Press Release

Artists’ Open House 2024

The Tipping Point

11/12 & 18/19 May, 11am - 6pm

@thetippingpoint_24

The tipping point may arrive seemingly out of the blue as a slight change heralding a new way forward.  It can be magical or malevolent.  More than 40 artists in six individually curated spaces will examine different kinds of tipping points, both minor and major, literal and metaphorical.  The boundaries may be blurred and hard to recognise or individual and diverse.  Using painting, photography, ceramics, film, printmaking, sculpture and installation processes the artists will explore this theme from subtle metamorphoses to irreversible defining moments.  This multi-disciplinary approach will investigate different ideas of what is a tipping point and whether it is always bad.

Curators

  • Min Angel / Lucy Soni

  • Lucy Bainbridge

  • Léonie Cronin

  • Monika Kita

  • Sarah Sparkes/ Jane Millar

  • Kim Thornton

Events

Bell House projects will also be on view including the Pottery, the Quilt Academy, Artist in Residence open studio and a chance to see The Garage Press (letterpress printing) in action.

Lydia Julien and Victoria Rance will perform at 3pm on Sunday 12th May on the Landing.

Join the curators on Thursday evening, 16th of May, to learn more about the ideas their invited artists bring to this theme, you can register for this tour here.

 

Curated by:

Kim Thornton - Thomas Wright Room

In the Thomas Wright Room, the work of eight female artists explores The Tipping Point through the expanded field of photography.  The artists draw on performance, installation, writing and collage to examine how day to day life is experienced and our agency in dealing with life events and experiences. The works contemplate, assemble, resist and reveal, often with unexpected outcomes.  How much power and control do we really have in our lives?

Artists: Jocelyn Allen, Rosie Barnes, Joan Byrne, Nicky Hirst, Ellie Laycock, Rosy Martin, Kim Thornton, Verity Welstead

Léonie Cronin - Lutyens Room

At what point does a belief system change? Is it a sudden eureka moment or a subtle shift of perception? Over human history you can trace the absorption of one belief system into another seeing different elements, symbols, stories appearing in one belief appearing as part of, or alongside, the new ideas to help the amalgamation of cultures, politics and religions.

With so many different choices, voices and channels that come through our technologies, all jostling for our attention, the global traumas, perceived threats and environmental disasters overwhelm with every click, swipe and blink. Belief systems loud and quiet bombard us through media channels nestling in our systems.

At what point do they shift our own beliefs? When do they change our daily rituals? Our inherited religions?

Over time our historical stories, tenets, symbols, signs and meanings that have been part of our upbringing are challenged or re-strengthened.

The artwork in the Lutyens Room is arranged as a procession through objects of different artistic beliefs, pointing to new myths, a point of Syncretism where ideas become merged and the old symbols get incorporated into new systems. As you proceed around the room do any of the art works nudge your old beliefs or do they ask you to think of new ones for the paradigm of our times?

Artists: Murray Anderson, Léonie Cronin, Guy Forrester, Rachel Reid, Schneider, Charlotte Squire

Lucy Bainbridge - Hall

I have brought together five artist printmakers who explore different ways of experiencing the title 'tipping Point' through blurred vision, both theoretically and technically. From my screen printed rainy London cityscapes to Jennifer's distorted cyanotype structures, between the five of us we demonstrate a wide range of printmaking techniques; screenprint, etching, and cyanotype. I hope this curation showcases the breadth of artists who come to print at Bainbridge Print Studios and exemplify what the studio has to offer.

Artists: Lucy Bainbridge, Catherine Brereton, Lucie Holzer, Jennifer Moore, Moritz Nicolai

Min Angel / Lucy Soni - MacAndrew Room

Artists Min Angel and Lucy Soni have invited Miranda Bolton, Dido Hallett and Suzanne Holtom to join them in an exhibition of painting and sculpture which questions the formal aspects of structure, potential collapse, the pictorial and the gestural.

Artists: Min Angel, Miranda Bolton, Dido Hallett, Suzanne Holtom, Lucy Soni

Sarah Sparkes / Jane Millar -  Landing, Gowan Room

Octavia Butler’s dystopian novel, ‘Parable of the Sower’, opens in 2024, when capitalism, wealth inequalities, repressive regimes and climate disintegration have led to a rapid and violent breakdown of society. The novel’s protagonist, 15 year old Lauren Oya Olamina, creates a new belief system, 'Earthseed', where the only lasting truth is change and where all the seeds of life may be transplanted and adapted to new situations and locations, ultimately, beyond Earth.

We are all entangled - humans, animals, plants, fungi, earth, water, fire, air – yet it seems that the human condition is to wait for tipping points, transformative catastrophes to precipitate urgent change and then, only as a means of return to an illusionary status quo.

Our artists explore a new awareness of change and exchange, a constant shifting of strange identities, the malleability of being, interspecies communication and the strength and vulnerability of community. We are imagining new ways to merge; ways to intelligently and sensually live in the flux of a perpetual tipping point.

Artists: Jonathan Callan, Chudamani Clowes, Sarah Doyle, Lydia Julien, Marq Kearey, David Leapman, Yair Meshoulam, Jane Millar, Stephen Nelson, Victoria Rance, Alke Schmidt, Lex Shute, Ania Tomaszewska-Nelson, Sarah Sparkes, Sara Trillo, Marianne Walker, Alice Wilson

Monika Kita - Lucas Room

In an era defined by perpetual change and profound societal shifts, the concept of a "tipping point" holds both urgency and significance. Through the captivating medium of moving image, four female artists unite to offer their unique perspectives on this pivotal theme.

At the heart of this exhibition lies a profound exploration of the delicate balance between stability and transformation. Through their works, these artists invite viewers to contemplate the moments of rupture and transition that define our lives and our world. They delve into the forces propelling us toward critical junctures, navigating the complexities of decision-making and personal evolution within the contexts of feminist psychoanalytical theories and environmental degradation.

Their creations serve as catalysts for introspection and dialogue, sparking conversations about the thresholds that shape our individual and collective destinies. Simultaneously, they prompt reflection on our relationship with the natural world. As we immerse ourselves in the worlds crafted by these visionary artists, we are reminded of the profound interconnectedness of our experiences and the environment.

Artists: Minna Etein, Danielle Jacques, Monika Kita, Laura Moreton-Griffiths