See/ Laurence Kavanagh - Automata Artist in Residence/ 23 July to 8 December 2010
General Information
Kavanagh will look at specific objects in the V&A and Crafts Council collections and create sculptural works in response. Referencing various theatrical devices, he is interested in how sculptural objects might offer a temporary, physical space between past and future, creating an altered experience for the audience.
Kavanagh’s recent work has been an investigation of ‘Magic Assemblage’; a term to describe secular magic, started in the 18th century, that includes theatre, magic lanterns, cinema and shadow puppetry. The artist describes Magic Assemblage as a point where entertainment meets and shapes modern culture, and his constructed environments provide a material language which investigates this. In exploring these environments, the viewer can become part of the work, or “the main character in their own film”.
Laurence Kavanagh said: “This residency is a unique opportunity for in-depth engagement with the collections at the V&A and the Crafts Council. Themes of time travel and re-incarnation are of specific interest to me. I intend to explore the craft of ‘automata’ as a means to physically animate sculptural objects. I intend to create an ambitious body of work during the residency using the extensive facilities, workshops and support that are provided.”
The Craft Residency is run in partnership with the Crafts Council and is part of the V&A’s Museum Residency Programme giving four artists per year the chance to have a studio in the Sackler Centre. The Museum Residency Programme is supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Date Information
Residency Studios in the Sackler Centre are open on the following dates from 13.00-16.00
July 23 & 28
August 11, 20 & 21
September 8, 18, 20, 22 & 24
October 2, 15, 16, 17 & 27
November 10, 19, 20 & 21
December 3 & 8
