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No Such Thing As One
14 October - 18 November 2006
Victoria Miro Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of new
sculptures by the British artist Conrad Shawcross. Conceived especially
for the gallery spaces No Such Thing As One
brings together a body of work that explores ideas concerning time and
the essence of matter. Following upon his 2005 exhibition The Steady States, which sought to investigate the essential harmonics of the universe, No Such Thing as One,
takes the artist's concerns for cosmology and harmonics to a decidedly
more mathematical and epistemological level. Inspired by the
folly of the Greek conception of the atom as the most basic particle in
the universe, this exhibition, using binary forms, seeks to explore the
desire, in both science and signification, behind the search for the
singular.
Crafted in wood and rope, Shawcross's mechanistic structures do nothing
at all. They are objects that "aren't moving but that have all
the implications of movement"; they are sculptures which deny
rationality but which are "built in the guise of rational, empirical
machines". Yet, it is precisely in this subversion of purpose
that Shawcross's works in No Such Thing as One
reveal the possibility that the certainties of science may be fiction
and not fact. That there may not be any such thing as one.
Paradigm (Ode to the Difference Engine)
2006, is a giant double rope machine unraveling its rope as fast as it
can ravel it . Comprising two identical machines, each made of hundreds
of cogs, spools and pulleys, the twin structures turn in mirrored
opposition to each other, countering all the other does. Built
rationally and with intricate empirical precision the work was designed
with the knowledge that it could never function - Shawcross's process
from the outset was impossible. The artist has spoken of the work being
reminiscent of Charles Babbage's unrealized Difference Engine conceived in 1822 and widely regarded as the first computer, also imbued with the same tragic elements of the unobtainable.
Binary Star, 2006, is the
latest in Shawcross's series of kinetic light works and his most
physically ambitious to date. Constructed specifically for the vaulted
upstairs gallery, Binary Star
takes the relatively recent discovery of stars that have found
themselves locked in orbits around each other as its inspiration. As a
model the binary star throws up an opposing reality to our own
mono-solar system. The work, with its fast-moving geometry, is
designed to engage the viewer through a complex and intricate dynamic
revealing the arcing symmetries of this unfamiliar reality of space.
Space Grid (Mirrored tetrahedron system),
2006 pursues the binary theme of the exhibition. With the help of a
cosmological mathematician Shawcross has developed a system of
tetrahedrons that tessellate universally in space. The system comprises
of two types of tetrahedron that are identical but are in fact mirror
images of each other. Shawcross arranges these tetrahedrons in a
multiplicity of combinations and directions to form a 6-D grid of dense
geometry that has infinite possibilities.
No Such Thing As One,
an artist's book accompanies the exhibition. It includes a conversation
between the artist and writer Brooke Lynn McGowan. Available from the
Victoria Miro Gallery, special exhibition price £5.00.
Download press release
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