Wandering Rocks at Gimpel Fils

Here are some details of an interesting group show going on at Gimpel Fils.

17 January - 18 February 2006


Marc Chaimowicz & Nadia Wallis, Simon Faithfull, Adam Gillam, Renata Hegyi, John Kindness, Graeme Miller, Mike Nelson, Elizabeth Price, Lindsay Seers

In the labyrinthine structure of the 10th chapter of Ulysses -Wandering Rocks, the meandering paths taken by named pedestrians are entwined into a narrative of the colliding and parting of ways. In making this reference, this exhibition aims to navigate links between the methods of the wanderer and the practice and output of the participating artists. The paths it suggests are therefore multiple and intersecting; travelled routes are interwoven with memory and narrative; spaces traversed outside the gallery make their presence felt within it; while the open-ended quality of the works invite a sense of continuity.

From the outset we are invited to consider the variable prospects bound up in the notion of departure. Mike Nelson’s foyer work, constructed within the front window space of the gallery, hints at future journeys and spaces beyond. Apprehensive projection into future space echoes from Renata Hegyi’s photographs, which sound also a nostalgic element; reminding the viewer of the unavoidable link between the journey-to-come and the past. This is also explored in Lindsay Seer’s film Extramission, where memory and imagination become fused into narrative by the inherent mystery of travel.

Extramission describes transference through a body to space relationship, first likened to a camera before shifting to the idea of a projector as a model. The body as camera is a central device in Graeme Miller’s Lonesome Way. Here, a walk down a south London road becomes an opportunity to interweave remembered filmed narratives with chance occurrence.
The wandered path and chance findings inform the work of both Adam Gillam and John Kindness. Discovered material from Lee Valley fly-tips become means for the reconfiguration of stories in the paintings of John Kindness. Adam Gillam ties found events with imagined places in constructions that unfold as journeys do.

In a new, collaborative work: Allers – Retours, Marc Chaimowicz and Nadia Wallis visit the episodic methods of the wanderer. Simon Faithfull also shows a new work: Postcards from Berlin, consisting of twelve palm pilot drawings made clock-wise around the Berlin Tower. Sent on completion by email to be engraved, each will be delivered to the gallery during the exhibition. The episodic nature of these pieces is also reflected in Elizabeth Price’s work, which records its own journey. The exhibition coincides with the recent publication of Progress of a Sculpture a book of images recording the history of Boulder, a ball of parcel tape that grows with added layers each time it is exhibited. Boulder in its newest form and related work will be part of the exhibition.

Wandering Rocks communicates a sense of spaces beyond, but integral to, the work. While the space evoked is sometimes undefined - perhaps dislocated in time - on other occasions specific places are called to mind. For those more adventurous, it is possible to access Graeme Miller’s walk Linked during the course of the exhibition. Maps and headphones are available at the gallery for the walk, which explores the memories and sounds of a community destroyed by the development of the M11 Link Road. Graeme Miller’s piece is a reminder that the wandered space, central to the works in this exhibition, is a public space: to traverse it is to engage with making work in the public sphere.

Wandering Rocks is curated by David Waterworth.