'An Experiment in Total Environment' - Toby Paterson and Victor Pasmore

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What happens when a New Town is no longer new? 'An Experiment in Total Environment' examines the fascinating yet flawed legacy of a uniquely daring piece of post-war urban design. In the 1960s a large area of Peterlee New Town was designed by the renowned abstract painter Victor Pasmore, culminating with the building of his recently renovated Apollo Pavilion at Sunny Blunts. This exhibition looks at Peterlee beyond the pavilion by collecting a carefully selected group of Pasmore's works from the period when he was actively designing the town and arranging them alongside an expansive installation of new work by Glasgow-based artist Toby Paterson. The exhibition will seek to reinvest the contemporary town with some of the under-appreciated visual qualities obscured by the passage of time, whilst taking account of the sometimes problematic idealism that attended its creation. It hope to encourage a fresh view of this unique environment, considering it as a mature landscape with innate visual and spatial interest that has endured economic difficulties and neglect. Whereas the abstract imagery of Pasmore's work parallels the development of his design philosophy, Paterson takes a subjective position on the results and explores present day Peterlee, finding architectural value in a town ripe for reappraisal. There will also be a talk with Toby Paterson on Saturday 8 December at 2pm. More information can be found here. You can also join us for a FREE preview event on Friday 30 November from 6pm when the gallery and museum will stay open late.