Kingdom of Boredom - is an exhibition that was part of the Fringe Arts Bath festival of contemporary art1 and took place from May, 27th 2016 until June, 12th 2016 in the Spruce Goose Laundrette in Bath. 10 artists contributed to the exhibition and presented 2D and 3D visual works as well as performance pieces. The plan to transform a laundrette into an exhibition space was based on the idea that using laundrettes as an environment for the arts offers a new perspective on how to perceive the ordinary. Using a new environment and meeting new audiences doesn’t only change the viewers’ perspectives, but is also aimed to encourage artists to get a new point of view. The exhibition invited artists and visitors to seek the extra-sparkle in everyday objects.
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www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/kingdomofboredom
Sally Bennett ‘10:27 to Alton’ is a response to the fleeting moments during a train journey taken on 17th October 2015. The journey wasn’t remarkable - it was a grey autumnal day and the trains ran on time. However, in documenting this, new attention has been given to the urban and rural landscape passed through. After a career in IT spanning ten years, I left London in 2015 for the beautiful city of Bath and enrolled on the Masters in Fine Art course at Bath Spa University. I am driven by documenting and responding to the overlooked and unseen.
Joseph Simons Originally from Ireland but now based in England, I loosely call myself an artist. Working across many mediums I try to see some things as a child might. We are only limited by the assumptions and restrictions which we create ourselves. By changing how you see things such as rubbish, allows you to elevate them into something much more. Just like finding intrigue and beauty in the otherwise mundane day-to-day world. Or just rubbish on the side of the road. Playing is key to my work, I enjoy using different materials and processes not always with specific intentions. This help me to create new work and ideas, unexpected results and restrictions are often the source of the best ideas and results.
Laura Aish I am an emergent visual and sound artist currently based in Bristol, UK. My practice utilises a multidisciplinary approach, often exploring intersections between filmmaking, sound design and elements of live art performance. My work itself investigates notions of memory, chance, time and atrophy. I explore these themes through different editing methodologies and concepts by re-working disparate elements, such as deteriorated footage, found materials and feedback noise, and resituating them as new visual and sound experiences. I am also currently undertaking an MPhil research degree.
Matthew Hill My work is informed by a number of interests, including: the potential of the ‘mundane’ or the ‘everyday’; the effect that expectation and context have on the meaning of objects (art or otherwise); minimalism and conceptualism of the 60’s and 70’s. It has consisted mainly of sculpture recently but also includes painting, drawing, photography, found objects and the occasional ‘found show’. I hesitate to use titles as I am interested what the objects themselves say, and I find that introducing a language element interferes with this.
Nichola Wagg My name is Nichola Wagg, I am a fine art painter. I have worked in advertising and feel a connection to objects that might otherwise be overlooked. I look at the shape, colour (design) and wonder why they did it that way. I look at the everyday mundane, and think why it looks like it does. I understand the sort of excitement in painting something you love. I have a fascination with perfectly useless consumer goods. Like toys, sweets, bottle tops and anything that looks bright and cheerful. My work is all about the celebration of life.
Stephen Coles I am a sculptor working in cast metals, currently involved in an ongoing discourse around the nature of material. One of the most appealing properties of metal for me is its permanence that resultant legacy. There is a lot of humour in my work as I figure humour is worth preserving for future generations (especially puns) ‌
Suzanne Iuppa My name is Suzanne Iuppa; I'm a gigging poet, and a writer of stories and script work. My poems focus on our day-to- day relationships and how these contrast with ecology, and wild settings. My stories are more about women making unpopular choices. Both categories tend to strike a nerve during live performance, so I have been experimenting with a style in what has been labeled (by loving friends and bemused peers) as "stand-up poetry." Some shared by heart, some read, comi-triste, in costume or not, perhaps with props, in unusual locations, recorded in the field, whispered in the dark.... Recent praise for Suzanne's live performance: '...her work is vivid and striking on the page; hearing her read is a discovery' Gig Guide, Write Out Loud My long poem sequence Domestic is a funny, sad, resentful, transcendent piece of writing about living with someone, and raising a family. I am very pleased and excited to be giving the first live performances of this poem as part of Kingdom of Boredom, surrounded by the brilliant work of all the participating artists in this show, housed in Bath's laundrettes. It's all going to come out in the wash! Hope you can join us!
