Arts contributor Lizzie Kaye attends the opening night of a new exhibition at the 198 gallery space by students at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
198 gallery in Herne Hill is currently playing host to an exciting new exhibition called Movement in Static Space. The exhibition was put together by seven students from the Criticism, Communication and Curation Bachelors degree course at Central Saint Martins and features five artists all based in London.
The first piece that captures your attention is Undulate by Eleanor Lines, a digital print of brightly coloured lines on silk. Undulate is both beautiful and an interesting exploration of the essence of movement, light and transience.
Also on display is a series of five photographs called Inside a Moving Van, contributed by David Stupple, which show via long exposure the passage of a candle in the hands of the artist as he attempted to remain upright in the back of a moving van.
No One, an installation by Caroline Underwood, dominates the front gallery space. An open cylinder, around five feet in diameter, reaches for the ceiling. It’s white on the outside, but reveals a grayscale forest-scape on the inside.
I spoke to Caroline about her work. “It is based on a clock. You are standing at one, and the trees are two, three, four and so on. I was trying to think of ways of conveying the feeling of being in the landscape, not just looking at it.”
Caroline also took me though to the gallery’s larger back room space, where the dark room is focused on the kaleidoscopic video projection by Rachel Ridge called Insert Life Here. Rachel uses images of moving traffic to create a mesmerizing display of forces and patterns that draw the viewer in.
The back corner of the room is pitch black. Inside the room a curtained cubicle is set up, inside which Elena Colman’s Cave comes to life. Once you grope your way blindly through the thick drapes, you are in a small space with glowing prints on the wall.
You watch as the lights fade, until a blinding flash reignites the phosphorescent particles in the silver gelatin prints. The abstracted views of Derbyshire cave interiors seem to recede from view. This piece perfectly captured the idea of movement in static space.
Movement in Static Space is at 198 until the 8th of June. 198 is open Monday to Saturday, 11-5pm. More information can be found at the exhibition website.
