The Imaginary
Universe
Minna
Ford
Building in Ghent
Lino print
A black and white lino print of a close-up view of a building. Unnatural repetition, structure and rigidity in architecture.
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This section of the exhibition explores our imagination of the surreal and the supernatural.
As humans we dream of the impossible and building an alternative world of our own. Through creating imaginary hybrids, mutating forms and fantastical spaces, art provides us a new passage into the unknown. Through the eyes of the artists, imagination physicalises.
Alternatively, artists have been inspired by everyday phenomenon to look at our world with fresh eyes, to estrange ourselves from the norm and accepted perspective. This section will make you rethink what you see and lead you through a journey of endless imaginations.
Soundscape Artist
Lucia Affaticati
I have been a sound enthusiast since day one, but have only recently converted my passive listening into a self-directed sound design. This project was ideal for me because I don’t regard music production as an expression of my personality, so my inspiration needs to come from outside. The visual stimuli provided here were great for visualising sounds in space and time: for this reason, I have kept my tracks minimal, so that the unspoken could smoothly yet unaggressively emerge.
Anastasia Silina
Anastasia%20Silina_Twilight%20.jpg)
Twilight
Poster/collage A3 page
" This piece is titled twilight because it represents the boundary between light and dark, and between the "
natural and unnatural. I was mainly inspired by surrealism as well as how the natural and
manmade world coexist and intertwine.
Sabrina
Gao
Valentina Papú
Now I see
Pencil on paper
“
The merging of
different points of views
only widens your
perspective
Nightlife
A3 Landscape/pen, marker, highlighter on paper
(move your mouse to here to reveal artists' quotes)
This piece depicts an engorged eye, simultaneously symbolic of a paranormal alien being. A fluorescent iris is reminiscent of sleepless nights and harrowing dreams, while dripping words are encased within. ‘Nightlife’ examines the chaotic, semiconscious experiences that many go through, where night becomes a juxtaposition of tranquil stillness and frightening thoughts. How do we go about our daily lives, having lived through a multitude of traumatic experiences in our sleep?
Dreams and nightmares provide the mental space for readjustment, allowing us to sift through our influx of new memories. Nevertheless, these experiences can morph into supernatural, murderous and uncanny stories in our unconsciousness, robbing us of quality sleep that so many already struggle to find time for. The words ‘then my limbs all froze, my eyes won’t close, and I can’t say no!!’ were taken from Billie Eilish’s single ‘bury a friend’.
Coco
Shi
"
My installation piece was inspired by my excavation at the Neolithic site Koutroulou Magoula in Central Greece. My archaeological journey in Greece was not only accompanied by fulfilment from discovering artefacts but I also became immersed in nature: there were plants, snakes, lizards and beetles present at the settlement. The sculpture is a dedication to the clay figurines found on site which depict maternal figures. The archaeological investigation brought together modernity and history and the instillation recreates the excavation environment where workers and archaeologists discover remains of human culture through removing weeds and layers of nature.
"
Dreaming in Neo Monastiri
Sculpture
1.6kg, 49*26*16cm
Adeline
Tsui
Acid (incomplete)
Oil on stretched canvas
Surrealist reimagining of coral reef erosion. Unnatural interpretation of otherwise recognisable natural forms and textures.
"
Cut and carved a walking stick for hiking in the mountains. When it broke I made these figures, carved on warm evenings and burned with matches. The knots and curves of the natural wood shape the figures; their faces and limbs follow different grains and ideas. When I cut myself carving I put a little blood in their mouths. When I play cards I rub their bellies for luck.
"
(move your mouse on to the photo to reveal artists' quotes)
Gabriel Moshenska
Friends, face to face
Wood carving
Joy, clarity, and calm: sitting with good friends around a fire, eating and drinking, and chipping at a piece of wood with an axe and knife.
Holly
Newman
Natural and Supernatural: Angels and Man
Oil paint
Teodora-
Maria
Biga
Movement in
colours
Acrylic on paper
This piece showcases
the fact that
the human body can take both natural and
unnatural forms.
Some aspects of the body present the regular proportions
yet some showcase a twitch, something that lies in the imagination of the artist.
The boundaries between what is natural and
what is unnatural are challenged and
eventually
broken.
Or was it all an invention
A vicious imaginary architecture
whose creator preferred
An unstable failing Earth
To an evergreen enlightened heaven
No, it was not an invention. Together with the darkness, also the memory has come back. Sunrise and sunset and living beings that could wander outside the borders. The contrast between day and night. No City, but cities.
Wrapped up in a dim cloth, even the Vault enclosing the City has become invisible. I could almost pretend it didn’t exist.
