When moving through ruins catalogue

Kate Scardifield

When moving through ruins 28 October to 4 December 2016

GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE

REGIONAL GALLERY

Artist’s studio, 2016

Kate Scardifield

When moving through ruins 28 October to 4 December 2016

Kate Scardifield: When moving through ruins It is with great pleasure that the Glasshouse Regional Gallery

mythologies. Within this exhibition Kate has created a world

presents When moving through ruins, an exhibition of new

where shifting states materialise between convergence

work by Kate Scardifield. The exhibition continues the

and collapse, through the movement of the folds of each

Glasshouse Regional Gallery’s commitment to presenting

animated form. She has created a space for speculation

quality artistic experiences for our community and supporting

and slow breathing across a series of interconnected and

contemporary Australian artists to develop new work.

relational forms.

In July 2016 Kate spent a week at the Glasshouse

I would like to sincerely thank Kate Scardifield for sharing

experimenting with textile forms and creating extraordinary

these marvellous works. It has been a pleasure to work with

lamĂŠ patterns on a rich dark cloth. The residency provided

her through the development of this exhibition. I would like to

Kate with time and space to develop and workshop her ideas,

especially thank Talia Linz for her insightful essay that provides

which are translated into the beguiling installation and video

a context for the exhibition. I would like to thank Sebastian

work featured in When moving through ruins.

Goldspink and Bradley Vincent from ALASKA Projects for their

When moving through ruins explores our perception of time and

wonderful assistance which has made this project possible.

our bodily connection with cloth through referencing cultural Niomi Sands, Curator, Glasshouse Regional Gallery

When moving through ruins. 2016. Production still. 7 channel HD video 1080p, silent, unique durations, looped. Video production: John A. Douglas. Courtesy the artist and ALASKA Projects.

Kate Scardifield: When moving through ruins Kate Scardifield combines a background in textiles with a

When moving through ruins points to Scardifield’s interest

process-driven approach to making – treating her studio

in the body’s relationship to cloth. Extending on previous

like a laboratory in which to test and push the limits of

work with more delineated, figurative silhouettes and

matter, from humble paper to luscious cloth. Her recent

cutouts, here she draws on the ambiguity and malleability

work has been marked by the use of iridescent silver and

of these forms, taking cues from the material and remaining

gold fabric, from which the artist painstakingly cuts out her

open to possibility. For the work’s creation she invited seven

signature kidney-shaped forms that collectively swarm to

different women to embody these unique shapes and bring

form shifting patterns across paper, canvas or cloth. She

each to life before the camera. Drawing on themes of loss

has long been obsessed with material investigation, and indeed the new video work that forms part of When moving

and longing, we witness their silent explorations of folds and seams, pockets and caverns, determining their own

through ruins evolved from a desire to play with the

course within a private, interior space.

movement potential and sense of liveliness innate to her

The soft fabric forms that shift and shimmer onscreen also

chosen cloth. Set against a black void, the metallic thread

materialise in the gallery space across seven sculptures, a

of the silver fabric refracts light, shooting out flares of colour

reference to the seven sorrows. The amorphous shapes

and evoking the undulations of moonlit water or

with conical peaks suggest numerous cultural and historical

iridescent snakeskin.

associations, from the dunce cap of the classroom corner

Talia Linz, Curator, Artspace, Sydney

to the hennin headdresses worn by noblewomen in the

Mercurial and hypnotic, When moving through ruins is an

Middle Ages to the leaked photographs of black-hooded

encounter that intends to slow viewers down. The body –

prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib. Scardifield’s specific point

both literal and intimated – seems to surface sporadically

of departure, however, is the capirote worn by penitents in

throughout the work and dissipate just as quickly. It is at

the elaborate processionals that move through the streets during the 500-year-old Spanish Semana Santa, or Holy Week.

To be hooded, masked or shrouded connects with notions of concealed identity, acts of disempowerment, even death, but also of revelation, forgiveness and purification. In the context of religion it is often employed as a way to humble oneself before god; stripping away the distractions of the physical body to focus on matters of the heart and spirit.

once revealed and hidden within the shape and movement of the cloth. Scardifield knows that cutting out and through can bring a third dimension to a flat, two-dimensional plane, imbuing it with a sense of illusion and depth. Like the leftover lace – or net-like negative fields she utilises, the multiple facets seen here further reveal her compulsion to excise and extract, to make patterns between unlikely partners. Interestingly, she talks about her work in relation to anatomical dissection and the interrelated histories of art and medical enquiry. Dismantling and refiguring, cutting

The exhibition title, too, speaks to a sense of quietude and

and hinging, are for Scardifield processes of mapping,

reflection, a reminder perhaps to tread carefully, deliberately,

helping her to construct a kind of embodied knowledge to

in places or times of difficulty.

make sense of the world and our bodies within it.

