Fragments

About

Fragments is a trans-disciplinary project focussing on the dynamics of one-to-one dialogue as a stimulus to creative risk and experimentation. It encompasses five collaborative, artist-initiated sub-projects which are currently in the process of development, each pairing contemporary visual artists with practitioners in other fields including theatre, music, literature, history and dance. Presented beyond Five Years' gallery walls, these collaborations will enable each participant to test their practice in unknown territories and in relation to new audiences. Rochelle Fry and the band Squares and Triangles are exploring the relationship between sound and the sculptural object. Marc Hulson and novelist Paul Curran are developing an experimental fiction which will take the form of a mixed media installation. Edward Dorrian is collaborating with art historian Amy Todman on the relationship between artwork and archive. Esther Planas will perform in a stage piece developed through collaboration with theatre director Roger Bernat. Sally Morfill is working with Karen Wood on a project exploring ideas of improvisation in relationship to drawing and dance. Utilising a model which is integral to Five Years' ethos, the participants are working with creative autonomy in relation to a common shared structure, with each sub-project devised through individual members of Five Years freely interpreting a basic initial brief. The brief invited each participant to choose a collaborative partner working in a field of the arts outside the broad parameters of contemporary fine art practice, and to work through a process of dialogue toward a project outside Five Years' gallery space. The outcomes of the projects range from events and performances to installed exhibitions, and in accordance their sites will vary. At the core of the project however is a collective publication, which will formally draw together Fragments' disparate, wandering dialogues and encounters. From 4th — 26th May Five Years' gallery will host an exploratory, editorial presentation of the project as a whole, within the context of a group exhibition juxtaposing work by all 10 participants. A series of public discussions, presentations and performances will be programmed throughout the show. Information about the satellite projects will also be available at the gallery. The finalised publication will be launched later in the summer.