Liverpool Ghost Stories, A Car Fuelled By Water & Mass Hypnotism In FACT’s New Autumn Exhibition ‘No Such Thing As Gravity’
Opening this autumn, FACT’s new ambitious exhibition No Such Thing as Gravity will explore the ever-changing limits of science, through art. Showing from 11 November 2016 until 5 February 2017, the exhibition will feature a wide range of works merging art with scientific experiments, new and future technologies, and exploring the borders between life and death.
Curated by Rob La Frenais, No Such Thing as Gravity will exhibit both new commissions and existing works by local, national and international artists including Tania Candiani, Yin-Ju Chen, Gina Czarnecki / John Hunt, Nick Laessing, Agnes Meyer-Brandis, Helen Pynor and Sarah Sparkes. Artworks include a car fuelled by water, a ghost inducing robot, and portraits made of skin cells.
The exhibition is formed around the areas of science where the absence of established facts leave room for new theories, alternative science, conspiracy theories and irrational beliefs.
For example, The Ghost Formula (2016) by Sarah Sparkes (UK) is one of the artworks exploring mysteries surrounding the relationship between the living and the dead. Sparkes’ aim is to create a research archive which investigates the nature of ghosts and their ‘hosts’, and the conditions in which ghosts may be made. The archive draws on Liverpool’s historical and contemporary ghost narratives with input from experts within various fields and also includes two visually mesmerizing ‘infinity portals’ inviting spectators to visit two separate locations, and a robotic machine attempting to create a ghost.
In parallel with No Such Thing as Gravity, new work by Amy Worsley (UK), Fine Art student from Liverpool Hope University and winner of the 2016 FACT+Liverpool Hope Production Residency Award, will also be on display. Worsley has worked with a scientist and a Reiki healer to develop The Chakra Chair, which uses vibrations to mimic the healing powers of touch.
No Such Thing as Gravity will be accompanied by a comprehensive public programme of performances and talks, films and family friendly activities such as playful hands-on experiments introducing coding, and basic robotics.
The preview of the exhibition on 10 November coincides with the FACT and Arts at CERN event Day of Collisions, which will offer a range of activities investigating the relationship between art and science.
Day of Collisions will include an Arts at CERN roundtable discussion with South Korean artist Yunchul Kim, the winner of this year’s COLLIDE International Award in collaboration between FACT and Arts at CERN, and Kim’s partner scientist from CERN, a No Such Thing As Gravity Artist Talk, and the yearly Roy Stringer Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Amaze, hosting writer, political commentator and broadcaster Will Self to give a typically provocative lecture on the relationship between art and science, and host a Q&A session with the audience.
There will also be opportunities to participate in an event where artist Nahum Mantra uses hypnotism to explore the possibilities of producing an intimate experience of travelling to the Moon, and a Tarot Card workshop with artist Yin-Ju Chen.
Find more information about the event on the FACT website.
