‘A Stable Matter & Close Attention’
Carola Deye & Alice Gale-Feeny
15.08–29.08.2015
Space One announces a two – part solo exhibition by Alice Gale-Feeny and Carola Deye. This exhibition brings new and recent works of the two artists in the form of installation, video and performance.
Carola Deye's artwork often revisits rural culture and folklore in a contemporary context. For ‘A Stable Matter’ she uses elements of her former “topping-out performance” and creates - in collaboration with Jane Yoo and Cho Jeon-Hwan– a new ceremony about German and Korean house-inauguration rituals, the longing for stability and eternal prosperity.
‘A stable is built somewhere in North-Germany. You can see the construction site. The carpenters finished the roof timbering. Time to celebrate. Time for the neighbors to come around, checking the stability of the construction, time for the carpenter to recite a poem and drink schnapps together. We are in Seoul. We attend the ceremony on video. Time for a new poem and for some Korean rituals to mix in.’
Alice Gale-Feeny deals with the materials that are around her. By placing a focus on the hands and voice to act as mediators, physical touch and improvised speech are used to explore the potential in objects. For ‘Close Attention’, the artist presents two videos and a floor-based sculpture that incorporate key themes within her practice over the last two years.
’Knowledge Based on Physical Touch’ (2014) was made during a 6-month long project entitled ‘HairWashCarWash’ which involved workshops with performers, hairdressers and site visits to a hand car wash. These workshops used activities such as sweeping and washing to see how a group of people may articulate their physical experience in different ways.
'New Morning Practice' (2014) touches on the artist’s interest in tactility and mindfulness (being present to the unfolding moment), which in the context of this work, is translated into a universal action.
'Collection' (2015) is inspired by the ways in which hand car wash attendants re-use existing objects, for specific, alternative purposes. It also looks again at the act of sweeping, thinking about it as the aftermath of an activity.
Artist Intro:
Carola Deye (b. 1974 Oldenburg, Germany) is currently an exchange artist at MMCA Residency Goyang. She studied Fine Art Painting in Mainz, Germany and in London, UK. Since 1999 she has lived in Hamburg, where she is involved in the artist groups, Friends and Lovers in Underground and CALL. Deye was a scholar of Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, DAAD, Hamburger Arbeitsstipendium, and Goldbekhof-Studio Hamburg. Recent exhibitions have been held in Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Reykjavik, and Zurich.
Alice Gale-Feeny (b. 1989 Brighton, UK) lives and works in Nottingham, UK and is a member of One Thoresby Street. Recent projects include: ‘Ground’, co-curated with Oliver Tirre, ATTIC, One Thoresby Street, Nottingham, supported by Arts Council England, 2015; ‘Sun-Screen’ (online project curated by Candice Jacobs), in assoc. with EM15 at La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2015; The Drawing Board Residency (curated by Michael Pinchbeck), Primary, Nottingham, 2015; ‘Playing with Space’ (touring screening curated by Lawrence Bradby), Live Art Development Agency, London, Firstsite, Colchester, Norwich Arts Centre, The Maltings and Newbridge Projects, Berwick-Upon-Tweed, 2015; ‘HairWashCarWash’ (solo), Two Queens Gallery, Leicester, supported by Arts Council England, 2014 and New Artist Moving Image (screening) , Zabludowicz Collection, London, 2014.
