Experiments in Art and Science: Kettle's Yard and the Gurdon Institute

 

Please join me this Saturday 20 October, 3-5pm in Cambridge where I will be presenting My Buddy (2018) at the Gurdon Institute. This new performance is inspired by how yeast cells move and was developed during a period of research with scientists from the Zegerman Lab.

Since January 2018 I have been working with members of the Lab to carry out experiments on wild yeast cultures, extracting their DNA and observing the movements of cells under the microscope. Click here to read my Lab notes from one of the experiments.

My Buddy will be performed by Kirsty Arnold, Laura Doehler and Adam Moore.

This commission is part of Experiments in Art and Science, a collaboration between Kettle's Yard and the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge University.

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Saturday 20 October, 3-5pm

The Gurdon Institute, Tennis Court Rd, Cambridge CB2 1QN

Three contemporary artists David Blandy, Rachel Pimm and Laura Wilson present new film and performance resulting from time spent interacting with scientists at the Gurdon Institute. The scientists are from three different labs within the Institute, but each is focused on answering fundamental questions about developmental biology.

The Gurdon Institute is named after co-founder and Nobel Laureate Sir John Gurdon. The Institute is a world-leading centre for research into the biology of development and how normal growth and maintenance go wrong in diseases.

A partnership between Kettle’s Yard and the Gurdon Institute funded by Wellcome.

You Would Almost Expect to Find it Warm at the British Museum

On Friday 1 June, 4-8pm in the Great Hall at the British Museum where I presented You would almost expect to find it warm (2018), a new site-specific performance using dance and fresh dough as an interplay of two living organisms operating in a constant flow of movement.

With an uncanny resemblance to human flesh and marble, the material and choreography of the performers draws parallels between the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, and those of the Parthenon, in response to the exhibition Rodin and the art of ancient Greece at the British Museum.




Co-commissioned by Block Universe and Franck Bordese.

You would almost expect to find it warm (2018) will be performed by Elina Akhmetova, Kirsty Arnold, Iris Chan, Adam Moore, Daniel Persson and Piedad Seiquer. With thanks to Yeast Bakery. 

Photos: Manuela Barczewski

You would almost expect to find it warm

Laura Wilson, You would almost expect to find it warm, 2018. Co-commissoned by Block Universe and Franck Bordese.

On Friday 1 June, 4-8pm in the Great Hall at the British Museum I am presenting You would almost expect to find it warm (2018), a new a site-specific performance using dance and fresh dough as an interplay of two living organisms operating in a constant flow of movement.

With an uncanny resemblance to human flesh and marble, the material and choreography of the performers draws parallels between the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, and those of the Parthenon, in response to the exhibition Rodin and the art of ancient Greece at the British Museum.

You would almost expect to find it warm (2018) will be performed by Elina Akhmetova, Kirsty Arnold, Iris Chan, Adam Moore, Daniel Persson and Piedad Seiquer. With thanks to Yeast Bakery.

Co-commissioned by Block Universe and Franck Bordese.

Syllabus Mix at Guest Projects

On Sunday 27 May, 6-10pm I am showing a new sound work at Guest Projects in SyllabusMix — An evening of screenings from Syllabus i, ii & iii as part of the gallery's 10 Year Anniversary weekend of performance, music and interactive workshops by past artist residents.

Syllabus Mix is an evening of screenings, performance and sounds from Syllabus i, ii & iii. Including work by Frederica Agbah, Chris Alton, Mira Calix, Ilker Cinarel, Faye Claridge, Phoebe Davis, Freya Dooley, Mike Harvey, E. Jackson, Tyler Mallison, Jill McKnight, Mathew Parkin, Tom Smith, Lucy Steggals, Thomas Whittle, Laura Wilson, Rafal Zajko.

The Syllabus is a national, alternative peer-led learning programme involving 10 selected artists annually, delivered in partnership by Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; New Contemporaries; S1 Artspace, Sheffield; Spike Island, Bristol; Studio Voltaire, London and Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts), London.
#syllabusmix

RSVP to attend via Eventbrite here

Block Universe

I am super excited to be included in the Block Universe 2018 programme!

www.blockuniverse.co.uk

Block Universe, London’s leading international performance art festival is set to launch its fourth edition in May with an expanded 10-day programme of new commissions, UK premieres, talks, screenings and workshops.

From 26 May to 3 June 2018, Block Universe will present work by some of the most innovative UK-based and international artists working in performance art today, including Maria Hassabi, Hanne Lippard, Giselle Stanborough, Nora Turato and Laura Wilson.

The festival features five new commissions by Gery Georgieva, Evan Ifekoya & Victoria Sin, Alex Mirutziu, Last Yearz Interesting Negro / Jamila Johnson-Small and They Are Here, a collaborative practice led by Helen Walker and Harun Morrison.

As in previous years, performances will take place in major institutions and unique venues across London, including Somerset House, British Museum, Royal Academy of Arts and Studio Voltaire. Creating extraordinary opportunities for dialogue between London’s storied institutions and a selection of exceptional performance artists working at the cross-section of contemporary visual art, dance and music, Block Universe positions London at the forefront of international performance art.

Rolling at Hull & East Riding Museum

Here are some photos from a presentation of Rolling on 7 October at the Hull & East Riding Museum. The work was commissioned earlier this year by Delfina Foundation and the Royal College of Art.

Thanks to Forge Bakehouse, Sheffield and to performers: Jo Ashbridge, Iris Chan, Louise Harman, Meghan Hope, Jane Savage.

Photos: top image, by David Chamlers; all other images by Nick Harrison.

Milling About at Hull & East Riding Museum

Laura Wilson: Milling About
Hull & East Riding Museum
36 High St, Hull HU1 1NQ

7 October - 6 December 2017

Milling About by Laura Wilson explores Hull’s and the East Riding of Yorkshire’s history of growing grain and producing flour for baking bread. Inspired by the archaeological collections in the museum, Wilson worked with archaeologist Dr. Melanie Giles, University of Manchester, to explore the evolution of ancient grinding technologies and their affect on the human body.

This new commission by Invisible Dust for Surroundings, a Humber Museums Partnership programme, was presented within the archaeological galleries, in a building that between 1856 and 1925, was part of the Corn Exchange and is situated opposite the now demolished Clarence Flour Mills. Set to a soundtrack by Mira Calix, the video follows the protagonist enacting the repetitive motions of grinding flour by hand using quern stones, a common practice in Britain until the Romans brought their engineering skills here and as Dr Giles says, ‘eased the burden on the body’.

Wilson states:
‘Historically  quern  stones  would  have  been  very  personal  objects,  and  often destroyed  when the owner died. This was  a daily ritual  producing just enough flour   to make bread, the upper stone is rotated or rubbed to and from on the lower one: the stones grind each other and produce dust. It is rhythmic movement, there is a pace to  it but these movements are laborious, demanding and necessary: the body grinds.’

Laura Wilson’s research included visits to Skidby Windmill, the local family-run organic millers J. Stringers & Sons and the deserted village of Wharram Percy. She also met John Cruse, co-ordinator of the Yorkshire Archaeology Society’s Yorkshire Quern Survey; Dr. Ruth Pelling, Historic England Senior Environmental Archaeologist; and Dr. Richard Osgood, Senior archaeologist of the Ministry of Defence, to discuss her ideas.

Curated by Lara Goodband.

Photo: Laura Wilson, Milling About, 2017 (still from video). Commissioned and produced for Surroundings by Invisible Dust in partnership with Humber Museum Partnership. Photo credit: Laura Wilson