The Island of Misfit Toys

On Thursday 8th July 2011, I went to the opening of 'The Island of Misfit Toys' at APG works in Sheffield. The exhibition showcases works by Parisian artists EMA and ANACAO. The opening itself was buzzing, but the art itself was certainly the highlight.

Spread across two rooms, EMA and ANACAO's work collectively sought to represent, in APG's words, "a gloomy universe populated by vintage, romantic, and strange toys inspired by Japanese pop animation, 70's science fiction and graffiti". Indeed, the work (which the photos taken on my iPhone really don't do justice!) has a surreal, almost psychedelic feel, with each artists distinctive style complementing the other.

The image above shows work by ANACAO (left) and EMA (right) respectively.

The exhibition features a new series of oil paintings, drawings, and screen prints, as well as the installation shown above. It runs until the end of July 2011, so if you're in Sheffield get to it!

XYZ

Last week, my friend Alice and I went to see XYZ at Site Gallery in Sheffield. Site has some great exhibitions and its great to do stuff in the Steel City (rather than always having to hop on the train to London). XYZ is an artistic exploration of augmented reality, so I was really looking forward to it.

XYZ was commissioned by Site Gallery and is an augmented reality sculpture project, with sculptures generated by Sarah Staton and interpreted within virtual space by Chris Hodson. To view and experience these 3-dimensional virtual sculptures, you needed iPhone technology. After downloading the app (Junaio, in this case) and selecting the XYZ channel, you held the camera on your phone up to a black and white geometric image. Soon enough, the Junaio platform reinterprets reality, bringing the virtual into view.

In their own publicity material, Site Gallery question the material form of sculpture: "What happens to sculpture when it is rendered virtual? What do you gain and what do you lose? In virtual reality concrete can float, liquid can solidify, but the materiality of sculpture, the space it takes up in relation to bodies, its inherent gravity is gone". XYZ indeed raises some interesting questions about the nature of sculpture and of art itself. How do we judge an art form which is seemingly intangible?

Importantly, the tangibility of XYZ comes from the very corporeal act of the viewer / iPhone user - your act of bringing the art work into being itself is the tactile foundation of each sculpture. What I found interesting was the precariousness of manifesting the sculptures. Move your phone too quickly and they vanished; reach out to try to touch them (your hand blocking the motivating image) and they disappeared. Interestingly, this somehow made them precious. Intriguing and precious.

XYZ closed at Site Gallery last Saturday, but they've got lots of exciting things coming up... So Sheffield folk - keep an eye out and an ear to the ground!