Echoes of Abstraction II and The Bottomless Pit of Outros at Laing Art Gallery

'Echoes of Abstraction II and The Bottomless Pit of Outros brings together newly commissioned work by artists Jamie Cook, Adam Goodwin, James Pickering and Paul Trickett, alongside highlights from the Laing Art Gallery’s modern and contemporary painting collection. The exhibition explores and is inspired by the legacy of abstract art, and has been organised by The NewBridge Project in partnership with The Laing Art Gallery.

Collection works featured in the exhibition chart the gradual shift from representation to abstraction, arguably one of the most influential artistic developments of the twentieth century. More recent works illustrate how, to this day, abstraction is used to various degrees, from relatively minor formal alterations in otherwise realistic works, to completely abstract compositions in which the painting bears no resemblance to the real world. Highlight works include paintings by Francis Bacon, David Bomberg, Patrick Heron, Chris Ofili, Prunella Clough, Ben Nicholson, Mark Gertler and Frank Auerbach.

Contemporary artists Cook, Goodwin, Pickering and Trickett join forces as The Occasion Collective to experiment with notions of reality and the natural and artificial worlds, bringing together art and technology. In response to the Laing’s collection works and the theme of abstraction’s long legacy they have made a new interactive installation of sound, image, object and digital experience entitled The Bottomless Pit of Outros.

They have created a virtual reality rendering of the Laing’s grand Edwardian gallery suites, in which works from the collection can be reimagined in an ever-changing virtual display.

The partnership between the Laing Art Gallery and The NewBridge Project has been devised with the dual aim of supporting emerging artists from the region, as well as creating a new platform for The NewBridge Project at a time of both flux and renewed ambition as they relocate to new premises at Carliol House, Market Street.'

It is a really impressive installation that works especially well in the context of the Laing as opposed to a white cube gallery space. The vibrant modern interiors created by The Occasion Collective contrast with the traditional interior of the Laing Gallery, and made me consider the collection works in a new manner which I enjoyed.

In this instance I did not find that the virtual reality added anything to my experience of the work. I find myself being impressed by the technological complexities, but find virtual reality difficult to respond on a more artistic level. 

I'm looking forward to a couple of the associated forthcoming programmed events alongside this exhibition:

Cooking with Three performance in The Bottomless Pit of Outros
The Laing Art Gallery
Saturday 12 August, 6-7pm

Cooking With Three are a mixed-media improv ensemble that work loosely with dance, visuals and sound, directed by Jamie Cook. Collaboration is a key element of the group’s process, with core members Lizzie J Klotz (dance), Adam Goodwin (visuals) and Jamie Cook (sound) inviting members of all disciplines to an open fortnightly forum to improvise together and develop interdisciplinary improvised performance.

The ‘Echoes of Abstraction II and the Bottomless Pit of Outros’ performance will be fully improvised, realised amongst the exhibition, responding to the work as well and the unique space and audience at the Laing.

http://thenewbridgeproject.com/events/cooking-three-performance-bottomless-pit-outros/

| PMP | ‘the listening room‘ – conversation
The NewBridge Project
Saturday 19 August, 5pm

For this salon style event everyone is invited to come along to discuss the role of located & performance-based sound in the contemporary sonic arts.

Jez Riley French will be on hand to present a talk on some of aspects of his work with extended listening & recording, and to highlight some key artists working with located sound. The talk will then lead us into an open conversation where everyone is welcome to contribute. Whatever your interest in sound come along with questions or comments for us all to discuss.

http://thenewbridgeproject.com/events/pmp-listening-room-conversation-jez-riley-french/

Artists takeover the Laing

The Laing Art Gallery invited artists to takeover the gallery and encourage people to vote for this to happen on a bigger and more ambitious scale later in the year. 

The Laing has been chosen as one of three venues which could win artist Marcus Coates to host a unique Museums at Night event in October. 



Artist Marcus Coates promises a night of ritual that will see performances, images and objects made, not as artworks but as answers in themselves, as responses to these questions. The questions can be about anything – the politics of the town, global issues or personal problems, as long as the answers are not known and cannot be looked up.

You can vote from 11am on Friday 29 April to 9pm Saturday 14th May.

The Laing Takeover involved live painting, performance art, dance, print making and much more.

It definitely encouraged me to vote for this to happen again.

Sound Strata of Coastal Northumberland by Susan Stenger

Recently I've been looking at bedrock geology, and on Tuesday I visited the Natural History Society of Northumbria, to view, amongst various other items, a beautiful scroll showing the bedrock geology of Northumbria from Cullercoats to Croclin. I was able to identify the geology of the Cheeseburn Grange area, and am planning on using this information to inform the colours that I choose for some of my casts.

Susan Stenger, Sound Strata of Coastal Northumberland, 2014. Photo Colin Davison, courtesy of AV Festival 14

In relation to the bedrock map, it was suggested that I look at Sound Strata of Coastal Northumberland, a work by Susan Stenger that was at the Laing Gallery as part of AV Festival 2014. She produced a sound installation based on a cross-section diagram of coastal geological formations. The diagram covered the area from the River Tyne to the Scottish border, and was drawn by the local mining engineer Nicolas Wood in the 1830s. Stenger used the diagram as a graphic score, and transformed the geologic into the sonic in a 58-minute work that travels from the coal seams of Tyneside to the porphyritic rocks north of the Tweed, layering instrumental sounds, melodic patterns and signature rhythms extracted from traditional Northumbrian music and dance. 

Susan Stenger, Sound Strata of Coastal Northumberland, 2014. Photo Colin Davison, courtesy of AV Festival 14

"Responding to history, culture and place-names as well as the drawing’s structures, she combined surface detail of fiddle and Northumbrian smallpipe patterns with deep shifting seams of brass band harmonies, voice, Border and Highland pipes to create a unique portrait of place."

http://www.avfestival.co.uk/programme/2014/events-and-exhibitions/susan-stenger-sound-strata-of-coastal-northumberland