Transcript

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Welcome to Undershed, a new kind of gallery for showing the best immersive and interactive artwork from all over the world.

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The first of its kind in Bristol and rare across the UK.

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This is a dedicated space for people to come together and explore new forms of storytelling.

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When you're in the building, there will always be people around who can answer any questions you might have.

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And there are places for you to sit and rest whenever you need.

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Sing the body. Electric is the first exhibitioner Undershed and it is arranged in two collections.

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The first collection is open from the 26th of October to the 24th of November.

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And the second is from the 30th of November 2024 to the 5th of January 2025.

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My name is Amy Rose and I am the lead curator of Undershed.

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Keep listening to find out more about interactive artwork and what it asks from you the audience before a full description of the three pieces in the second collection.

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Interactive and immersive artwork is different from cinema reading and art galleries.

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It is different because it invites you.

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The audience to actively take part.

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Even though other art forms might transport you deeply and beautifully into other worlds.

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You are usually just an invisible guest who will leave no trace and create nothing new in the air of the exhibition space.

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In Undershed, we offer artwork that asks you to participate.

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This might mean something simple like choosing between standing up, sitting down, or laying on the floor.

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Or it could be much more complex, like verbally responding to questions or painting a picture.

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What's important is that you do something.

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And in some small but important way, when you choose what to do, you bring a bit of yourself into the room.

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In all exhibitions, we believe that there will be no single way to experience any of the pieces.

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Each one has an invitation implicit in its design, but perhaps you can dream up some other way of playing with what the artist has created for you.

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There is also no right order to explore the artworks, even though the layout of the room might beckon a particular pathway. Please feel free to experiment with different orders that spark different thoughts in your mind.

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If you have any thoughts or questions.

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You are always welcome to speak to our gallery assistants.

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This might be around how the technology works, what the artist is really trying to do, or anything else that comes to mind.

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The most important thing to remember is that here we are all experimenting.

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So settle in, keep an open mind and see where it all takes you.

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When you come to watershed in person.

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The door to Undershed opens directly from the box office on the ground floor.

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When you walk in.

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There's a welcome area with the gallery assistant waiting to speak to you about what to expect.

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You can sit down for as long as you like before you go through the curtains into the main space.

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The welcome area is designed as a little rest stop between the outside world and the world of the exhibition.

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There are spaces to leave any possessions that you don't want to carry.

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Around with you.

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Undershed has been designed as an accessible space with enough space for wheelchairs and places to sit down and rest whenever you need.

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Beyond the curtains that contain the welcome area, 3 artworks are installed in the exhibition space.

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The second collection from the sing the Body Electric exhibition at Undershed continues to explore embodied experience.

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These three pieces all play with what lies just beyond the edge of our habitual perception.

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Detect the sound of the space between you and another person.

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Come close to a wildly different world of colour.

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Or explore the memories of someone whose story often goes unheard.

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As you explore the collection.

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Always keep this question in mind.

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How do we all get out of our heads, into our bodies, and engage with the world in a new way?

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The first piece you'll meet inside the gallery is called the archive of an unseen.

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Looking like a cross between a brightly coloured video arcade and an archival microform reader from a library.

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You are invited to explore a digital archive of the artists childhood.

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There are 9 sections in the archive and over 75 items to explore, including videos, audio, photographs and documents.

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There is no correct order to take through this archive. You must decide which pathway to follow for yourselves.

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All of this original source material tells the story of Christopher Samuel's childhood growing up as a black disabled working class child from a single parent household in the 80s and 90s.

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Addressing the imbalance of representation in medical and social archives and questioning the way in which stories are held and told.

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This piece offers a deeper understanding of the wider spectrum of human experience.

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Please be aware that this work contains themes of domestic violence and outdated or offensive language about race and disability.

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The artist behind this piece of work, Christopher Samuel.

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Is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics.

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And it often echoes the many facets of his own lived experience.

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His work tells stories.

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Often raising awareness of his own experience, missing representation within archives and shared narratives from others in similar circumstances.

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This includes detailed ink, drawings, film, printing, research and large installation-based work.

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Beyond the archive of an unseen, so it's another piece called the island of the colorblind.

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This is a timed experience inside a small room, and it lasts about 10 minutes.

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It explores the experiences of a community who live on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

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In the late 18th century, a catastrophic typhoon hit this atol.

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The King was one of the only survivors and he carried a rare gene called achromatopsia, which causes complete colour blindness.

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Achromatopsia is characterised by extreme light sensitivity, poor vision and the complete inability to distinguish colours.

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The king went on to have many children and as time passed, most Islanders started seeing the world in black and white.

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To book yourself into one of the timed slots for The Island of the Colour Blind, please speak to one of our gallery assistants.

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There is space for four people in the room and you will all need to start at the same time.

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When you are ready to begin, enter the room to find the four walls covered in photographs of the island.

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You are then invited to sit down at a table with a set of headphones, paint, water, printed pictures and brushes.

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As you listen to a voice guiding you through the painting process.

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The room becomes illuminated with coloured light.

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And a story unfolds, blending memory and myth of this tiny colour blind community in the middle of the ocean.

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On the outside of the room, the walls will become slowly adorned with paintings created by you and the other audience members who have all painted with no sense of the colours used in a room lit by coloured light.

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The island of the colorblind is by a visual artist called Sana de Vield who works with the medium of photography, film, installation and painting.

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Based in Belgium, she creates long term work on genetics, identity and perception. While experimenting with collaborative approaches to storytelling.

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Sanna was awarded the Nikon Press Award in 2014 and 2016 for most promising young photographer.

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The British Journal of Photography selected her as one of the best emerging talents from around the world in 2014.

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And she received multiple international awards for the island of the Colorblind when it came out in 2016.

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Her recent project with Benedict Kurzen land of Ibeji won a whole range of international awards in 2019.

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The final piece in this collection is called 2 subtle bodies and it is for two people to experience together.

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If you do not have someone with you, one of our gallery assistants will help you find a partner.

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Together, you are invited to put on a custom made shiny pink cloak and a pair of bone conduction headphones before stepping towards each other in empty space.

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As your two bodies move around from far apart to right up close.

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You generate and discover sounds that correspond dynamically and in real time to your movement.

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By perceiving this soft and fluid space.

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Two subtle bodies invites you to unlock new ways of connecting with each other.

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Imagine you can hear a stranger's subtle body through sound.

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Would it bring you closer?

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The subtle body is a concept that appears in Taoism and Dharmic religions and it describes an idea of the body that includes physical sensation. The mind memories, and the unconscious.

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And it extends out beyond the boundaries of your own skin.

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In neuroscience, the space surrounding your body is called Peri personal space.

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This artwork invites you to explore that complex sense of your own body.

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And what might be present in the air between you and another person?

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Two subtle bodies is by Korean artist Yasel song.

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Based in New York, your Soul uses technology, interaction and participation as art media.

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Her work uncovers creative possibilities of non visual senses through inventive sensory languages that advocate for imaginative and inclusive views of the world.

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Her work questions how we normally perceive, think, and interact through novel perceptual experiences.

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She explores and occupies non traditional public spaces, as well as institutions.

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To challenge commonly held ideas about access and accessibility of art.

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Her experiences have inspired 10s of thousands of people at indoor and outdoor spaces in the US and Korea.

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Russell also teaches on 2 Masters programmes as an arts professor at the Tisch School of the Arts, based in New York.

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So that's it for now.

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This second collection is available to come and experience until January the 5th, 2025.

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Thanks very much and we hope you enjoy your visit to Undershed.