Microcosm

AN EXHIBITION CURATED BY MARY HACKETT & ANGELA ROSSITTO
PART OF CRAFT CONTEMPORARY

16—31 October 2021
Gallery window–134 & 136 High Street, Preston

In times of lockdown our homes become the centre of our universe and, every so often, can feel very small and too familiar. Bachelard, in The Poetics of Space, states that the first world we come to know is the house. Smallness, for Bachelard, can be enticing to the point where ‘seeing the miniature (especially when enlarged) is like seeing the world anew’.

The group exhibition, Microcosm, uses a term derived from Greek meaning small world, to prompt rediscovering and reinvestigating overlooked or underused nooks and crannies. Microcosm delves into the wondrousness that the ‘micro’ can impart, not necessarily enlarged, but framed in a way that draws our attention to it. Miniature to small-scale sculptural and installation works produced in materials ranging from metal to textiles, found objects and electronics will spark curiosity, play and stimulate the imagination. Viewers will preside over this collection of diminutive world-like works as a topographic installation.

Microcosm features the artists Chris Bahng, Alrey Batol, Chelle Destefano, Mary Hackett, Hootan Heydari, Madeleine Minack, Julia Plavina, Jane Frances Reilly, Steven Rendall and Angela Rossitto. Each artist, in their individual practices, work comfortably within the realm of the small to contemplate life as they see it or would like it to be. The aim of Microcosm is to bring the work of these artists together so that the viewer may recognise and marvel in the minute and see the small world of the home, especially during lockdown, with fresh eyes.