RESIDUE
14 October – 22 December 2006
Residue: a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone
(Oxford English Dictionary).
firstsite celebrated its home of the past thirteen years - the Minories Art Gallery - with a programme of exhibitions, residences, commissions, projects and performances under the collective name of Residue.
This was the final series of exhibitions to be organised by firstsite in the Minories gallery as the nationally acclaimed organisation prepares to move into its new £16.5 million purpose built new home.
Fifteen artists were individually approached to participate in the remarkable Residue project.
Residue recorded the particular history of firstsite and the preceding history of the Minories, while also looking at more abstract metaphors that consider our relationship to shared experience, memory and place.
Over the past ten years more than 1000 artists have had an impact on the building, firstsite and the thousands of visitors. Before its transition into a larger building, firstsite asked a typically wide range of artists to document the residue of this activity in projects that often consist of a residue in themselves.
Catherine Bertola referenced the Minories former use as a domestic residence. In keeping with her work to date, she used subtle interventions to invoke the former use of the spaces. Specifically a flock wallpaper pattern, similar to one that would have been used in a Georgian house, was recreated using dust from the building itself.
Cassie Howard was also interested in the former use of the building as a home. She recreated the room layout of the old building and project interiors constructed from dolls house furniture.
Sally Sheinman Has created 540-painted tokens collectively known at “Artkacina”. Taking their inspiration from “Kacina” dolls made by Hopi Indians Sally’s creations contained the spirit of firstsite. They were distributed to visitors at the end of her exhibition to share the legacy of firstsite.
Jorges Macchi’s dramatic installation consisted of a light bulb travelling across one of the Minories largest spaces, slowly dimming as it travels across the room, accompanied by a musical performance on glass instruments.
Chloe Steele initially suggested doing nothing for the four weeks she was in residence at the gallery, thus demonstrating the impossibility of creating and leaving nothing. However, once in residence Chloe started working directly on to the wall, leaving a residue of pencil marks in a temporary, site specific piece that no longer exists.
Raphael Pepper worked across the corridor from Chloe using the medium of drawing in a very different way. His amazing technique involved grinding down coloured pencils into pots of pigment, which he can then apply straight onto paper. His subsequent images, sitting between figurative and abstract, were provided by memories from the visiting public. The drawings are residues in themselves.
Bryony Graham worked during the second half of residue, leading the diverse education programme. Creating her own studio space and evolving ideas from the site itself, she invited participation from a range of people of all ages.
In a series of five two-week residencies, Sandra Flower, Clare Iles, Alison Stockmarr, Jevan Watkins-Jones and Linda Theophilus each responded to the legacy of firstsite and the history attached to and contained within the Minories. Each artist approached the task with their own particular perspective.
Douglas Atfield has documented almost every exhibition in the Minories over recent years. Residue was an opportunity to see a selection of his installation shots in the café. Clare Smee and Saffron Branfoot later exhibited their stunning photographs of the Minories as an empty space – devoid of art or activity.
Residue was a unique event of rapid-fire exhibitions, residences and commissions documenting the passing of a well loved gallery. It will be remembered by beautiful and touching site sensitive works.
