Group exhibition Hoard curated & organised by Blackwater Polytechnic – Exhibiting artists: Ben Coode-Adams, Dr Annabel Dover, Sophie Giller, Tilly Hawkins, Sara Impey, Justin Knopp and Professor Freddie Robins. Photo above by Ciara Leeming.
All above photos by Ciara Leeming, all photos below by Sophie Giller
Rate of growth, tulle and lining fabrics, inks, thread, Sophie Giller
Top left: Ben Coode-Adam, work behind Justin Knopp, Tilly Hawkins, Sara Impey & Sophie Giller, top right: Tilly Hawkins, right middle: Annabel Dover, and above, Freddie Robins
Top left: Sara Impey & Ben Coode-Adams, top middle, Freddie Robins & Sara Impey, top right: Install shot, above (from top left): Annabel Dover, Ben Coode-Adams, Sara Impey, Tilly Hawkins & Justin Knopp
Top left x 3 rows: Freddie Robins, top middle: Tilly Hawkins, Justin Knopp, Annabel Dover, Ben Coode-Adams & Sophie Giller, top right: Freddie Robins, middle rows: Install shots, above left: Sara Impey, below right: Freddie Robins, Sophie Giller, Justin Knopp, Sara Impey & Tilly Hawkins
From left, Freddie Robins & Annabel Dover
HOARD
Text by Blackwater Polytechnic:
The Blackwater Polytechnic is an imaginary educational institution in Essex, United Kingdom, based in a tangible sixteenth-century barn. The campus’s old-world charm belies its cutting-edge focus on ‘the technology of enchantment’. The local artists who comprise the faculty and present their applied research are highly qualified in hands-on innovation, meeting real-world challenges.
Ben Coode-Adams, Dr Annabel Dover, Sophie Giller, Tilly Hawkins, Sara Impey, Justin Knopp and Professor Freddie Robins are set to unveil a diverse collection of art and artefacts. Each piece holds the potential for immeasurable value and could be the key to unlocking the Secrets of the Universe.
If you want to be INTERESTING,
then you need to be SPECIFIC.
Being SPECIFIC means taking account
of your CONTEXT. Only by grounding yourself in
your CONTEXT
do you become universally
INTERESTING.
We are intrigued by the ramifications of the word hoard in its archaeological sense—things of value lumped together in a hole in the ground, often hard to find and then unpick. Our neighbourhoods of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk are littered with them, reflecting the imperilled edginess of our geography. We are the first place where merchants and marauders make landfall. There is opportunity here, along with risk.
As with an ancient hoard of artefacts, it can be hard to disentangle straightforward literal meaning in our presentation. There is no right answer. Better to let the mind and eye soften into poetic associative freedom. There is no need to be distrustful of enjoying sensations and emotions filtered only by our senses. As we are adrenaline junkies for new ways of thinking visually, so we like these chancy visual conversations.
Here at the Polytechnic, we walk the line between collecting and hoarding. We are in thrall to artefacts, both supremely masterfully crafted and improvised, rough and ready. We do not apologise for the density and richness of our presentation. Time is the friend of the thoughtful.
Sophie Giller 