Exhibitions & Art, Installation.
Seyi Adelekun, Maria Arceo, Camilla Brendon, Hilary Jack, David Kefford, Steve McPherson, Jill Townsley and Daniel Webb Plastic Matter brings together eight artists whose work explores the different aspects of plastic - as inspiration, material, resource and waste. We encounter plastic in our everyday actions; we buy it, use it and throw it away, we touch it as we type on our phones, travel in our cars and open pre-packaged food. Plastic is synonymous with modern life and an increasingly contentious issue. Plastic is essential to important industries and key to convenience. Yet plastic consumption and pollution, particularly in our oceans, is an increasingly critical subject matter. The artists in Plastic Matter explore different aspects to plastic's story; its potential to become something more treasured, its availability and its hasty disposal. Through their work, the artists imbue new worth and meaning to the material, and ask us to consider its role and future in contemporary society. Seyi Adelekun's large scale Plastic Pavilion is an undulating canopy made of 1600 recycled plastic bottles, filled with coloured water, inspired by stained glass windows. Steve McPherson's intricately assembled works highlight the problems of plastic debris in the oceans, while Maria Arceo's work repurposes litter she has collected from over forty beaches along the River Thames. Hilary Jack's work has an activist element - she exhibits 100 photographs from the Turquoise Bag in a Tree series, an ongoing collaboration with members of the public. David Kefford's playful Pocket Sculptures are small assemblages of found objects discarded by humans, while Jill Townsley's time lapse video documents her installation Spoons - a pyramid-like structure of 9,273 spoons and 3091 rubber bands, which collapses as the bands perish. Daniel Webb collected all of his own plastic waste for a year, categorising and photographing every piece. His short film Mural-by-the-Sea documents the creation of a life-size mural of his annual plastic waste in Margate. As part of the exhibition, UHArts is delivering a range of related events, including a creative plastic workshop with artist Camilla Brendon - whose work Coast explores oceans and waterways - and a Plastic Discussion Panel with artists and academics from the University. For further information and booking, please visit www.uharts.co.uk.
