Tate St Ives
7 October 2005 – 15 January 2006
Tacita Dean
The English draughtsman, photographer and film maker Tacita Dean (b.1965) is best known for her compelling 16mm films. Her works investigate the themes of notions of time, memory or nautical elements, playing with the blurred identities of mysterious people or things. The meanings and associations of the sea has always fascinated Dean, and her films often feature water under different conditions, in images of the coast where land meets the sea and the sea mirrors the sky. This will be the first major public gallery presentation of Dean’s work since her exhibition at Tate Britain in 2001. Dean trained at both Falmouth College of Arts and the Slade School of Art and her enduring connection with Cornwall can be seen in several of her works.
Janet Cardiff Forty Part Motet
Canadian artist Janet Cardiff (b 1957) combines sound, movement and environment in her work; the visitor often proactively moves through the space activating sounds and unfolding narratives. Forty Part Motet is a 40-track audio installation that allows the listener to experience sound from the viewpoint of a choir, physically involving them in a piece of music by the sixteenth-century English composer Thomas Tallis. Each speaker unit becomes a mouth and the audience unravels the composition by moving amongst the speakers and hearing harmonies change as if singers were standing next to them. It allows sound to be heard as a changing construct, to be interpreted quite differently and to be carefully considered in a sculptural way.
Kerstin Kartscher : Tate St Ives Artist Residency Programme
Kerstin Kartscher (b 1966) is the third artist to participate in the prestigious Tate St Ives Artists’ Residency Programme, based at the historic Porthmeor Studios in St Ives. During the 12 month residency Kartscher has developed a new body of work for a special exhibition opening in October 2005. Born in Nurenburg her work portrays new fantasy worlds for contemporary women. Free of social, emotional and psychological constraints Kartscher’s women celebrate their femininity within fantastical, elegant and immense landscapes.
Simon Carroll New Work
A new commission for Tate St Ives of work by ceramist Simon Carroll. Born in 1964, Carroll has become well known for his exuberant, often challenging ceramic vessels. Uniquely expressive, his pots deconstruct the history of ceramics – particularly 19th century English slipware, whilst drawing inspiration from an eclectic range of sources including Elizabethan ruffles, sombreros and Cornish wind-farms. Carroll has exhibited nationally and internationally, is a Visiting Lecturer at the Royal College of Art and is represented in both the V&A and Crafts Council Collections.