Artist Statement
Jonathan Ryall and Chris Bassford
Sculptures relationship to site is explored through four performances titled ‘In the Company of Strangers`. They appropriated the existing abstract sculptures on Loughborough University Campus which, in their minds, have become obsolete. The original intentions of the artists have been lost and they no longer activate the sites where they are installed. Most of the immediate public are not aware of their presence. Jonathan and Chris decided to address this through temporary performances (in contrast to the permanent sculptures), trying to activate the sites to the public and relate themselves to the original intention in each sculpture.
The original intentions were represented through costumes which were made from lo-tech materials and household objects such as a vaccum cleaner pipe and hose pipes for example, and our physical relationship with sculpture was explored in Grey Orb through an attempt to mimic the form of the appropriated work. The struggle to achieve this form extends the permanent properties of the object into a temporary play with sculptural qualties such as gravity, weight and balance.