When moving through ruins. 2016. Production stills. 7 channel HD video 1080p, silent, unique durations, looped. Video production: John A. Douglas. Courtesy the artist and ALASKA Projects.

Biography Kate Scardifield Lives and works in Sydney, NSW Kate Scardifield is an interdisciplinary artist and her practice can be likened to a process of anatomical enquiry; mining history for intersecting systems and patterns that culminate in re-imaginings of the body, site and space. Scardifield’s works traverse sculpture, installation, textiles, video and painting, often incorporating repetitious iconography and labour intensive

List of works When moving through ruins, 2016 When moving through ruins 7 channel HD video 1080p, silent, unique durations, looped.

techniques. Relationships between the spectacle, the macabre

Video production: John A. Douglas

and the divine, in their broadest form, operate as cornerstones

Sorrow at stillness 1

in her practice. These ideas have lead her to negotiate ways in which the art object can exist as an alternate sacred relic or a potential surrogate effigy. Across all her works an innate connection to materiality is evident and the diverse forms that eventuate embody process driven investigations.

Kate has exhibited throughout Australia and her works have been

Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

Sorrow at stillness 2 Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

included in exhibition projects in New Zealand and the US. Her

Sorrow at stillness 3

work has been featured in the Australian Art Collector, Artlink

Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

and Das Platforms. In 2012 Kate participated in an International

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

Residency Program at the Sanskriti Foundation (New Delhi), received the Freedman Foundation travelling scholarship, and was a recipient of the Power Institute studio at Cité International des Arts, Paris. In 2013 she was awarded a new work grant from the Australian Council for the Arts and the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship for Sculpture. After undertaking residencies at Artspace (Sydney) and in Oaxaca (Mexico) in 2014, Kate returned to Australia to begin developing new projects as part of the City of Sydney’s Creative Live Work Studios program (2015/2016). In April 2016 Kate was invited to curate Art Bar at the Museum of Contemporary Art and she is currently developing a new work

Sorrow at stillness 4 Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

Sorrow at stillness 5 Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

Sorrow at stillness 6 Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

body of work for ALASKA Projects in early 2017. In addition,

Sorrow at stillness 7

Kate is working towards a touring exhibition (2017/18) produced

Linen, lamé, cotton thread, mild steel, swivel clamp.

by the curatorial collective Panel (Glasgow) and supported by

Dimensions variable (adaptable composition)

Creative Scotland. This substantial international project involves the artist working with four distinct Scottish museum collections in collaboration with Fife Contemporary Art & Craft, St Andrews Museum, The Barony Centre and Heriot Watt University.

All works courtesy the artist and ALASKA Projects

GLASSHOUSE REGIONAL GALLERY Niomi Sands: Gallery Curator Bridget Purtill & Anne-Marie McWhirter: Gallery Assistant Marie Taylor: Graphic Design | Chrysalis Printing: Catalogue Printing Niomi Sands, Kate Scardifield and Talia Linz: Text Copyright Kate Scardifield: Image Copyright Š Glasshouse Regional Gallery 2016 ISBN 978-0-9871534-6-3

When moving through ruins: Kate Scardifield 28 October - 4 December 2016 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research, study or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should be made to Glasshouse Regional Gallery.

The Glasshouse Regional Gallery would like to especially thank Kate Scardifield and Talia Linz. Special thanks to the Glasshouse Technical Team and the Glasshouse Marketing, Front of House Teams and Volunteers for all their hard work on installing this exhibition.

The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

Printed on recycled paper

When moving through ruins supported by the Creative Practice Lab, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW Acknowledgements and thanks to: Niomi Sands, Bridget Purtill and the Glasshouse Gallery team.

The movers: Celeste Stein, DĂŻane Malet, Deb Mansfield, Connie Anthes, Maggie Scardifield, Bailee Lobb and Sophie Holvast.

Talia Linz, John A. Douglas and Robin Hearfield.

Emma Rodigari, Danielle Devery, Yarran Gatsby, Colin Fraser, Bonita Bub, Carla Delloso and Erika Schneider.

ALASKA Projects, Sebastian Goldspink, Bradley Vincent, Catherine Clayton-Smith and Samuel Hodge.

Government Sponsors

The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW

Founding Sponsors

Cnr Clarence & Hay Streets Port Macquarie 02 6581 8888 info@glasshouse.org.au glasshouse.org.au

GALLERY OPENING HOURS Tue - Fri: 10am - 5pm Sat - Sun: 10am - 4pm Public Holidays: 10am - 4pm