| Dark
Places uncovers sites of secrecy and technology
across Britain. Commissioned by The Arts Catalyst,
the exhibition presents new artists’ works that explore
spaces and institutions below the radar of common knowledge. |
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The Office
of Experiments’ (OOE) Overt Research
Project sets a background by mapping and recording
advanced labs and facilities that are unwittingly –
or purposefully – concealed from public view. The
work features an interpretive slideshow and a field guide
to local sites through an information kiosk. Elsewhere
in the gallery, OOE brings together The Mike Kenner Archive,
revealing years of campaigning by one man into the public
biochemical warfare experiments conducted by Porton Down
(Salisbury). |
Victoria
Halford and Steve Beard’s film Voodoo
Science Park traces a secret geography of the Health
and Safety Laboratory in Derbyshire, where train crashes
and industrial accidents are re-created to examine their
destructive pathways. Mixing fact and fiction, the film
imagines a delayed encounter between poet William Blake
and political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, drawing affinities
to this unique site. |
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| Beatriz da Costa’s
A Memorial for the Still Living is a sombre reflection
on endangered species of the British Isles. Presenting a
selection of rare animal, insect and reptile specimens,
including loans from the Natural History and Horniman Museums,
da Costa identifies these collections – and the bleak
future they imply – as ‘dark places’ of
zoological science. |
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Steve Rowell, a collaborator
with the US-based group the Center for Land Use
Interpretation (CLUI), in his solo project Ultimate
High Ground UK, uncovers shared US-UK spaces of military
power. Realised as a multiscreen video installation, the
work focuses upon RAF Menwith Hill, North Yorkshire, a satellite
ground station and communications intercept site, known
for its distinctive radome structures. For further information
about the artist visit http://www.steverowell.com/
Dark Places is revealed in greater depth
in a filmed artists’ interview, on show throughout
and a special Dark Places publication,
featuring a new essay by writer and critic Sally
O’Reilly.
Dark Places is commissioned by
The Arts Catalyst and co-curated with the
Office of Experiments, John Hansard Gallery
and SCAN. The Office of Experiments’
Overt Research Project is supported by UCL Department
of Geography and The Media School, Bournemouth University,
led by Neal White with Steve Rowell and Lisa Haskel. |
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Artist's Interview
John Hansard Gallery Director, Stephen Foster in conversation
with artists Neal White, Steve Rowell, Steve Beard and Victoria
Halford. Beatriz da Costa was sadly unable to attend the filming
of this interview.
Video produced by Zemedia, Southampton.
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Images, top to bottom:
1. Disused cruise missile shelters at (former) RAF Greenham
Common.Photo from the OOE ORP Archive.
2 .Dungeness. Photo from the Office of Experiments Overt Researcher
Project Archive.
3. Cardington Bathum. From the Mike Kenner Archive.
3. Voodoo Science Park, 2009. Video stills. Image courtesy of
Halford & Beard and the Health and Safety
Laboratory.
4. The Cryptogamic Herbarium. Part of the Department of Botany
at the Natural History Museum, London. © The Natural History
Museum, London
5. RAF Fylingdales, North Yorkshire, for Ultimate High Ground,
2009. Photo by Steve Rowell.
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