exhibitions
exhibitions archive 2010

Ground Level Hayward Touring Curatorial Open II 29 June – 21 August 2010 Curator's interview

Ground Level explores how contemporary art practice, mapping and cartography collide. Traditionally the role of the cartographer has been to provide a geographically precise description of the landscape. However, rarely has it been a wholly objective enterprise. While technology increasingly grants access to the precision of satellite imagery, the cartographer’s work has moved further from the ground into more contested areas such as ownership, rights to land, and the flows of people.

This exhibition brings together international artists who perform their own personal forms of cartography. The resulting works suggest maps and surveys, but rather than portraying a singular worldview they put forward idiosyncratic readings of language, peoples and signs, as well as geography. The exhibition is curated by Kit Hammonds, winner of the 2010 Hayward Touring Curatorial Open, a platform for innovative curatorship in the UK.

Artists include: Maria Thereza Alves; The Atlas Group; Ricardo Basbaum; Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon; Center for Land Use Interpretation; Simon Evans; Yolande Harris; Christian Philipp Müller; Eyal Weizman; Stephen Willats.

A Hayward Touring exhibition selected and developed in partnership with John Hansard Gallery, QUAD, Derby; Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno and Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum.

Images (top to bottom):
Christian Philipp Müller, Green Border, 1993/2005 © the artist. Courtesy Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon, Rio Chanca Portugal, from BorderXing.
The Atlas Group, Sweet Talk File (Plate 392), 1991-2005. © the artist. Courtesy Anthony Reynolds Gallery
Center for Land Use Interpretation, Model Earth Project: The Hydraulic Models of the Army Corps of Engineers. © CLUI 2010