Bluecoat, Liverpool’s Centre for the Contemporary Arts, welcomes new exhibition by Louisa Martin
Louisa Martin’s Proxy (Saturday 6 May – Saturday 24 June) is a new installation of choreographed light and sound with an illuminated glass work that sets out to induce a variety of emotional and physiological states in her audience.
Martin’s work explores how external stimuli influences both internal experiences and our ideas about what it means to have a body. In recent years, Martin’s research has focused on atypical experiences of embodiment, and a continued interest in ’pataphysics or the science of imaginary solutions, originated by French playwright Alfred Jarry (1873-1907).
In Proxy, Martin sets out to rethink our understanding of the singular body. With reference to club venues, Martin uses specialist ambient lighting systems synched with audio to create an environment in which individuals sharing the same visceral experiences may form a collective body. Her illuminated glass sign with lines etched into the surface form suggestions of core body parts, making further associations with the convergence of bodies.
The title of the exhibition refers to the way in which the installation acts as a proxy body; an external entity that we can connect with through an empathetic relationship to Martin’s work.
Marie-Anne McQuay, Head of Programme at Bluecoat, said: “We are delighted to welcome Louisa’s exhibition to Bluecoat as a key part of our 300th anniversary programme. Proxy is part of a series of new commissions and installations at Bluecoat, as we continue to work with emerging artists at key stages in their career, including Adham Faramawy, Melissa Gordon and Mary Hurrell.
Louisa Martin is a London-based artist interested in the conditions which structure and produce embodied experience, and how possibilities for altering these conditions might be exercised. Often the focus is on sensorial, affective and sub-linguistic modes, via immersive installations, or involving the apparatus of performance and stagecraft in live performances and videos.
Selected exhibitions include solo exhibitions Technical Rehearsal for a Lossless Body at Cubitt, London (2016), and The Lighthouse at Bloc Projects, Sheffield (2014). Group exhibitions include …at least a provisional way to settle in one place…, Artium and Montehermoso, San Sebastian 2016, Spain, Lossy Ecology at Whitstable Biennale (2016), Behind Glass at OPEN SOURCE Festival, London (2015); On Coping at Auto Italia South East with The Royal Standard, Liverpool (2015); The Everything and Nothing Problem at Jerwood Visual Arts in partnership with Ceri Hand Gallery, London (2013).
Louisa was the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Arts Award in 2015. A book work titled Lossy Ecology was published by Flat Time House in 2017.
More information can be found at www.louisamartin.info and www.lossyecology.technology
Louisa will present a related performance work at Jerwood Visual Arts, on 7th June 2017 as part of the Jerwood Staging Series.