COMPLEX TOPOGRAPHY:
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 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.
Tokyo University of the Arts and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London organised the exhibition Complex Topography: The Garden at Japan’s Special Place of Scenic Beauty Ritsurin Garden in October 2015, prior to the official launch of Tokyo University of the Arts Global Art Practice. Its second iteration in 2016, produced a new joint exhibition Complex Topography: Movement and Change at the Ritsurin Garden as part of the Autumn Session of the Setouchi Triennale 2016.
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.