2007 › Nick Turvey

Some Things Occur by Necessity
2007. Lead Crystal. 30 x 26 cm.
Glass has been intimately entangled with the development of scientific thinking, from the alembics of the alchemists to the instruments of Hooke and Galileo. Here, the medium and process of working with hot glass has been used as a plastic, polydimensional algebra, a cloud chamber of tracks and traces frozen in massive thicknesses that bend light like gravity.
Some Things Occur by Necessity
2007. Lead Crystal. 30 x 26 cm.
Glass has been intimately entangled with the development of scientific thinking, from the alembics of the alchemists to the instruments of Hooke and Galileo. Here, the medium and process of working with hot glass has been used as a plastic, polydimensional algebra, a cloud chamber of tracks and traces frozen in massive thicknesses that bend light like gravity.
Mister Mark
2007. Lead crystal. 20 x 19 cm.
“..And when mind began to set things in motion, there was separation from everything that was in motion, and however much mind set in motion, all this was made distinct. The rotation of the things that were moved and made distinct caused them to be yet more distinct.” Anaxagoras
Indivisible and Unchangeable
2007. Lead crystal. 30 cm x 20 x 20 cm.
“The Greeks do not rightly use the terms coming into being and perishing. For nothing comes into being nor yet does anything perish, but there is mixture and separation of things that are. So they would do right in calling the coming into being mixture, and the perishing separation.” Anaxagoras
Hidden Dimensions
2007. Lead crystal. 38 x 38 x 8 cm.

The perceptual disruption of highly refractive, transparent materials can thus be understood as an intrusion of non-Euclidean space into our seemingly stable everyday world of three co-ordinates, or alternatively as macro-scale, involute, extra dimensions, what a mathematician might call manifolds.
Hidden Dimensions
2007. Lead crystal. 38 x 38 x 8 cm.
The perceptual disruption of highly refractive, transparent materials can thus be understood as an intrusion of non-Euclidean space into our seemingly stable everyday world of three co-ordinates, or alternatively as macro-scale, involute, extra dimensions, what a mathematician might call manifolds.
Footmap
2009. Patented reactive concrete paving. Dimensions variable.

1st Prize: BCA Innovations in Concrete & 2nd Prize, International Concrete Design Competition. A paving slab whose appearance and texture change in response to pedestrian traffic, creating a visual and tactile record that adds functionality and character. Every pedestrian becomes a participant, inscribing the history of that space’s use, and creating a form of intuitively understood signage.
Once Given Universe
2007. Plywood, emulsion paint, fluorescent light. Dimensions variable.

How frequently do we see what we have learnt to see, rather than what is actually there? In this installation, Light, and our perception of it, is both subject and medium. Is one half of the wall darker, or is the other lighter? A relativistic optical illusion conceals the underlying unity. In the context of Delhi, a city that I experienced as deeply segregated, the work reminds us of the importance of a shared conception of space. Installation created at KHOJ studios in Delhi, during an Arts Council International Fellowship.
Once Given Universe
2007. Plywood, emulsion paint, fluorescent light. Dimensions variable.

How frequently do we see what we have learnt to see, rather than what is actually there? In this installation, Light, and our perception of it, is both subject and medium. Is one half of the wall darker, or is the other lighter? A relativistic optical illusion conceals the underlying unity. In the context of Delhi, a city that I experienced as deeply segregated, the work reminds us of the importance of a shared conception of space. Installation created at KHOJ studios in Delhi, during an Arts Council International Fellowship.
HOT
Group show

Collyer Bristow

Curated by Tamar Arnon

July 2007

London WC1R 4DF

Image: Watercolour (detail)