We believe art is ultimately an imitation, or direct result, of nature’s influence upon us. You could say we are guerrillas to the conventional approaches of contemporary curation – we enjoy challenging audiences and inspiring new ideas and art, the design of the space itself being a major factor for us. Rooted in street art/illustration and installation/performance backgrounds, we celebrate the odd and unusual. If we were forced to describe our trademark, it would be a dark yet colourful sense of theatrical curiosity.
Bat was the first exhibition that we curated, which came to us over a pint when escaping a torrential downpour. Wollaton Park has seven species of bat, plus they had an outdoor screening of The Dark Knight Rises in the pipeline, and it’s the location of Nottingham’s natural history museum – it was a no-brainer.
We searched for bat-related art works, specimens and artefacts. We found that nature professionals, as well as grassroots enthusiasts, are bottomless pits of knowledge and will help out above and beyond your wildest expectations.
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Our inspiration for Bat was to draw the viewer into the hidden and nocturnal world of chiroptera – bats – creating a darkened gallery space with a wall of specimens viewed through illuminated magnifying glasses. These were together with a projection of an X-ray of a bat in flight, challenging light box images of bats in utero, a commissioned interactive sonic light sculpture, and our own long-exposure light photography capturing bat flight paths around the grounds of Wollaton Park after dark. The concept was to unveil some of the mysteries of this fascinating, and often misunderstood, nocturnal mammal in fun, unique and inspiring ways.
Since this debut exhibition, we have curated a number of sci-art exhibitions and programmes including our current Swift Street initiative in Carrington. We’re currently in the process of pulling together exciting plans for our next project that will hopefully tickle and stimulate the senses. Look out for the launch in Autumn 2017.
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