Vertical Realities: Formation, Triptych

Vertical realties was a series of interdisciplinary events exploring the poetics of verticality held at Robinson College, Cambridge University curated by Simone Kotva (Cambridge University) with new works by Paul Williamson and Thomas Hewitt Jones (music), Robin Kirkpartick (poetry and sermon) and Sue Henderson (visual art). Other academic contributors of readings and presentations are listed in the program notes attached. Though verticality has thus been the subject of numerous isolated enquiries, wide ranging dialogue is only a recent phenomenon; and it was the ambition of this project to extend the awareness of inter-disciplinary resources to be had from an investigation of verticality as a shared aesthetic. My exhibition Formation, Triptych presented thirteen large scale ink paintings made as a site specific installation for the Robinson College chapel from 14 – 22 January. Artworks explored visual ideas of verticality influenced by the perceptions of a rock climber experiencing vertical cliff formations with the physicality of paintings interacting with the architecture of the chapel. Marks suggesting cliff formations and aerial landscapes with the kinetic and expressive qualities of ink aimed to reflect a climbers intimate, temporal and sensory encounter. The Formation, Triptych installation aimed to extend and experiment with the familiar gallery format and extend pictorial conventions. The exhibition was accompanied by program notes/ catalogue essay authored by myself and included an artists talk. This project proposed to investigate the vertical as aesthetic trope and creative motivator in art, literature and philosophy through interdisciplinary exchange. This project was supported by Arts and the Environment Research Group small projects grant, University of Tasmania.