Territory

About

A group of recent graduates from Chelsea, Camberwell and the Royal College of Art have formed a group exhibition using a shared interest of territory and landscape as a starting point to create a conversation across their respective practices. Territory brings together 5 artists who use the landscape as the main point of departure within their practices. The group have joined together through a mutual appreciation of each others varied explorations on a common theme. The scientific and analytic dissections of Jessica Rayner and James Smith, who both use the landscape as a place of memory, history and somewhere that is both local and global at the same time. Very physical and sculptural reincarnations of the landscape are present through the work of Julia Parkinson and Sam Wolf, using materials that start from the very object that they portray. These aren't just clean art objects, they are constantly shifting, moving and alive. A more political landscape is apparent in the work of Nick Smith, where video censors the monument out of the image through digital manipulation. As crowds view a black void, our attention is brought to the actions and posturing of the crowd. Territory links into an idea of an area that has come under authority by someone else, the work on display attempts to stake a claim on a place or system of knowledge - a claim that is also a space to be inhabited by the viewer. The proximity of the space to the docks, which plays such an integral role to the history of Liverpool also creates an interesting dynamic in relation to the show. The exhibitions placement as part of the Liverpool Independents Biennial in the docks is a fitting place for the work to be exhibited because of its historical status as a threshold to the modern world, a territory of kind to international trade. This exhibition is a touring show and will take on various incarnations in different locations, the theme will always be anchored around the theme of Territory.