Remarkable and Curious Conversations

Curated by Cally Trench
Remarkable Place (2012)

Remarkable and Curious Conversations

Remarkable Place was a weekend exhibition with events and interactions at The Keep, 571 Oxford Road, Reading RG30 1HL on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th March 2012, 2-6pm.

Remarkable Place - Photo Joan Skelton Smith

Artists: Tineke Bruijnzeels, Alison Carter Tai, Claire Deniau, Alex Dewart, Linda Francis, Lynne Grace, Ingrid Jensen, Lydia Maria Julien, Philip Lee, Lis Mann, Steve Perfect, Alan Prosser, Ann Rapstoff, Brigitte Ritschard, Joan Skelton Smith, Cally Trench, and Mary Yacoob.

Curated by Cally Trench. Exhibition hosted by OpenHand OpenSpace.

Artists and work:

Tineke Bruijnzeels : For the Remarkable Nature project she was inspired by the descriptions of aspects of nature by Alison Carter Tai, Ann Rapstoff, Cally Trench, Lis Mann, Joan Skelton Smith, Brigitte Ritschard, Philip Lee and Lynne Grace.

Alison Carter Tai and Alan Prosser: Consultation Corner - Since getting to know each other again after 35 years ... Do listen in... Now, over to you... Getting to know you ... come and talk to us about anything you like!

Claire Deniau, based in Paris, and Steve Perfect in London emailed each other a title, subject or idea for a drawing for Drawing Round Trip. The other responded and posted the drawings to a flickr page.

Alex Dewart: The look and techniques used in Fuchsia Sea and Fuchsia River were influenced by studio discussions with three fellow Remarkable artists: Imogen Welch, CallyTrench and Patrick Jeffs.

Linda Francis: Unintentional Traces - The marks that we leave behind us, our histories, with contributions from Tineke Bruijnzeels, Alison Carter Tai, Linda Francis, Philip Lee, Lis Mann, Joan Skelton Smith, and Cally Trench.

Lynne Grace: Time Out uses holiday memories from other Remarkable artists to make art.

Lydia Maria Julien: Messy Hair 010 - A series of photo-collages with other people's messy hair.

Ingrid Jensen: A Last Bit of Loving Care - A reluctant farewell to a significant building.

Philip Lee: Body Cell Slip is a live durational performance with clay. Visitors are invited into the warm, confined performance space to participate in or witness the performance.

Lis Mann: Times Did Change - A conversation looking back in time to Vienna during the period of the Anschluss.

Steve Perfect: Places project - Please look at the photographs in the book: if you have an immediate response by way of memory or imagination please write it down on the text page opposite.

Ann Rapstoff, Cally Trench and Philip Lee: In Praise of Zebra Crossings was a street intervention in Beaconsfield on 3rd May 2011. Photographs by Ann Rapstoff. Timelapse film by Cally Trench.

Ann Rapstoff, Cally Trench and Philip Lee: Triple Spin - a performance that celebrates zebra crossings.

Ann Rapstoff: Office for Zebra Crossings invites your participation in a questionnaire concerning your knowledge and attitudes to Zebra Crossings. All those who take part in this research will be offered a free promotional gift.

Brigitte Ritschard: Obscure Corners - 'Personne ne réussit jamais à connaitre les maisons, il subsiste toujours de nombreux coins obscurs et parfois des pièces entières que le propriétaire n'a pas la patience ou le courage d'explorer.' La solitude dans en ce moment précis, Dino Buzatti, 1950. With contributions from Tineke Bruijnzeels, Philip Lee, Steve Perfect, and Cally Trench.

Joan Skelton Smith is showing her Ginkgo paper cut outs based on images sent to her by Alison Carter Tai, and demonstrating her technique. Ginkgo photograph and text by Alison Carter Tai.

Cally Trench: You are invited to reach into the Memory Lucky Dip bag.

Mary Yacoob and Claire Deniau: C&M Plate Exchange: The artists posted an etching plate back and forth between London and Paris, each adding, erasing, modifying, and extending the work she saw on the plate until a 'final' print was made.

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Tineke Bruijnzeels

Remarkable Place - Photo Tineke Bruijnzeels

Remarkable Place - Photo Tineke Bruijnzeels

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Tineke Bruijnzeels

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Tineke Bruijnzeels

Remarkable Place - Photo Tineke Bruijnzeels

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Mary Yacoob

Remarkable Place - Photo Mary Yacoob

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Lynne Grace

Remarkable Place - Photo Joan Skelton Smith

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Remarkable Place - Photo Cally Trench

Photographs by Cally Trench, Mary Yacoob, Joan Skelton Smith, Tineke Bruijnzeels and Lynne Grace.

Lynne Grace writes: I thought the visitors' participation was terrific and everyone who came into the banqueting hall partook of refreshment (some seemed to spend all day sitting at the table!). They also entered into the spirit of my installation and wrote down their holiday memories for me. Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable day and an interesting exhibition of various works.

Claire Deniau and Mary Yacoob exhibited their collaborative etching, a record of which can be seen here: Plate Exchange. They posted an etching plate back and forth between London and Paris, each time adding to or subtracting from the previous contribution made by the other artist. Each artist made one print and posted an image of it up on their blog. The exhibition at The Keep was the first time the artists had seen the real prints that the other artist had made. They got some interesting feedback during a short talk that they gave during the event. One person asked if they could have continued the collaboration until it was physically impossible to add more to the plate. Likewise, another person asked if the first print made should have been of an emply plate. These are comments that Mary and Claire will keep in mind in their next project, a collaborative drawing.

Claire Deniau writes: I can only confirm that Remarkable Place was a big success! The space was perfectly adequate to create a sense of a whole and at the same time enhance the feeling of small groups of collaboration. It was a very good feeling to see all this fantastic works up after having followed them on the Internet for such a long time. The banquet was a great idea: warm and friendly. Everyone from The Keep were very supportive. Many thanks to Ingrid for letting us use the space and to Cally of course for putting all this together with such energy and joy!

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