national media museum

“New works: pavilion commissions 2008” is an exhibition of young talented photographers at National Media Museum Bradford. Pavilion is a visual arts commissioning agency based in Leeds that works together with artist and audience to create works of art using photography and digital media. Five candidates were chosen for the exhibition: Peter Ainsworth, Tess Hurrell, Jo Longhurst, Moira Lovell and Kevin Newark. Below are three of them I find particularly interesting.
Peter Ainsworth
In his approach to work Ainsworth blurs lines between film, performance, the trivial, documentary and elements of museology. And his final photographs are the evidence of this mixture’s effects and outcomes. “A stuffed bird found on a bank of the Thames at Crayford Ness” (2007) is a series of pictures that are presented as scientific documentary and show how any object even such as decaying body of a bird can become art.
“Summer and spring. Angel road (A406)” (2008) takes the presentation and museum object interaction sides of “A stuffed bird…” even further. Ainsworth asked a group of volunteers to develop abandoned pieces of land by turning them into gardens. He arranged his models copying the paintings of Breugel positioning the subjects in obvious “perfect” rural scene as if taking a role of an artist whose dignified skill is in danger from invading modern technology. Although, he uses this technology to create his art.
Tess Hurrell
Investigating light flickers and flares in photography, “Chaology”(left) looks at the power of explosions. Hurrell created imitations of explosions she photographed before and recreated its abstract beauty in wires, powder and cotton wool. This work communicates movement when the subject itself is sculpturally static.
In “Drawing light”(right) Hurrell removed light patterns and reflections from their usual context by dispersing them against semi-transparent screen as she always was interested in how camera captures and represents things to us, particularly if they are not visible to human eye.
Jo Longhurst
Longhurst is investigating perfection and how it influences our personal perception and identities, social and political systems and the history. “Perfect” is a project that looks at technical and physical perfection in sport, especially gymnastics. However, the photographs are not just about perfection in sport it is also a collection of personal stories and achievements, national identities and history in photographs.