What Happens Next?
8 February – 15 March 2008
Artists: John Blakemore, Julie Cassels, Matt Finn, Steffi Klenz, Mari Mahr, Edweard Muybridge, James Newton, Nanna Saarhelo, Andrew Warstat, Sally Waterman and Cary Welling.
PM Gallery and Thames Valley University have collaborated on this exhibition of photographic works exploring the photographic sequence, from possibly the first incarnation of such work by Eadweard Muybridge in the late 19th Century, to artists working with the sequence today.
A photographic sequence has only one way of being ordered and the logical order of the images creates a narrative. The sequence might show the passing of time, tell a story over several frames or reveal an aesthetic or formal link to otherwise discreet photographic frames. Whatever the basis, the sequence forms the whole. In w hat happens next? the idea of the photographic sequence is explored from a range of approaches, bringing together a diverse group of artists.
Eadweard Muybridge is best known for a series of images, which proved that a trotting horse has all four hooves off the ground at the same time during its normal stride. Here we show other movement related sequences by Muybridge - an acrobat performing and a horse jumping over other horses, sequences that were ground breaking when first produced. Although Muybridge may not have been a direct inspiration for any of the contemporary works on show, he is the godfather of all.
The contemporary work includes Mari Mahr’s haunting 'Idle Times' which poignantly depicts a tragic tale in six frames, James Newton’s sequence, taken from the window of an inner city flat recording the constantly changing colour of a fixed view of the sky at dawn and dusk and Sally Waterman’s ‘Journey Home’, a visual diary of a series of journeys the artist made over a five month period between Waterloo station and Ryde Pier Head on the Isle of Wight, recording the changes from urban to rural landscapes.
All the photographers in this exhibition tell stories, some are linear and lyrical, some deal with memories and others with imaginary journeys, but all show the potential that photographs have to encourage new thoughts and not simply document what has been.
With thanks to Kingston Museum for the loan of works by Eadweard Muybridge.