‘Straylight Cavern’ provided a rare opportunity to see a selection of works within strict curatorial confines. Richard Priestley, Cell Project Space’s curator, has an approach of real dictatorship of the space in which selected artists exhibit. ‘Straylight Cavern’ is comprised of an elaborate low-fi construction that seems to mimic an icy cave or space most likely visited by William Shatner (built by Milika Murita- co director of the project space). A hunched journey to the centre of the ‘cave’ saw a range of media of work. The space was ‘fun’ (as described by Eloise) but perhaps not the most susceptible for artistic engagement. The accessibility of Plessas and Rozendaal’s work with it being live on the Internet provided a quite nice contradiction to the confinement of the gallery space. The other work I felt less enthused about.
Being a ten-person group show the exhibition felt an obvious choice when considering the nature of a group project. I went to the Cell space with thoughts surrounding group shows and collaborations, the differences and possible cross-overs. The works share themes of existence in other dimensions, be it looking like other planetary matter or existing digitally. They are brought together through selection rather than collaborative working. The curatorial input however seemed to force a form of collaborative element not between the artists particularly but with the curator himself. I felt each piece didn’t work individually and had to be viewed as part of the whole installation. Priestley has been described a ‘questioning authorship’, an idea that really comes across. I very rapidly forgot that it was a ten person show and instead viewed it as a solo exhibition. The impact of imposing such a space on exhibiting artists is for me the most interesting part of ‘Straylight Cavern’.
By Michael Farrell
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