A exhibition of experimental objects and actions by artists and designers from the UK, Switzerland, Hungary, Israel, and the USA.
Simon Blackmore, Attila Csörg?, Jerome Harrington, Michael Kontopoulos, Material Beliefs, Ariel Schlesinger, Roman Signer, Thomas Thwaites, Bill Woodrow and Stuart Walker.

This exhibition is about experimentation and play. It brings together artists with long-established international reputations, alongside recent graduates. What they have in common is a mischievous curiousity about the world around us, and a do-it-yourself approach. They conduct witty low-tech experiments to uncover the enchantment hidden within everyday utilitarian objects. They play around with cause and effect, finding out what will happen if they subject familiar objects to unexpected treatments. They are speculators, investigators, sorcerers, and jokers.

These artists and designers create clownish situations and quirky objects in which physics and poetry collaborate to produce humourous and profound results. There are videos of carefree explosions, a chandelier made from a car door, a domestic toaster constructed from raw materials, a bicycle tyre which burns gas, and a cooperative inflatable.

Experiments involve direct experience through action, rather than passive acceptance and belief. This exhibition encourages us to question our surroundings, to test our assumptions about consumerism and recycling, and to ask what happens if ...?

These artists are all trying out something new. We invite you to join them.

A series of Talks on Art and other events accompany this exhibition. Talks take place on the 9th and 23rd February and the 9th and 23rd March at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £2, for more details visit www.storeygallery.org.uk.

We are also working in partnership with Litfest to provide writing workshops inspired by the exhibition. These will be led by poet Elizabeth Burns Thursday evenings 25 February – 25 March, for more details visit http://www.litfest.org/writing-from-art.html

30 January – 3 April 2010
Tuesday-Saturday 11am-5pm, Thursdays until 8.30pm
Venue: Storey Gallery, Storey Creative Industries Centre, Storey Institute, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1TH.
Email: info [at] storeygallery [dot] org [dot] uk
Tel: +44(0)1524 844133