some undisclosed points of remove

About

An exhibition of work by five artists based in the UK and Europe, all of whom are represented in the collection of artists' books at Chelsea College of Art & Design. Taking place in Chelsea's Old College Library, the project's starting point was a selection of publications with each artist invited to contribute an additional work, to be installed in the space together. 'some undisclosed points of remove' is the result of that invitation and includes several pieces made specifically for the occasion. The selection of these five artists is but a fraction of all those represented in Chelsea's Special Collections, yet it is a grouping that quietly demanded to be seen together. Several comparable interests run through their respective practices: the specifics of space, with its ‘languages' and temporal dimensions; the conditions of viewing; and modes of dissemination and display. In the exploration of these ideas, each of the artists draws on a sensibility that combines an intuitive, associative approach with a distinct formal precision and material economy. Together the works in this project mark out a dialogue, both assured and tacit, with the Old College Library space itself: a paneled, balconied room and the original library of the military medical college, built 1904, whose extended buildings Chelsea occupies today. Offering an insight into five artistic practices, the exhibition prompts questions about the nature of site-responsivity and contemporary readings of institutional/spatial critique. And, against a backdrop of a resurgent interest in artists' publications, the show invites a discursive look at the relationship between books and wider creative practice.