Untitled (some kind of a benchmark)

About

In a new ongoing project, Auto Italia is inviting artists to produce work for the façade of the building, translating their practice to tackle the scale, limitations and site. This will change or accumulate every month in parallel to the established programme. For the third instalment in this series of external exhibitions, Justin Jaeckle will respond to the building with a series of gestures both practical and ephemeral. Justin Jaeckle's work is rich in mistranslations and the semiotics of surface. It frequently privileges alternative possibilities and creative misunderstandings whilst revelling in the space between art and design / function and futility / restraint and ADHD. Past work has seen Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion re-scaled as a possible public seating solution; the internet published as a tabloid newspaper; and a prototype for a disco dance-floor modelled on Mondrian's Fox Trot B. For Untitled (some kind of a bench mark), a sparse play of lighting, sheen and surfaces creates a new topology for Auto Italia's façade and forecourt, and introduces a hint of mild spectacle to the former auto-garage. Functional sculptural interventions extend the buildings reach onto the street in a play of reflections and pools of colour, whilst a mixture of permanent and temporary additions to the structure offer places to rest and materiality to behold. Elements such as a smokers' bench, a gilded doorway, an altered street lamp and geometric building-jewellery will introduce a set of considerations and design decisions onto the building and its surroundings; altering its personality from a tired old man of the auto trade to a slightly perplexed new kid on the block, with aspirations towards camaraderie and the aesthetic sublime. Jaeckle graduated from Central St Martins in 2005 and works as an artist and curator. He has recently exhibited in shows including Seven Films: Seven Solo Shows: Seven Days, 79a Brick Lane; The Dark Show, FormContent; and Friends of the Divided Mind, Royal College of Art, alongside curatorial projects including At Home With Mme Le Corbusier, The Closet Gallery, and the sequence of exhibitions A History of Two Mountains / One the Original / Two a Copy / Both Equally Heavy and Night School, both in partnership with Olivier Castel and Katie Guggenheim. Auto Italia is supported by Arts Council England and Chelsea Arts Club trust and this exhibition is supported by The Elephant Trust