BEXHILL ON SEA.- To coincide with the London 2012 Olympic Games, Film and Video Umbrella and
De La Warr Pavilion present four newly commissioned moving image artworks on the theme of sporting excellence. Working in collaboration with top athletes and scientists, internationally acclaimed artists Dryden Goodwin, susan pui san lok, Roderick Buchanan and Matthew Cornford and David Cross all consider the state of being in the zone - the way in which athletes achieve a heightened sense of performance in which body and mind are operating in unison, at maximum impact and with optimum flow. Everything Flows: The art of getting in the zone opens at the De La Warr Pavilion on 30 June 2012 and admission is free.
Dryden Goodwins immersive single-screen projection piece, Poised focuses on the grace and balance of young divers and is filmed at Crystal Palace Swimming Pool. For this commission, Goodwin has worked with dance scientist Elsa Bradley. Goodwins practice encompasses drawing, installation, video, photography and sound, and his work is held in the collections of Tate and The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
susan pui san loks work titled Lightness centres on the pole vault. A multi-faceted portrait of Olympic hopeful Kate Dennison, it also features young athletes from Lea Valley Athletics Centre. For the piece, lok has worked with scientist in residence for Rambert Dance Company, and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Cambridge University, Nicky Clayton. Working across installation, moving image, sound, performance and text, lok has been exhibiting and publishing nationally and internationally since the 1990s.
Roderick Buchanan is working with hockey and basketball teams for his new video and photographic installation, Memory Drill, which explores team spirit and collective efficacy. Working in collaboration with sports scientist Dr David Shearer from the University of Glamorgan on this new commission, Buchanan works in the fields of installation, film and photography. Born in Glasgow, where he continues to live and work, he has exhibited across the globe, with solo shows in Britain, France, India, Canada and Sweden.
British artists Matthew Cornford and David Cross have been in dialogue with Dr Richard Ramsey from the school of Psychology at Bangor University to explore the idea of positive association and the elimination of negative imagery, a technique employed by sportspeople of all disciplines. Cornford & Cross met at St Martins School of Art in 1987 and have worked collaboratively ever since. Their work is based on interacting with diverse groups of people that to date have ranged from architects, aviators, chemists, computer scientists and economists.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of talks, events and workshops offering an insight into the creative process of each of the artists, illuminating the biomedical science behind the work, and providing an opportunity for audiences to find out more.
Everything Flows is commissioned and curated by Film and Video Umbrella and De La Warr Pavilion. Supported by The Wellcome Trust and Arts Council England.