Breathing Space

About

Playing on the notion that artworks need to breathe, Breathing Space will look at ways in which humans need a space to breathe, to refocus, to gain clarity from the chaos. The artworks presented in this exhibition will explore material, spatial and experiential awareness. These include installation and site-specific works from UAL MA Fine Art students. The immersive effect of the exhibition is intended to be more than just aesthetics. Detaching from the world outside, Breathing Space aims to create a meditative environment where the artworks and the atmosphere of the gallery space provide a moment of relief, of escapism. By doing so, it will also question the experience and effects of a context that already has cultural and architectural connotations. In a site that is set aside for thinking about art but also, importantly, nestled within an academic environment, what is the position of the subject within this space? What is the relationship of the viewers and their surroundings, considering mental space, physical space and the space in between? Could the exhibition space in this context be altered or manipulated to provide an opportunity to gain clarity from the chaos, and is the chaos something we want to escape from? Perhaps it is an assumption that is taken for granted. It could, however, be that there is an intuitive urge for something slower and more peaceful to interject our daily lives, even for a moment. Using breathing as a metaphor for considering the rhythms of today, the viewer is invited to cogitatively and meditatively immerse themselves into this Breathing Space. Alongside the exhibition, a publication will be further exploring the theoretical issues surrounding the subject of ‘Breathing Space.' It will include debates investigating architectural and spatial concerns - with inevitable links to the functioning of social interaction - as well as the philosophical concepts of the sublime and the relationship between space and time.