temporary stillness

Back in July I stumbled into the gallery space known as Collective, located down an alleyway off Camden High Street. I saw a few interesting bits and pieces by London-based Chinese artists. The exhibition was organised by the creators of ArtGap magazine.

"The Rise and Fall of Matter", the exhibition I saw there today, curated by Caroline Soyez-Petithomme and Tom Trevatt, "loosely aggregates the work of five artists on temporary and unstable grounds". This involves converting the exhibition space into a site for experimentation, where each of five artists has produced new work in various forms - paintings, drawings  and found objects.

As with the ArtGap show in the summer, I once again appreciated the opportunity to step away from the hurly-burly of Camden's noisy roadworks and bustling lunchtime crowds and into a cool, quiet place of where a few moments of unhurried contemplation are possible.

Pneumatic drills, people hurrying back to their offices with boxes of sushi: Camden at lunchtime

Tucked away: Collective takes you out of the lunchtime din

The exhibition, open on Thursdays to Sundays from midday to six p.m. until 6th November, is quite sparse. There are just a dozen pieces from the five artists - Jean-Luc Blanc, Gabriele Beveridge, Emmanuelle Lainé, Clement Rodzielski and Adam Thompson. As my footsteps echoed in the high-ceilinged white room and as I peered at the works on display, I was indeed struck by the precariously temporary appearance of some of them. The found objects arranged on the floor, I assume, can never again be assembled in precisely the same manner once disturbed. So I felt as though I was glimpsing a frozen moment - the point at which the artist had somehow decided that's just right, I'll stop creating now. As with the welcome quiet of the place, this arbitrary freezing of objects into stillness served as an interesting counterpoint to the hustle of commerce on the street outside and right at the core of my own busy day.