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Vibrant exhibits mark gallery's debut show |
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Saturday, 07 July 2007 |
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It is art, but not as we know it. Yesterday Penzance saw the opening of
The Exchange, a new art gallery for Cornwall which aims to convert more
people to the strident, crazy world of contemporary art.
A curve of blue
glass fronting the gallery is but a gentle introduction to the
colourful offerings in the town's former telephone exchange in Princess
Street, a new space for big and bold installation art.
The
gallery is the major part of a £4 million predominantly Arts Council
and Lottery-funded project, which also includes the revamp and
extension of the 112-year-old Newlyn Art Gallery.
The shape of
things to come can be seen in The Exchange's inaugural exhibition,
called Social Systems, which includes Moroccan-born artist Hassan
Hajjaj's Road Trip From Marrakesh to Penzance.
This chill-out
zone, which taps into the surf vibes of contemporary Cornwall, features
British groceries juxtaposed with Moroccan ones, seats with striped
upholstery topping red plastic crates with Coca-Cola written in Arabic,
tabletops made of British road signs, with North African-style floor
cushions covered in upholstery with bold flowers.
Across the
airy space of the gallery is a barricade of cardboard boxes decorated
with painted lettering built by Argentinean artists' group Eloisa
Cartonera. The artists have spent the past two weeks making the display
and books of stories bound in recycled cardboard covers, including
contributions from the Cornish writers' collective Scarvel an Gow.
Down
the road at Newlyn Art Gallery, there is work by Scottish artist
Christine Borland, whose arrangements of prosthetic limbs and
mannequins was inspired by three years as artist in residence alongside
medical students in the Knowledge Spa at the Royal Cornwall Hospital,
Treliske, near Truro.
Exhibition curator Sara Black said the work wanted to encourage people to dip a toe in the water of contemporary art.
She
said: "With this initial show we wanted to find a way to get the
audience to participate. Hopefully it will succeed and people will feel
they have access to the best contemporary art and not be afraid of it.
Art is everything, it is part of everyday life. People often want to
put art in to a box and it should not be in a box."
Scepticism
from visitors was not unwelcome, she said, as long as it was
constructive criticism. "It would be great to have people sitting here
having a debate about it," she said.
The Arts Council has put
£1.65 million into the project to encourage the contemporary art scene
in Cornwall. It believes there is room for a venue in addition to Tate
St Ives.
Mariam Sharp, of the Arts Council, said: "Cornwall has
a long reputation for the visual arts and there was an opportunity for
the Arts Council to maximise the number of artists who are here and
provide the resources to allow more artists in."
A big part of
the project has been to provide more spaces for students and school
groups to learn about art. There are two large education rooms in The
Exchange and one at Newlyn Art Gallery, with a view across Mounts Bay.
The
work at the Newlyn gallery has included the restoration of the main
building, retaining its character, and renovating the Victorian lantern
that allows natural light to flood the exhibition space of the upper
gallery.
The space provided in The Exchange is deliberately open plan, to provide the largest exhibition space for art in 180 miles.
James
Green, curator of both galleries, said: "It is massively important for
the whole South West. Except for the Tate, in terms of contemporary art
venues Cornwall is very poorly served.
"Given that we have a huge community of artists in the region, there is a specialised audience that want to see more work."
article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS
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