Their Floating Attention

The title speaks to a heightened and evenly-suspended receptiveness, where awareness is fluid and free from presumptions or fixity. With it's origins in psychoanalysis, this analogous term ‘floating attention’ can articulate a form of human perception that is contingent, transient and boundless.

The curation deliberately resists the urge to pursue unification through an overarching theme that consolidates diverse practices into a singular field of vision. Rather it is the specificities of each artist’s staying of attentions that inform this exhibition. Once gathered, these works will stimulate the senses and imagination of those who see them, and the great concerns of the present-day world are set to simmer in this heightened cosmos.

The curatorial design features a paratactic structure, which frees the artworks of conjunction or compelling associations, and enables them to stand independently in an open dialogue. In contrast, a floor-based display system is introduced in two of the spaces, to establish a correlative interplay (or doubling-effect) and offer a destabilizing influence.

The artists will present a wide range of practices - painting, sculpture, print, drawing, textile, video and installation – displayed throughout the gallery spaces.

Laura White’s sculptures often emerge from her collaborative process with favoured materials, some even seem to belie their appearance. Diana Taylor’s intricate paintings converge and splice various media - including print and textile – to create a unique visual grammar. Alongside a vibrant painting, Fay Nicolson’s series of large silk prints display bright rhythmic patterns. Created under self-Hypnosis, Simon Lewandowski’s selection of drawings blends a rich array of gestural marks and mixed media. TC McCormack’s film explores a type of perceptible gap; between access and intimacy, where the ‘subject’ is neither entirely present nor entirely absent. Ben Fitton’s compelling digital prints employ improvised technology to provide a nuanced exploration of our everyday environment, revealing resonant surfaces and hidden depths. Benedict Drew’s film explores the psychedelic potential of music and the moving image, as an ecstatic response to socio-political anxiety.