The more I look towards
the sky, the more I realise
I have been living
in a numbing limbo.
On one side the City,
on the other the Desert.
Above me the Vault,
outside an air that I might not
be able to breath.
But also in this world without
darkness, my breath has
become too dry.
They said
it was better this way.
We said
it was better this way.
That it was
the only way to survive
after everything else
had collapsed.
Separating ourselves from
everything else.
I realise with anguish that
a few street lamps
start again to flash
Again
The light
creeps back
While I pray for
The dark to return
For once I am aware
For once I am not dazzled
Things cannot exist on their own
We were mistaken in picturing heaven
as a world where there is no darkness
Francesca Parrota
Where there is no darkness
The blackout resembles a fog much more than a lighting,
steadily slowly sweetly street lamps begin to dim
they fade they pale for one last time
they glisten, a dying goodbye shine.
There, the light has vanished
and before the wonder
before the fear
I breath
relief
At the beginning, no-one
missed it. Darkness, I mean.
We all got accustomed to be
blinded by the lights of
a never-ending midday.
Didn’t its artificiality bother us?
No, not really.
Well, not immediately.
And now, years have passed,
there am I, welcoming with
enthusiasm the dark. The truth
is I have been waiting for it.
Now the City seems almost
peaceful.
Even the electronic clocks in
every street, the ones that
never sleep,
even they have been
forced to rest.
Those clocks: inventions
presented as a surrogate
of normality.
When everything changes,
you have to pretend that
nothing has changed.
Stars
A faint whitish glare
A far feeble flare
On top of a black blanket
Three lonely sparkles
Three longed lost spots
Connect the dots:
Orion’s belt
Orion’s belt. Why do I remember that name? Name of a past thing.
Name hidden by time. Time. Since it has become forbidden
to turn off the lights, time itself seems to have changed its shape.
And I have been losing my orientation. They say a perpetual shine
helps to sharpen the sight, but mine is definitely fading,
together with my memory.
What about before? Was there even a before?
(left) Release
A4/Alcohol markers &
pen on paper
Blue Night (middle)
A4/Alcohol markers & pen on paper
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Erika
Notalianni
Both drawings
a part of a larger
'Butterfly'
series where
I am exploring the relationship between people and these beautiful animals, exploring butterflies as a motif for emotion and expression. The unnatural combination of these natural elements is fitting for the exhibition's theme in how we question what is considered 'natural' or 'unnatural'. Just as technology is technically created using natural resources yet is considered unnatural, why is the metamorphosis of elements of
nature within
the realms of fantasy considered just as
unreal?
“
Suzanne van Noordt
Lockdown in London
Mixed Media Collage
Shreya
Katwa
Perspective
"
I took this photo on an iPhone as I approached the island of Mauritius in December 2019.
Through plane windows,
we experience the heavenly beauty of the natural world from a man-made, unnatural perspective.
"
"
I'm an Instagram photographer from China. I photograph the beautiful scenery I see on my travels.
I took this picture in the mountains of Yunnan, China. To reach this destination, it takes a three-hour drive on a mountain road. The people wear traditional clothes and the houses are very special. They live in peace with nature.
"
Terraces
Stella
Liu
Skyscraper
Danielle
Sargeant
Survivor
Adele
Delpech
De
Saint Guilhem
Stuck in Reverse
Thom
Keen
(move your mouse on to the photos to reveal more information)
Johara
Meyer
Plop
"As a geography student,
people and places
and especially
people in places
fascinate me.
Street photography gives me
an outlet to document this
in all its beauty,
impermanence,
and oddity.
"
Nestled between a forest of pine trees in Porto Selvaggio, Italy lies a small cove that is bustling with people.
I was so in awe of the beauty of this place that I wanted to document everything:
the carefree atmosphere, the splashing water, the laughing people.
Only when looking through my pictures later, I found this one.
To me, it encapsulates everything that
fascinated me
that day.
Florence
Buckley
Buildings in London
4*5*7"
I painted from photos I took of buildings in my spare time, walking around and exploring London.
“
Anna
Szalay
Castle in the distance
Oil paint
Although it might seem unnatural, the landscape's mysterious air is in fact due to the purple tint of the after-sunset light conditions from the original photo.
Illusional Iceberg
Oil paint
Jingjing
Wang
"
This comes from a glance out of
the window when me and my friends driving past an iceberg on the road in Iceland.
Peaceful mirror-like lake together with the fading dawn light makes it unforgettable to me.
The moss and rocks
on the bottom
seem moving
because of
the speed of car.
This is the natural scene that seems too
enthralling to be
natural for
me.
"