Gravity : Beauty

Gravity is a cross-disciplinary research project in Fine Art at Sheffield Institute of the Arts (SIA) in partnership with Sheffield Galleries and Museums. Gravity is led by Penny McCarthy, Dr Becky Shaw and Andrew Sneddon. Gravity begins with a series of lectures designed to examine the wider context of practice and discourse.

Gravity examines the contemporary condition of the art object or artefact, and the relations between maker, medium, site of production and systems of dissemination. Following the legacy of socially engaged art practices that unravelled the social ingredients of any object, the enchantment of objects continues to affect us. As our lives are increasingly mediated by the digital world of text and image, we appreciate the value of how something is crafted and made - the pleasure of touch.

For the academic year 2010—2011 Gravity offers a programme that is shaped by a range of artistic practices that use different approaches to these ideas. Artists, writers and makers have been invited to discuss this complex emotional and theoretical territory. Speakers such as Jeremy Deller, Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Edmund de Waal Lubaina Himid MBE, David Batchelor have selected objects that have meaning or resonance for them in the context of their work in order to open up associative and imaginative possibilities for the audience. Each of these objects will be the catalyst for a strand of research. The fabric and construction of the objects will subsequently be studied in order to produce a replica. This will set up a collaboration that may involve scientists, engineers, bio-medical practitioners, conservation experts, historians and other specialists from a broad spectrum.

Gravity will develop an archive of information documenting the particular processes involved in the production of these ‘replicas’. The research will be documented in the form of notes, diagrams and images to build a repository of information about the project. The project will also produce a collection of distinct objects in the form of scale models or replicas.

Gravity presents an excellent opportunity to develop cross-disciplinary conversations so the guest lectures are open to a wide public audience including specialist scholars in curating, archaeology, history and social sciences. Focussing on what unites disciplines through the examination of the object will generate new research, which may be shaped by its Sheffield heritage.