Searching The Line Exhibition at Filter4

Event Dates: 
13 May, 2017 - 18:00 - 27 May, 2017 - 22:00

Filter4 is a wonderful exhibition space: a former slow filter plant and water reservoir located on the Bruderholz in Basel. The building was constructed during the years 1903 - 1905 by architects Vischer & Fueter. It is now used as a unique space for exhbitions and performances. It can get quite cool in the venue, especially in the evening, so take a jacket with you.

Drawing Connections is a group of artists who have chosen to work collaboratively through the medium of drawing as a way to challenge both their individual practices and fixed notions of what we might consider drawing. The ambition is to present a far-reaching study of how artists communicate and collaborate and to offer a new frontier that broadens expectations and understanding of what contemporary drawing can be.

This collaborative approach embodies Mario Mertz’s statement “Today cooperation is a pre-eminent element for human possibilities. At the time of Romanticism, a mark was enough to present in the world, but today co-operation is one of the most necessary of human possibilities.”

In ‘Searching the Line’, collaborative work resulting from partnerships and alliances within the Drawing Connections group unfold alongside pieces of work from the artists’ individual practices. The hope is that this approach allows a deeper insight into the themes that emerge when distinct individual narratives are brought together with the objective of opening up new possibilities and opportunities.

One of the current concerns of Drawing Connections is whether traditional drawing materials need to be involved at all in the collaboration for it to be considered a ‘drawing collaboration’; mark making can be made through placing objects in space or throwing light from a projector. But by broadening definitions of drawing, does the resulting diversity of work produced by the artists in this group not simply reflect the concerns of mixed disciplines rather than those specifically concerning ‘drawing’? Should traditional drawing matter?

This exhibition offers a platform for drawing in its expanded forms, encompassing a broad range of experimental and traditional media in an extraordinary space. The disused water reservoir, Filter4, in Bruderholz, Basel, provides fertile ground for dialogue about contemporary drawing, and an ideal setting for this experimental show.

Participating artists: Balint Bolygo, Bethe Bronson, Elaine Brown, Chris Cawkwell, Darragh Gallagher, Lucy Valente Pereira, Paul Ridyard, Nicki Rolls, Angelika Steiger, Deb Whitney, Nell Whitney

 

When: 13 - 27 May 2017

Vernissage: Sat 13 May 2017, 18:00 - 22:00

Finissage: Sat 27 May 2017, open from 16:00, Finissage from 18:00 - 22:00

Opening Hours: Fridays and Saturdays 16:00 - 20:00 / Sundays 13:00 - 18:00 / Thu 25 May 16:00 - 20:00

 

Where: Filter4, Eingang Reservoirstrasse, 4059 Basel

Take tram 16 to Jakobsberg - it's about 5 minutes' walk from there