The idea of a self-contained work of art is misleading. Things don’t exist in isolation. Instead they are a part of a complex space of influence and response - the exertion of and reaction to the forces conjured up by places, people and the culture we are immersed in.
Complex Topography: The Pavilion brings together sixteen Post Graduate Fine Art students from London and Tokyo participating in a collaborative exchange project based in a specially designed temporary pavilion on The Leas cliff top walk in Folkestone.
The Pavilion serves as the physical manifestation of the collaborative project and acts as a site or place, within, from or around which visitors will encounter and are invited to participate in a range of projects; as events, activities, performances, presentations, talks, actions or installations. As well as responding to the theme of the Folkestone Triennial; ‘double edge’ the artists’ interventions will also engage with the particularities of context and audience to create tangible sculptural works as well as ephemeral, contingent, transient and dispersed artworks representing three very different perspectives - from London, Tokyo and Folkestone.
Now in its third year, with previous exhibitions in Japan as part of the Setouchi Triennale, this is a Tokyo University of the Arts and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Global Art Joint Project.
The project is led by faculty members of both Universities; O JUN, Shihoko Iida, Taro Shinoda, Mark Dunhill, Richard Gasper and Graham Ellard. The Pavilion has been designed by artists Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone.
