opened Turner Contemporary gallery. Having watched it evolve over the past few years, from building site to gallery, it was a real pleasure to step inside and see what the space was like. And it has lots of space, art is displayed on a grand scale, and I loved it.

The opening exhibition, Revealed: Turner Contemporary Opens, is described as

Turner’s painting is evidence of the power of his imagination and his curiosity about new places and natural phenomena. This desire for knowledge marked the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when many discoveries were made in science and technology and artists and scientists worked in close dialogue.

The six contemporary artists in the exhibition work in the same spirit of enquiry, invention and interest in the natural world that flourished during Turner’s lifetime. Just as Turner explored nature in paint and colour, so these contemporary artists play at the borders between what we can see and know and the truly fantastic.

On entering the gallery, and looking towards the sea, which I am always likely to be drawn towards, the Daniel Buren installation (pictured above) was the first thing I saw, framing the sea and lovely blue sky in an effective manner.

The Russell Crotty work was the highlight for me. The globes, like the one pictured above, are ink drawn on paper, fragile and beautiful, featuring poems or prose. The one above is "Walking towards dreamland" and features the coastline between Joss Bay and Margate itself, a coastlne I've walked along on many occasions whilst out walking the dog. These globes, coastlines and words are frequently found in his works.

A wonderful gallery, with some delightful opening works. Planning to sneak off for a couple of hours every time I visit the in-laws and immerse myself in it.

Filed under // exhibition inspiration margate photo review

Comments (0)