The Scale of Things

About

Three moving image works consider relations between humans and non-humans forming an exploration through history, intimacy and spirituality.  

Cooper Gallery at the University of Dundee is proud to present the Scottish premiere of Jarman award winning artist and filmmaker Grace Ndiritu’s Becoming Plant (2022), alongside internationally renowned filmmaker Saodat Ismailova’s The Haunted (2017), and on its fiftieth anniversary, Aerial (1974) by Scotland’s pioneering filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait. 

The three moving image works are brought together by a desire to unsettle how we imagine and see ourselves as part of nature. Understanding the recurring need for intimacy, to feel a connection that is commeasurable with our ability to impact and control, the exhibition approaches desire itself; the desire to plunge our bodies deep into the earth and transcend the bounded individualism of being ‘human.’ 

Acknowledging the ‘stunning frequencies’ of the natural world ardently captured in Margaret Tait’s poem The scale of things, which the exhibition humbly borrows as title, the three works detail Tait’s ‘interlaced and inter-related’ possibility of ourselves as co-constituents of nature. This is how we might find the shapes, the sensations, and the stimulation to encounter all the souls of the earth around us ‘if you care to look’: this is the scale of things. 

The Scale of Things is co-curated by Sophia Yadong Hao (Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, University of Dundee) and Professor Sarah Perks (Teesside University).

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Access

Cooper Gallery is located to the right side of the DJCAD buildings on Perth Road. The entrance is via double doors which face onto a car park.

The gallery is on two floors. The ground floor has ramped access. The first floor is accessible by an internal lift and six steps with a handrail. Wheelchair access is via a stair climber. Please email in advance if you require lift or stairclimber access.

The first floor is also accessible via 24 steps. Two flights of 12 steps with handrails are separated by a landing.

Exhibition videos are subtitled and captioned in English. Audio will be played aloud via speakers. Seating is provided and/or additional seating is available, please ask an invigilator. 

For all enquiries please email: exhibitions@dundee.ac.uk