Ting Waterhouse I’m an artist graduating this year from BA (Hons) Interactive Arts at the Manchester School of Art, a diverse multi-disciplinary course that focuses on the importance of ideas. I am a printmaker and also work in video and textiles installation. My work focuses on the narratives of marginalised communities and working class culture. The pieces shown here at FAB attempt to explore laundrettes as social spaces and community hubs, as well as considering the relentless, cyclical nature of cleansing and its role in consumerism.
Ally McGinn use the studio around me as reference. Artists leave traces of their process as humans leave traces of their existence. I use these traces as inspiration for my investigations. In art the ‘thing’ shown is often polished, carefully measured and tailored to achieve a certain response, but the ‘thing’ is not the only creation. Even the neatest artist makes mess and mistakes. I seek to combine aesthetic qualities with mistakes and processes. For a painter these traces will invariably be paint, but artists rarely call thosepaintings. Paintings are the controlled result of an artist applying paint, but not all paintings are made traditionally. This lack of active control and rejection of traditional rules are an indispensable element of my practice. I have been working with ideas of chance, accident, potentiality and deception. I am interested in what art is, what it does and why we define it so vehemently. Paint, and art itself, are the subject I am using to question my own perceptions and those of viewers. Highlighting the unseen and unwanted areas of the studio shows that everything is worthy of attention and by defining it as art I am raising its importance. The works represent the process of making, and re-present that process to the viewer. By taking myself away from the artwork it becomes more of a conversation between viewer and materials, disconnecting the viewer from the emotional influence of the artist. I am questioning the potentiality of art. Making art ordinary by showing the physicality and potential of the materials themselves. Items that would normally be meaningless suddenly have purpose because of their location as art, rather than just part of the process. I want my work to make the viewer ask questions, which means I have to ask them first.
Christine Stender I’m the curator of this show and also exhibiting pieces of work, which were created by me and Pola Bulawa. I’m a student on the MA in Arts Management at Bath Spa University and have a background in Marketing. My aim is to explore and hopefully foster the beneficial relationship between local businesses and the arts sector and to furthermore broaden the perspective on what can be perceived as art. Looking for art in my day-to-day makes me appreciate my surroundings more and I hope that I can transport this feeling to you as the visitor.
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Curated by Christine Stender 27 May – 12 June 2016 16 Sally Bennett ‘10:27 to Alton’ Projection
2 Stephen Coles ‘C’rusty Socks’ Cast Iron
17 Ally McGinn ‘Paint’ Acrylic and Oil in Resin
4-8 Matthew Hill ‘Untitled’ Mixed Media 9-10 Joseph Simons ‘Untitled’ Silkscreen Print on Paper
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Spruce Goose Laundrette 4 Margaret Building’s BA1 2LP
1 Sally Bennett ‘10:27 to Alton’ Print on Acetate
3 Laura Aish Ultrette/ Supermat Prints
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Exhibition Guide
11-14 Nichola Wagg ‘Modern Landscapes’ Acrylic on canvas board and canvas 15 Nichola Wagg ‘The Changing Landscape’ Acrylic on canvas board Sat, 11 June 2016, 3pm Suzanne Iuppa ‘Domestic’ Performance Poetry
18-21 Ally McGinn ‘Bucket’ ‘Chair’ ‘Ledger’ ‘Staples’ Digital Prints 22-24 Ting Waterhouse ‘Cycles’ Silkscreen Print on Paper 25-26 Sally Bennett ‘10:27 to Alton’ Print on Acetate 27 Christine Stender Dead Umbrellas Prints