Kopfkino: The Crypt art exhibition set to take over St. Paul's Church from 6th-11th July 2018
Posted on: 02 Jul 2018The German word Kopfkino has no literal English translation other than a reference to the act of playing out an entire scenario in your mind. Led by Bristol-based initiative The Artist Project Space, a diverse selection of artists have unveiled a contemporary exhibition that sets out to explore that concept, taking place at St. Paul's Church from Friday 6th-Wednesday 11th July 2018.
The exhibition, titled Kopfkino: The Crypt Takeover, will house the work of five artists whose artistic practices vastly differ from one another. St. Paul's Crypt will be converted into an artistic playground for the viewer's imagination to really run riot and immerse itself in the creation of its own scenarios or 'head cinema'.
The event will showcase works of art that invite attendees to scrutinise their own perception, questioning the nature of memory, identity and spectacle in the process. It will feature works by Helen Acklam, Jason Brown, Zarabéa Esfendiar Kayani, Lisa Scantlebury and John Steed.
Helen Acklam primarily works in the mediums of painting and sculpture undulating between the realm of figurative and the abstract. Led by her biographical experiences, Helen Acklam is interested in the possibility of describing things she is barely conscious of - vague instincts, feelings and sensations that hover somewhere on the border of consciousness, inaccessible to the world of language.
Jason Brown is a sculptor. He utilises found and appropriated materials alongside self-crafted elements to mimic the characteristic sensibilities of particular objects and stretch potential frames of reference. By aggrandising the mundane and destabilising a sense of self-importance, notions of hierarchy and status are challenged, exposing the transient nature of meaning and habitual attachments to particular definitions. Jason is currently showing his work ‘Trunks II' at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition 2018 in London.
Zarabéa Esfendiar Kayani (also known as Béa Kayani) has a multi-disciplinary art practice informed by her multi-cultural identity and the contradictions contained within her association of belonging to the conflicted region of Middle-East and her western upbringing. This layered background has led to a broad and layered art practice that is imbued with history, current affairs, philosophy, culture and literature. Béa elemental artworks unfold between the medium of photography, moving images, printmaking, sculpture and painting with an experimental yet cohesive approach to materials.
Lisa Scantlebury works with sculpture and print. Her artwork falls into two categories: Sculptural installations, which include constructed objects, print and found objects made for gallery exhibition and temporary works for a commission in the public realm. Both object and image refer to events which may or may not have happened; they appear as props or clues to something, a perfect line, a beam, a mist, a breath, a temporary forever as now slips into then continually.
John Steed’s multi-disciplinary art practice addresses the production of image: the materiality, perception and illusion of projection, the spectacle of cinema, the production of the printed image, the spectacular images of the billboard, and the use of the image in the service of capitalist consumption. His work is not biased towards any specific medium or discourse, and his practice has included projection, performance, print, photography and video.
As mentioned above, the entire exhibition has been created and will be curated by artist-led initiative The Artist Project Space. The TAPS team put great emphasis on providing a platform for critical dialogue, peer support and collaboration between contemporary artists.
The opening event of the Kopfkino exhibition is from 7pm to 10pm on Friday 6 July. From there, the exhibition will take place each day from 11am to 5pm until the closing event on Wednesday 11July. For more information, contact Helen Acklam, Béa Kayani or John Steed (members of the TAPS team) through their respective websites via the links above.
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Editor - 365Bristol.com & LOUD Magazine
Matt is a Journalism graduate and writer, passionate about supporting Bristol music, art and independent business. Get in touch via email at matt@365bristol.com.
