PLANTWORKS: A Factory As It Might Be
5 April – 21 May 2017
William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow
Stairwell and Story Lounge
A site-specific intervention of cardboard plant-machines and 2d counterparts.
PLANTWORKS stems from a re-imagining of A Factory As It Might Be – William Morris’s vision for how beautiful factories would act as centres of education and creativity – and is influenced by Victorian science fiction, botanical models and bio-inspired technology.
PLANTWORKS will be accompanied by a publication with commissioned essay by Esther Leslie, and a series of events at William Morris Gallery, including a symposium on Saturday 13 May 2017.
Artist Talk/Exhibition Tour
Sunday 16 April, 2pm (Please note this date has changed from 23rd)
FREE. All welcome, no booking required.
PLANTWORKS SYMPOSIUM
Saturday 13 May 2017, 10am – 2pm
William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow
Free admission. Please book in advance for this event. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
The event is open to all, although it is restricted to a maximum of 40 people.
Presentations and discussion exploring Morris’s relationship with industry through the lenses of nature and landscape, technology and utopia; plants, production and time; and biomimetics.
Presentations and speakers include:
Infernal Machines? William Morris, Technology and Utopia
Dr Will Abberley, Lecturer in Victorian Literature, University of Sussex
This talk will explore Morris’s complex attitude to machines.
Plants, Production and Time
Esther Leslie, Professor of Political Aesthetics, Birkbeck, University College London
This contribution considers the plant as a generator of form and forms that link in peculiar ways to time and industry.
An Introduction to Biomimetics
Professor Andrew Parker, Biomimetics Expert
An introduction to biomimetics, illustrated with fascinating case studies, notably including designs of photonic devices found in nature.
Landscapes of Industry
Dr Matt Thompson, Head Collections Curator for English Heritage
This presentation looks at the ways in which industry began to be portrayed by artists in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.
Plantworks: A Factory As It Might Be
Clare Mitten, Artist
Clare will cover the development of her project Plantworks and will explore some of the key ideas and themes in the making of the new three-dimensional models and their two-dimensional counterparts installed at the William Morris Gallery
Paul Rosenbloom, (Chair), Artist
Paul has exhibited work based on fossils in several Natural History Museums, including London, Cambridge, Oslo and Cardiff.
Plantworks Drinks Reception and Book Launch
Saturday 13 May 2017, 3 – 5pm
The symposium will be followed by refreshments and launch of the project publication, with commissioned essay by Esther Leslie, on Saturday 13 May, 15:00 – 17:00 in the Acanthus Room.
Plantworks is generously funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts with additional support from Bow Arts Trust and William Morris Gallery.
Please visit my blog for further information and updates on the development of the project: www.claremitten.blogspot.co.uk
