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Andy Charalambous: Singularity

Singularity is a site specific installation commissioned by Ruskin Gallery at the Working Men’s College.  The installation was displayed for two weeks during December 2011.

There are many different definitions available for the word singularity.  Some can describe technological singularities whilst others establish gravitational, or mathematical singularities.

The specific installation attempts to visually describe density singularity, which is usually done by showing a two dimensional plane that has a conical depression, a bit like pressing a finger into a stretched rubber sheet.   Charalambous had stated that he has always imagined lines coming to or from the single point.  Here at the Ruskin Gallery he has translated his scientific endevour into an artistic experience, that is at once as ephemeral and transient as single point of beginning or  end.

Andy Charalambous is a final year FdA fine art student at the Working Men’s College, as well as being Artist in Residence for the Particle Physics group at University College London.

For more information on the artist, please feel free to contact the curator, Erica Shiozaki, or follow the links below.

http://www.andycharalambous.com
art@engineeringart.co.uk

 installation view 1

Installation view 2

 installation view 3

Lowes Dickinson Art Prize 2011

The Lowes Dickinson Prize is named after Lowes Cato Dickinson who was a tutor, artist and founder member of Working Men’s College.  The Prize is funded through a grant left by him to enhance the learner experience at Working Men’s college and has manifested itself in many versions over the years, ranging from travel scholarships to one-off prizes for artworks.

In offering a number of prizes (total value of £2000), the Prize aims to support the learning of students at Working Men’s College.  This year we have created different categories of prize which are linked to the breadth of creative works made by the students in the Arts and Humanities Department.  The categories are: Personal Journey in Learning, Cultural Exchange and Diversity, Sustainability, Contribution to the Community, and Arts and Crafts Heritage.  The 36 artworks displayed at the Ruskin Gallery (WMC) until 2 December 2011.  The exhibition is curated by Resident Curator Erica Shiozaki.

This year’s Panel includes Governor Barbara Burman, CSM Progression Manager Janey Hagger, WMC staff John Bowstead and writer Icilma Warner Johnson.

We wish to thank all the WMC staff members, external individuals, and applicants who have showed enthusiasm and helped  realise the Lowes Dickinson Prize 2011.  Special thanks goes to Susie Wright, Carl Snellgrove and Leonardo Ulian.

Congratulations to all the winners including  Susan Aykroy, Emmar Sarkar, David Glenster, Philip Niesing, Bekki Perriman, and Erik Richards for the Personal Journey and Learning category; Alessandro Carboni for Cultural Exchange and Diversity; Balfour Mohammed and Ashley-Yin Karriem for Contribution to the community;  Marysia Kratimenos for Arts and Crafts Heritage; and finally Zvikomborero Mutayambizi and Kay Clinton for Travel Awards.

Brigitte Mierau is a storyteller.  She weaves ephemeral moments together, stitches memories, and appliqués metaphors on fabric.  Through her textile, she creates a realm of thoughts that are at once intimate and personal, yet also universal and common.  The obsessive compositions often describe integral points in her world that led her to question life and human-ness.  These are human stories that depict human challenges.

One of the greater concerns for Mierau is our (un)consciousness of time, and as she states, “Time plays a three-fold role; in the form of depicted snapshots in my life; the time I use in the actual making process, and my attempt at trying to slow down time (Mierau, 2011)”.  In resisting the use of machine, Mierau grows conscious of her time and how it flows, and in so doing she gains control of the very element that builds her life.

Her commitment and realisation of ‘time’ has been reflected in works like Homage to Günther (2010), Never Give Up (2010), and Today I Would Not (2010).  The small but ornate embroidery of Günther on his old handkerchief solemnly and sombrely vows to the act of creating, whilst Never Give Up collects influential quotes in the style of comic artist Robert Crumb, and Today I Would Not metaphorically states the urgency to commit to her time.

Her auditory impairment had led her to become much more attuned and conscious of her visual experiences, whether it be a deep dream as seen in A Crack in Time (2011), or a glimpse of reality represented in Millbank (2010).  Mierau’s use of text within her stitching expand on the idea of the visual, and stand as a strong reminder that vision is much more about perception as an internal act, rather than an external or physical manifestation.

Having completed her ACCESS course at WMC, Brigitte Mierau is continuing her study at Camberwell College.

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