Preview April 26th, 6 – 9pm
Live Skype performance from Dublin at 6.45pm
Open April 27th 12-5pm
Curated by Áine Belton

Featuring:
Conor Mary Foy, Vincci Huang, Louisa Love, Steven Maybury, Emrys Plant,
Holly Skinner, Clare Smith, Charley Vines and Jennifer Wright

Come As You Go is an exhibition about the use of space and materials inspired by geographical and temporal displacement. It is an open dialogue between the curator, artists and most importantly the audience. The title is recognition of how changes can take place, subtly overlapping and blending in with each other. It is about knowing and being able to recognize the many developments that circulate in daily life. At the center of each of these works is a sense of awareness of environment seen through materials and installation. Crate acts as a host site for these works that are comfortably unhinged. Come As You Go is about ideas, spaces and people in flux.

The exhibition will serve as a temporal document framing the works as they are in situ. It is not about start or end points; it is simply about knowing, about being aware and continuously observing. Each artist shares their own insight about the experience of being in flux with materials and surroundings. The site of Crate will serve as some kind of ‘lost property’ – a space for all kinds of objects and materials to be found, a site of transience and crossing layers of existence. It will serve as a site for random interventions, juxtapositions, meetings, concoctions and the unknown. It will evolve throughout the opening night as artworks unravel and shift about. The conversation between the works selected is one of irregularities and re-representation. Not only will the works be representative of the uncertainties of location and matter, but of communication and distance. Each work is reflective in its investigation of ‘place’- which can be described as an exclusive and self-regulating system of values. Can place be disputed to be more than just a physical location? Is it a state of mind over matter? How does place identify itself when it can be subject to daily alterations?

The comings and goings of the audience are a key element of the preview. Several of the works featured are by three artists that will only have virtually visited the site. Such artists rely upon the audiences’ interaction to complete the works in Crate. Conor Mary Foy’s piece Observance will be broadcast live from Dublin uniting his performers with their counterparts in Crate. Vincci Huang’s Wish You Were is a collaborative photographic project beginning in Taiwan and taking a ‘holiday’ in Margate. Co-authoring this work, Holly Skinner invites the audience of Crate to be photographed on top of the original Taiwan film. The preview of this exhibition is the work in progress for the audience to experience and participate in.

Come As You Go is the first public exchange of ideas from Áine Belton’s ongoing research into art practices that investigate the paradoxes of space, place and material detritus based in Margate.

For more information on this project please email: aine@cratespace.co.uk

Come As You Go is supported by Crate Studio & Project Space as part of the Crate curatorial internship programme, funded by ICR European Regional Development Fund, Arts Council England and Kent County Council. The programme partners are Dover Arts Development, Stour Valley Arts, Strange Cargo, Turner Contemporary and Whitstable Biennale.

You are invited to a mystical private view in the heart of the maze of Margate!

Open:
Private View, Friday 12th April, 6.30pm – 9.00pm
The exhibition is open on Saturday 13th April, 10.00am – 5.00pm

RED THREAD TRAIL is a collaborative exchange of practices using the Greek Myth of slaying the Minotaur in the Labyrinth as a metaphor for the realisation process of this group exhibition.

Red Thread Trail is brought to you by Nadja Andersson, Rachael Murray and Jennifer Wright. This exhibition is a result of three different journeys.

‘The red thread’ is the blog
redthreadtrail.blogspot.com
The blog is an important part of the process. It is the route to Crate (our Minotaur) and back.

Rachael Murray’s paintings have a focus on the natural and urban landscape. Her works displayed engage the theme of location and dislocation, showing the contrast between two different Cities.

Nadja Andersson has focused on approaching the theme of mystical inner landscapes through painting and performance.

Jennifer Wright’s practice explores the use of narrative through a variety of media. At present she is concerned with Christian dialogue and symbols relating to current debate.

The story of the Minotaur is rich and complex, and it touches on psychology, philosophy, fantasy, passion and the power struggles of the gods and the sexes.

To understand the layers, and complex set of references of this story you have to follow the life of Queen Pasiphae of Crete, and her relationship with her all-powerful husband King Minos. The Minotaur was born of Pasiphae and a handsome Prince Bull.
The Minotaur was kept locked away in a cave only reached by navigating a complex labyrinth. It was the custom to satisfy the needs of the hungry and savage bull/man by offering him a sacrifice of seven maidens and seven young men. The king of Athens decided that instead of sending weak men and women as was done before, he would send his own son Theseus. His difficult job was to slay the Minotaur. However, once in the labyrinth it was almost impossible to find the way out again. Princess Ariadne devised a cunning plan to save her love from a certain death. This involved a simple length of thread which Theseus could unravel as he navigated the labyrinth. By following the thread after he had slain the Minotaur he could find his way back into his world.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Supported by UCA.

For one evening only, artist Korinna McRobert will be screening her film ReFraming (68 minutes) on Saturday 6th April from 6pm - 9pm.

The event will be preceded by a short reception with wine and nibbles before the screening at 6.30pm, followed by a Q&A and discussion.

The film was shot in Cyprus. The work is compiled of a series of site-specific performances, documented and cut to make a continuous film. I worked with friend and filmmaker Emilie Kengmo Chappatte in the production and edited the film in Dover, during a one-month residency-internship in July 2012 with Dover Arts Development (DAD), as part of DAD’s War & Peace programme.

Korinna explains:
The film focuses on the rape I experienced in my teens and is a performative and filmic exploration of trauma using visual and oral dialogue, from a female standpoint. The film suggests multiple parallels between invasion and rape: the act of controlling and taking what is not given, whether it is a body, land, resources or spiritual identity.

When I conceived the idea of this piece I was troubled by family, as a theme, as an institution, as a general set-up, as well as my personal one. The piece uses only domestic materials, even ‘home-video’ cameras, to create the tapestry that was the confrontation of abuse within that context.

As well as the clear therapeutic aspect of the activity, a clear creative process emerged, an exchange between two women in dialogue over a very common but also rarely expressed female experience.

“For me a liberating journey. Working together as artists and close friends allowed for the trust and spontaneity which gave me the freedom to use the camera as an extension of myself and to thus enter the intimacy of Korinna’s performances. Doing so, for me, led to the disintegration of a barrier between camera and performer, which will hopefully translate to a similar experience for audience members encountering this film.” – Emilie Kengmo Chappatte

http://www.korinnamcrobert.com/work/reframing.html

Opening Night: Friday 22nd March, 6.00pm - 8.00pm
Open: Saturday 23rd - Sunday 24th March, 12.00 noon - 5.00pm

Crate is pleased to support a UCA student curatorial project

What meaning can be assigned to the application of lipstick? Many women leave a visible trace of themselves behind each time they blot their lipstick on a tissue. Do all women perform the action of applying lipstick in the same way? Why do we do it? Who do we do it for? Is the application of lipstick itself a sensual act? The names of lipstick colours themselves can be evocative. What does your choice of lipstick say about you? These are some of the questions that are posed by this project.

Through a variety of media the artists hope to stimulate some interesting conversations among the audience on the subject of lipstick. Therefore this show is seen as the midpoint to establishing a deeper understanding of this beauty ritual.

Shades is a collaborative exchange of artists' research by Eleanore Carlson, Joan Hobson and Sara Kayes. The artists welcome you to the conversation.

Margate Photo Festival at various locations in Margate including CRATE. See the MPF website for more details: www.margatephotofest.co.uk