Testing Ground Private View

Surface Gallery Volunteer Show 2012: April 4th – April 21st
Private View: 3rd April, 6-8pm

Testing Ground, noun; a region resembling a laboratory inasmuch as it offers opportunities for observation and practice and experimentation.

For the duration of the three-week exhibition Surface Gallery will be transformed into a Testing Ground; a creative laboratory, whereby participating artists will have the opportunity for practice, experimentation and play. All artists will exhibit new work using the exhibition specifically as an opportunity to test out a new idea, artwork or strand of their practice.

Testing Ground questions the idea of the ‘finished’ artwork within the framework of an exhibition whilst lingering on the nature of making and the ever important testing and critical engagement process. As the artworks potentially evolve and transform throughout the duration of the exhibition an ongoing curatorial shift will take place between artworks and space.

Beyond Belief

Throughout March Surface Gallery was host to 'Beyond Belief' an exciting series of three short exhibitions and events in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University.

The exhibition saw students using a critical or reflective approach that engaged with current debate surrounding curatorial practice. The Fine Art students from NTU were invited to submit proposals and their exhibitions explored notions of belief, truth, falsehood and the difficulty in separating fact from fiction.

 

Each short exhibition; Slippery When Wet, Beyond the Suspension of Disbelief, and Shift Happens, held their own private view which each had a phenominal outcome and packed out the Surface Gallery space.

We were all very happy with how great all of the NTU artists made our space look and would recommend them and their work to any gallery in the future and hope they one day return to us with more artwork.

 For more information on the artists and their work please visit our website here. 

Photographs by Matthew Hoyland.