Lucy Powell & Ella Ziegler

Thu, 23 Jan 2014 18:00

On view
24 Jan-2 Feb 2014

Lucy Powell & Ella Ziegler

The exhibition by Lucy Powell and Ella Ziegler explores the role and importance of chance. Whether in the sphere of art and creativity or in science and evolution, accidents have always driven processes of development.

Lucy Powell's shows a text piece routed in large letters into the gallery floor. The words "looking for causes of intelligence" in the first room are answered by "finding them in groupings of accidents" in the second room. The theorem of chance that forms the foundation for knowledge and progress is transformed from abstraction to materiality through long hours and hard graft. The individual letters reflect the various coincidences of their making.

Ella Ziegler contrasts Lucy Powell's floor piece with a photo series "Service - Chinese Porcelain - ca. 1755 - National Museum of East Asian Art, Stockholm, Sweden" in which she shows a case study on the subject of chance and how it takes on a life of its own. The porcelain dinner service was originally made in China for the president of the Mining Office Fredrik Gyllenborg (1698-1759), Baron and Count Gyllenborg. It is believed that the peculiar irregular cloud surrounding the coat of arms on each piece of crockery resulted from water stains to the drawing during transportation which were then meticulously copied by the Chinese porcelain painters.