Lost in Lace opens in Birmingham
After the Dream by Chiharu Shiota Photo: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Lost in Lace features 20 leading international artists in the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) this winter, open now until 19 February 2012.
Lost in Lace explores the relationship between textiles – specifically lace – and space through a series of dramatic and ambitious new site-sensitive installations.
Produced in partnership by BMAG and the Crafts Council, in association with the University for the Creative Arts, the exhibition brings together both leading and emergent artists and makers – many of whom will be exhibiting in the UK for the first time. From the intricate to the monumental, these contemporary works will challenge the viewer’s existing notions of space, encouraging them to renegotiate the mysterious new environments and blurred and shifted boundaries that emerge.
The work exhibited spans a diverse range of materials, practices and inspirations. Atelier Manferdini, supported by Swarovski, will present a stunning inverted crystal cathedral hanging from ceiling to floor. Other large-scale works include acclaimed Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota’s web of interlacing black thread, eerily entrapping a series of white dresses. French artist Annie Bascoul’s dual installation evokes a sensual environment: an intricate cotton screen casts shadows across the floor as a delicate bed of feathers floats above the text of an erotic poem.
Leading British maker Michael Brennand Wood will explore his anti-militaristic sentiments in his series of red and black aluminium roundels, connected in a constellation-like pattern. Lise Bjørne Linnert’s Fences also raises political issues, as each photograph depicts an area of fence she has embroidered to highlight a hole. Often undertaken in conflict zones, her work investigates the notion of these contentious boundaries.
The exhibition will also see a number of artists that employ detailed scientific process and knowledge in their work. Tamar Frank’s grid of phosphorescent threads glow to reveal complex 3D parabolic curves, whilst the lace-like pattern stencilled onto Alessia Giardino’s photo-catalytic concrete panels develops through exposure to airborne pollution, and Kathleen Rogers uses new microscopy equipment to expose thread structures. These, alongside many other new and exciting works, will provide an immersive and multi-sensory experience for the viewer, and reveal the radical new approaches to textile and space made by artists and makers around the world. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue containing background information and interviews with the participants, edited by exhibition curator Lesley Millar MBE.
Parallel to Lost in Lace, BMAG presents an exhibition focussing on the research, reinterpretation and redisplay of their historic lace collection.
Lost in Lace is the first exhibition programmed through the Crafts Council’s biennial Fifty:Fifty scheme, through which the Crafts Council co-funds and co-produces an exhibition with a partner organisation chosen by open selection.
Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director, Crafts Council said of the partnership:
‘‘We are thrilled to be working with BMAG on this exciting inaugural Fifty:Fifty exhibition. Lost in Lace will encourage people to think about the fabric of the spaces we live in through extraordinary textile pieces created by prolific international artists. We believe this will draw new audiences to see the sort of contemporary craft that they may have never seen before.’’
Rita McLean, Head of Museums & Heritage Services, BMAG added:
‘‘BMAG is proud to be the first partner in the Crafts Council’s new Fiffy:Fifty programme. We hope that Lost in Lace will increase public awareness of contemporary craft, regionally and nationally, through the exciting worldclass work it will present.’’
The exhibition is curated by Lesley Millar MBE, Professor of Textile Culture at University for the Creative Arts. Millar received a Crafts Council Spark Plug Curator Award in 2009 to develop an ambitious, innovative and high quality exhibition concept and used the award to develop Lost in Lace. Millar explains:
‘‘In this exhibition I have asked an international group of artists, makers, and designers to move beyond their usual margins of practice. My challenge was: how to shape the perception of the potentially radical relationship between the structure of lace networks and architectural space? Their responses have been to question the ways in which we move through space and the nature of boundaries and thresholds. With no defined narrative path through the exhibition, visitors will be encouraged to confront the same questions, as they are invited to move freely within, through and around the works.’’
For more information on the exhibition visit the Lost in Lace website
For more press information about the Crafts Council, please contact Jill Read on 020 7806 2549 or media@craftscouncil.org.uk
Notes to Editors
About the Crafts Council
The Crafts Council’s goal is to make the UK the best place to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft.
• We believe that craft plays a dynamic and vigorous role in the UK’s social, economic and cultural life.
• We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make, see, collect and learn about craft.
• We believe that the strength of craft lies in its use of traditional and contemporary techniques, ideas and materials to make extraordinary new work.
• We believe that the future of craft lies in nurturing talent; children and young people must be able to learn about craft at school and have access to excellent teaching throughout their education.
The Crafts Council is supported by the Arts Council England who work to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. It supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Great art inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves, and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, Arts Council England will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and a further £0.85 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
About Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (BMAG) is the largest regional local authority Museum Service. The central Museum and Art Gallery was founded
in 1885 and its collections have been designated as Outstanding by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
In 2010 the Service attracted over a million visitors to its collections and temporary exhibitions programme. It is committed to displaying contemporary applied art and this includes one of the UK’s leading collections of contemporary metalwork. Lost in Lace represents BMAG’s ambitions to deliver a nationally significant exhibitions programme. This exhibition has been specifically supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts has campuses in Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester and is one of Europe’s largest specialist
universities of art, design, architecture, media and communication. With around 7, 000 students studying on a wide range of well-established courses, potential graphic designers’ work alongside budding journalists and pioneering fashion designers in a highly creative environment.
The Fifty:Fifty Programme
Lost in Lace is the first exhibition to be delivered via the Crafts Council partnership scheme: The Fifty: Fifty Programme. This is a biennial Crafts Council initiative that seeks to develop projects that are match funded by the Crafts Council and a partner. The Programme is based on the sharing of resources. The Crafts Council will work with the selected partner to co-develop and deliver a partnership exhibition. Funds, ideas and resources will be joined and shared equally on a 50:50 basis.
Lesley Millar MBE
Lost in Lace is curated by Lesley Millar, who is the recipient of a Crafts Council Spark Plug Curator Award. This Award is for the research and development of the exhibition idea. Lesley Millar has been a practising weaver with her own studio since 1975. She has work in the permanent collections of both the Crafts Council and Arts Council England and is listed on the Crafts Council Index of Selected Makers.
She has exhibited throughout the UK, in Europe, the USA and Japan. She has worked as an exhibition organiser and curator specialising in contemporary textiles since 1987 and has been project director for major international touring exhibitions featuring textile artists from the UK and Japan. She writes regularly about textile practice in Britain and Japan, is co-editor of the on-line textile journal DUCK and advisor for the Journal of Craft Research. In 2006-07 she undertook an AHRC funded project investigating approaches to contemporary textiles through collaborative research between Museums, HEI’s and Practitioners.
In 2007 she was appointed Professor of Textile Culture at the University for the Creative Arts, 2008 she received the Japan Society Award for
significant contribution to Anglo-Japanese relationships, and in 2011 was awarded an MBE for her contribution to Higher Education.
