Exhibition statement
Welcome to A Safe Space, explore our exhibition and stay for a little while. 5 artists studying Fine Art at UCA Farnham, faced with the task of transforming a space to create a heterotopia to then be presented within a digital space. Nearly a year on from the testing circumstances of COVID-19 many artists have been forced out of their comfort zones and pushed to work purely online. We hope that you may find comfort in the works and worlds we’ve created and are able to escape for just a moment.
Fridge By Edward Rutt
The fridge is a series of digital collages created from a selection of found images sourced from the Internet. The main idea of the piece comes from the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis. Where a group of children find a magical world through a wardrobe, which I decided to replace with a fridge.
Nutcracker-Magictopia by Cecilia Barandiaran-Sprot
Nutcracker-Magictopia Exhibition is a virtual exhibition exploring the world of magic inhabited by real characters placed in a real space. The characters are dancers from the Nutcracker ballet (photographs) placed as if they were inhabiting a series of colourful shining 3D objects which produce the sense of magic in the work. They are all exhibited as hanging installations from the ceiling in different rooms of a domestic place. There is something magical in the work however, the incompatible placing of the exhibition draws attention to our lockdown situation due to Covid-19, and the incongruous situation of galleries, museums and theatres now-a-days.
A dreamscape by Clare Prouton
A dreamscape is a piece which heavily reflects my own heterotopia and a place where I can escape the real world whilst I sleep in my bed. An obsession with watching clouds and sunsets inspired this piece because it’s something which gives me instant serotonin and happiness.
Technotopia by Cate Lomas
This heterotopia was inspired by the concept of virtual realities and the cyberpunk subculture. While the term cyberpunk had its debut in the 80s, many of the underlying values of free thinking, self-expression and rejection of bureaucracy are still present today. I was especially interested in exploring the concept of the cyborg, the incorporation of technology into humanity and “enhancement” of the human race be it through technology or developing standards of beauty. I was also interested in incorporating the redundant technology of the bulky computer to juxtapose the contemporary subject matte
Fuck the Garden By Joanna Marimon
Fuck the Garden is a click-and-explore website that allows the audience to interact with a virtual home. Here they can explore the virtual space to find poems and other curiosities. Through exploring old, archived websites from the 90s and early 2000s I curated many gifs and other resources to play into the old-school internet aesthetic in order to capture the feeling of nostalgia. The surrealist dreamlike reality I created is supposed to mimic this feeling further reflecting the confusion, loss, and layering of someone's memories as they look into the past. Making things seem obscure and not as they seem. As you explore the home its mysteries seem to unravel however nothing is ever truly made clear capturing the infinite struggle to remember something from the past.