fugue states

Lauren Gault and Allison Gibbs come together for the first time in a two-person exhibition investigating the margins of sight, sense and connectedness. Positioning their research around the reception and transmission of information, the artists explore metaphysical and unverifiable qualities of materials, objects and processes to survey how the sensory may function; how it may have evolved.

The exhibition has facilitated a communal, cross-continental enquiry, sharing research and writing into the properties (alchemical, technological, biological, biographical) of materials and objects, as well as imagery and forms suggestive of physical and psychological states – wet, dry, geographical, psychogenic. Working separately yet remaining in close dialogue to inform and critique one another’s choices, the artists varying approaches in film and sculpture create a layered response to themes of time and ‘the extra sensory’.

The term ‘fugue’, as in music, intimates this multitimbral process of building the show, but also suggests a context of altered thought and consciousness to situate each practice. Pulling apart these collective ideas, the artists have created new, individual works, investigating how time and future can be re-expressed and understood.

Allison Gibbs’ work is often the result of research, writing and workshops in the form of scripted film installations, development circles and, more recently, performances. Her new work Our Extra-Sensory Selves attempts to consider and invoke the possibilities of becoming extra-sensory, enacting and re-voicing experiences shared by the participants of A Development Circle for Radical Subjectivity and extra-sensory practitioners. Her current research is informed by the psychic qualities of minerals and the writing of Jane Roberts (1929-1984), an American author and medium who channelled an “energy personality essence” called Seth. For fugue states Gibbs expands and reimagines Our Extra-Sensory Selves into an installation to include new film, sound and object elements.

Lauren Gault’s sculptural, written and performance-based practice looks at the resonant quality of materials; how objects can evoke more intangible experiences, such as a period of time, a place or a presence. States and thresholds are hugely significant within her practice, often using materials which highlight or control state-change in an attempt to expose, suspend and understand these moments of flux. The barrier and evolution of language too is important as Gault considers how contemporary digital communications may be contributing to a de-evolvement of our sensory abilities. Reanimating found objects and sculpture, Gault aims to present the voice of objects, exploring how knowledge or energy can be channelled through their forms, ultimately surveying how we can experience the past or future through matter