The most outstanding exhibition I have seen recently is Heather Phillipson’s RUPTURE NO 1: BLOWTORCHING THE BITTEN PEACH, which just ended on January 23rd, 2022 at Tate Britain.
In her words, she has transformed “the spaces as a sequence of charged ecosystems, maladaptive seasons, and rediscovered lifeforms.” This is “alive in a parallel time-zone.” “Mutant creatures, built from technological remains, inhabit the space.” As I see from the exhibition, mutant creatures constructed from technological remains populated the space, creating a variety of sensations and associations that are difficult to categorize. Just as she describes, she’s attempting to “cultivate strangeness, and its potential to generate ecstatic experience”.
As you can see from some of these photographs that I took during my visit, Heather did a remarkable job of converting different parts of a machine and technological waste into various life forms that are reminiscent of the wild animals found on Earth. Meanwhile, with the help of digital media, lighting effects and sounding effects, she gives the visitors a uniquely immersive experience that allows them to think thoroughly about the whole design theme whether they have any design or artistic backgrounds or not.
I also believe Heather Phillipson’s RUPTURE NO 1: BLOWTORCHING THE BITTEN PEACH belongs to one of the biggest design movements that arose in the 21st century, Dadaism and Neo Dadaism, which is a means of rejecting the traditional and embracing the strange and the absurd. According to Heather, her art involves the collision of wildly different images, media, and materials. As she said, “through multiple and unexpected combinations, I invent absurd and complex systems.” Although she did not mention the movement behind her work description, it was evident that she is very passionate about its philosophy.
In its unique way, the exhibition brings a sense of familiarity and strangeness together. In light of those familiar with wild nature and ecology, the replacement of it by machinery causes visitors to wonder whether this is only a fantasy in another parallel time, as Heather claims, or whether it is a future reality. Since the industrial revolution, humans have consumed increasingly more natural resources. This includes mining the mountains, destroying rainforests, creating pollution and greenhouse gases, and spilling oil over the ocean, among other practices. This behaviour has resulted in a hazardous environment for other species as well, specifically wild animals. Someday, perhaps the kinds of wild animals we will see in the future will be those that aren’t afraid of pollution at all. Possibly, they will be as strong as the imaginary animals in Heather’s exhibition. We may also see robotic animals in the future as human technology evolves and artificial intelligence advances. It may not be so absurd after all that Heather’s imagined world is.
It is my natural state as a designer to combine two or more abstract ideas or concepts together to create something new, and Heather’s concept behind the exhibition also inspires me in that respect. Although there is a separation between nature and machinery, Heather has been able to merge the two abstract concepts to create a parallel universe through her design vision. I believe that this principle also applies to interior design. This is because we are often required to combine two or more concepts and ideas when designing an interior space for a client. For example, through our final project in Unit 1, we were to consider the client’s profile, interest in collections, professionals, and site location during the initial design process. Combining two opposing concepts or ideas can often result in an unexpected outcome.
To conclude, I believe Heather has done an outstanding job with this exhibition. Moreover, I believe that art and design should be more accessible to people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. Despite the fact that art does not have to always be so profound, it can have depth and meaning (or none at all), but it does not have to be so difficult to understand for those without formal artistic training. As a result, after visiting the exhibition, I was able to understand Heather’s work through her perspective while acquiring a critical and diverse design mindset that will be incredibly beneficial for my design journey moving forward.
References:
Tate, Tate Britain Commission: Heather Phillipson: Rupture no 1: Blowtorching the bitten peach – exhibition at Tate Britain. Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/heather-phillipson [Accessed February 25, 2022].
Hoins, M., 2016. “Neo-dadaism”: Absurdist humor and the millennial generation. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@meganhoins/neo-dadaism-absurdist-humor-and-the-millennial-generation-f27a39bcf321 [Accessed February 25, 2022].
Hoins, M., 2016. “Neo-dadaism”: Absurdist humor and the millennial generation. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@meganhoins/neo-dadaism-absurdist-humor-and-the-millennial-generation-f27a39bcf321 [Accessed February 25, 2022].