ESSEX, UK.-The University of Essex Gallery presents More than meets the eye, on view through June 25, 2005. This is an exhibition exploring the everyday interventions of contemporary word-art. Words function in our culture as vehicles of communication. Everyone uses words in some form everyday but we tend to take them for granted. Words install powerful emotions in a person and provoke varied reactions.

This exhibition will explore how a subtle expression or act of communication can often wield more power than the loudest of cries. The artworks on show display subtle statements, messages or expressions and play with slight and simple changes in everyday situations. These messages will come from different voices - political, humorous, self-questioning – as diverse and individual as the audience will be.

The show will reach beyond the boundaries of the gallery by using interventions such as projections, wall graphics and a fly-poster project which will subtly confront an unassuming audience with messages which they may or may not understand straight away, but will create intrigue and curiosity. To allow for active visitor involvement in the topic, the gallery will become an open, discursive and engaging environment with a resource area and audio stations, complementing the artwork on display.

The exhibition will include works by Laurie Anderson, Charlotte Bernstein, Douglas Gordon, Jenny Holzer, Mark Hutchinson, Maurizio Nannucci and David Shrigley. In addition there will be works personally installed around the campus by Fiona Macalister and Tomas Vanek.