LONDON.- A thousand-pointed star marks the exciting launch of Teaspoon Projects, a dynamic curatorial initiative dedicated to exploring the intricate layers of contemporary storytelling. An exhibition spanning painting, drawing, video, sculpture and mixed media, alongside a diverse cross-disciplinary programme, A thousand- pointed star is an exploration of the self as a richly woven tapestry, not unchanging and pristine but instead an amalgamation of every thread that has touched us – the lives we’ve intersected with, the impressions we’ve left, and those left upon us.
The exhibition takes its title from Clarice Lispector's novella The Hour of the Star, which explores the fragmented self through storytelling, radical uncertainty, and the tension between glimpsed identity and the barely known. As such, the self, as told through the artists’ various narratives, is not a fixed, hidden pearl. Shaped by countless hands, it is as much a reflection of others as a manifestation of our own instincts, desires, and dreams. A thousand-pointed star runs 11 – 18 February at 67 York Street Gallery.
Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell, Lahkey Dance, 2024. Wet Collodion Tintype, 12.4 x 17.6cm
Exhibiting artists: AlOn, Jacob Clayton, Nina Gonzalez-Park, Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell, Ya Hsuan Hsiao, Jennifer Jones, Eva Merendes, Mariette Moor, Joe Moss, Aliya Orr, Ellie Wyatt, Shinhye You.
As a human sees a star composed of countless points, so is the self. This intimate installation invites visitors to traverse these points — artist to artist, medium to medium — capturing the star’s radiant, multifaceted essence at a single moment in time. In an age of relentless information, each piece of data we consume, and every interaction, becomes another strand in the complex web of our identities. A thousand pointed star reflects this vast, fluid terrain, capturing the interplay of transient moments, lasting connections, and the intersection of physical and digital impressions that define modern identity.
At its heart, this exhibition delves into the loneliness of the “I” – yet art and literature provide refuge. To share a moment with an artist or writer is to find solace in shared thought: someone else has felt this, someone else has questioned this. Through brushstrokes, materials, words, and sounds, we reach out across our solitude, connecting point to point, soul to soul.
Highlights of this exhibition lay out a broad scope of themes and mediums, from the traditional craftsmanship of working in clay, bronze or textiles, to experimental film, multidisciplinary installations and snow globes. In Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell’s work, for example, the artist’s dual heritage of Caribbean and Nepalese is explored through the vision of the masked figure, inspired both by practises of masquerade and mask- making in the Caribbean and also The Lahkey, the Nepalese folkloric figure celebrated in Hindu street festivals. By such traditions, you count the masks you have worn to date, how many you have let go, how many you have collected anew. The roles you have worn, or been enveloped by, or become, and the fictions you carry. In a similar vein, Ya Hsuan Hsiao’s ‘snow globes’ situates London beside Taiwan, with facets of both cultures fusing. Figures within look across from their realm to the next. We consider notions of Heaven and Hell, of underworld and over-world. Western ways and beliefs beyond the waters, all the way to East Asia.
Jennifer Jones’ work zooms in from the cultural to the atomic: family. Looking at her embroidered tartan skirt and handwritten notation, you think of grandfathers, grandmothers, all the families and friendships born into, and those chosen. Embroidered with a family photo, childhood memories come, hazy. A floral pattern seems to allude to a horticultural scene, a grandmother’s garden – grounded in the idea of home, but also the notion of rose-tinting. We question how we choose to convey and remember a narrative, a person, a life – across generations.
Joe Moss, Jump, 2024. Video (02:30)
Joe Moss presents video piece Jump alongside a new mosaic work, Clipping Figures, created specifically for this exhibition. Jump (2024) is concerned with fiction and world building. As the duration of the video progresses it reveals the mechanics of its own making through special effects and sound design, asking the viewer to reposition their relationship to the ‘edges’ of the fiction at play. The video culminates in the protagonist jumping beyond the frame. It is for the audience to decide the nature of the place in which they land. Much like Yves Klein’s Leap into the Void, the video ends on a “point of departure”. Alongside, Clipping Figures (2025) depicts three overlapping avatars, merging the digital and historical through a Roman Gallic style presentation of 3D modelled, clipping portraits. The piece critiques the notion that contemporary aesthetics are solely defined by hyper-futurism. Instead, it argues that recomposition defines the present moment, where eras converge within the information stream. This convergence creates a singular cultural experience, recomposing the old into something new. In particular, the work considers this in relation to contemporary understandings of the self. Through the lens of CAD software and video game character- creation screens, the work reflects how the digital avatar reshapes traditional understandings of the self in a historical trajectory, echoing the transition of fantasy from Tolkien-esque worlds to the Metaverse and Memoji.
A thousand-pointed star strives to set a tone for all events to come from Teaspoon Projects, an initiative which combines visual arts and literature through pop-up exhibitions in London, celebrating contemporary storytelling across mediums, and encouraging audience participation through curated events. Inspired by French writer and filmmaker Georges Perec, in particular his novel Life: A User’s Manual, Teaspoon Projects also takes its name from this text, which unfolds as one radical act of attention: “Question your teaspoons.”
Georges Perec's phrase, like this exhibition, is an invitation to be considerate of the ordinary, and to question habitual actions. Understanding the complexity and messiness of life, it urges us to look beyond simple answers and to instead focus on the questions that exist in the footnotes of the everyday – all of which weave the complex and nuanced fabric of being human.
As part of every Teaspoon Projects exhibition, there will be a curated library installed for all to explore. Books included in the library for A thousand-pointed star include: Life in the Folds by Henri Michaux; I Have More Souls Than One by Fernando Pessoa; and Stories by Susan Sontag.
A thousand-pointed star will also feature an accompanying text written by Lu Rose Cunningham, writer, curator and co-lead at Wild Pansy Press Writers’ Room.
Founded in London in 2024, Teaspoon Projects is a dynamic curatorial initiative dedicated to exploring the intricate layers of contemporary storytelling. Embracing the enigmatic and the elliptical, it creates spaces where emerging and diverse artistic voices converge, fostering dialogue that transcends boundaries and resists easy resolution. Through ephemeral pop-ups and multifaceted programming, Teaspoon Projects delves into the interplay between art and life, amplifying the subtle threads and undercurrents that shape our shared and individual experiences. By cultivating a resonance of unanswered questions, it invites audiences to engage deeply with the evolving narratives of our time.
