SLIDER

Slider is another off-site project utilising a factory building Cell has acquired a long-term lease on in Hackney Wick and is gradually converting into workspace for visual artists. The exhibition will take place over a 5000 square foot section of the building, already divided into nine large spaces which have pristine white walls, but old factory floors and ceiling which create a striking contrast between the old and the new, metaphorical of the buildings conversion from manufacturing to studios, which is what the spaces will eventually become, and the areas redevelopment from industrial to Olympic village.

A Slider is a slang term given by experienced mountaineers, back-country snowboarders, skiers and ice-climbers, for an avalanche. Based upon personal experience of the moment an avalanche begins, with a loud crack, and an instantaneous and dramatic shift of the landscape, the curator applies the term to an exhibition of dramatic and large scale works and installations by artists on the border of an area now earmarked for radical development for the London 2012 Olympics. The unique nature of this exhibition, as a one-time project, challenges preconceptions of how and where contemporary work might be viewed.

The concept and title for the show deal with dramatic change – in this case, the ‘avalanche’ of redevelopment will redefine the locations landscape. Scale is also implied within the term Slider, and artists invited to participate will draw focus to human scale by exhibiting large, or small scale works which affect the viewer by expanding or retracting their own sense of scale in comparison with the work.

Many of the artists included will make new pieces that expand their own dialogue through the use of scale and there is an intent to encourage large scale and ambitious works from artists who have never before had the opportunity to showcase at this scale.

The Wallis Road building will continue to expand over the next 12 months to become Cells major studio location, with long leases unaffected by the compulsory purchase Olympic zone development, the site offers long term security to the areas artists, who will benefit from the increased transport links and focus placed upon the area.

Pressetext

SLIDER
Kurator: Richard Priestley

mit Sarah Baker, Sam Basu, Luke Dowd, Sean Dawson, Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Stewart Gough, Saron Hughes, Chris Jones, Peter Liversidge, Ian Monroe, Steve Setford, Dylan Shipton, DJ Simpson