'One-Off Factory': design exhibitions in Sunderland 'Decompression Chamber'

One-Off Factory: design exhibitions in Sunderland
Across Sunderland as part of Design Event 07, galleries are collaborating on 'One-Off Factory, a series of design exhibitions revealing new commissions by leading designers and artists. Preview: Thursday 11 October 5:00 - 9:00pm 5:00 - 7:00pm National Glass Centre: Mathias Bengtsson Exhibition dates: 6 October - 18 November 2007 Liberty Way, Sunderland, SR6 0Gl 6:00 - 7:30pm Reg Vardy Gallery: N55: 'Without Borders' Exhibition dates: 19 September - 26 October 2007 University of Sunderland, Ashburne House, Ryhope Road, Sunderland SR2 7EF 6:45 - 9:00pm Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens: 'Design4Science' Exhibition dates: 15 September - 28 October 2007 Burdon Road Sunderland SR1 1PP 7:00 - 9:00pm Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art: 'Decompression Chamber' Exhibition dates: 12 October - 17 November 2007 City Library and Arts Centre, Fawcett Street, Sunderland SR1 1RE A bus will be available to take visitors between venues at the following times: 5:00 and 5:30pm from Fawcett Street (outside the NGCA) to the National Glass Centre 6:15 and 6:30pm from the National Glass Centre to the Reg Vardy Gallery 6:45 and 7:00pm from the Reg Vardy Gallery to the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens and NGCA 8:45 and 9:00pm from NGCA to Newcastle Central Station
'Decompression Chamber' Exhibition dates: 12 October - 17 November 2007 Preview: Thursday 11 October 7:00pm - 9:00pm "In our innermost retreat [in] the pleasure of solitude... [we] descend into the most subterranean galleries... [for] a real interruption in our consciousness." Marcel Proust, 'Remembrance of Times Past', 1913-1927 'Decompression Chamber' brings together leading artists and designers who create bespoke micro-structures. Each work is a unique or newly commissioned environment which offers visitors a place for contemplation. Each is also a one-off experiment - a prototype in which new ideas are tested for the first time. Visitors are invited to enter the spaces - which are, in the words of one designer, a 'temple for one'. By enclosing or enveloping us, the environments become either protective or claustrophobic; they offer sensations of intimacy, and sometimes intimidation. By providing a personal refuge in which we are cocooned and isolated, the spaces act as vehicles for transporting us to another place.
Mathias Bengtsson's works are extraordinary bespoke experiments in sculptural furniture, which adapt industrial processes to create astonishing objects. Bengtsson presents a newly commissioned shimmering monolithic 'table' whose mercurial, fluid form resembles molten, bubbling metal. Read Essay		Mathais Bengtsson, 'rendering forsun carbon fibre bridge', 2007
Andrew Chadwick's new work 'Shelter' adapts the modular geometry of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome to create an igloo for one - a retreat from the world in which the individual feels cocooned. 'Shelter' offers a space in which to expand our consciousness and feel protected; it is a space designed to offer peace of mind. Read Essay		Andrew Chadwick, 'Shelter', 2007
Jonathan K Holden Jonathan K Holden's project 'Tin Gods' is a fictional company set up to provide complementary therapies in specially designed isolation chambers. In 'Decompression Chamber' Holden reveals a prototype machine for viewers to undergo 'therapy' by lying inside a steel and aluminium cell. Read Essay		Jonathan K Holden: 'Tin Gods' 2007
Max Lamb will create a new room-sized installation of what he calls "sitting caves" - small spaces for individuals to sit and rest in isolation. Carved from monumental slabs of polystryene Lamb's playful installation invites individuals to sit or lie down in irregularly shaped spaces where ground, wall and floor melt together. Read Essay		Max Lamb, 'Direct Carving', 2007
Lee McCormack presents the second generation of the Oculas capsule. Since 2005 McCormack has been working with McLaren Applied Technologies to engineer every detail of the Oculas so that the user enters a unique immersive environment. The Oculas is, as McCormack remarks, "a place to work and play, a place to dream, stimulate your senses, your personal sanctuary: to imagine the impossible." Read Essay		Lee McCormack, 'Oculas', 2007
Yuko Minamide's commissioned work 'House/Bed' is a self-contained capsule for living, where the owner/user lies facedown to gaze into a monitor revealing contemplative imagery; Miramide adapts almost primal forms associated with protection and shelter to create a chamber which is both isolating and comforting. Read Essay		Yuko Minamide, 'Bed/House', 2007
Hill Jephson Robb's new work is a room-scale "three-dimensional painting": a freestanding space painted deep ultramarine blue on every surface. Once inside, the viewer encounters a concaved platform to lie inside: a 2m-diameter perfect circular form. Robb creates a sense of infinite space, immersing the viewer in colour. Read Essay		Hill Jephson Robb, 'Temple', 2005
Commissions by Andrew Chadwick, Yuko Minamide and Hill Jephson Robb supported by Design Event 07. Commission by Max Lamb supported by Design Event 07 and Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation. Commission by Mathias Bengtsson supported by Design Event 07, Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation and Arts Council England.
'One-Off Factory' is part of this year's Design Event, the North East's annual design festival taking place from 11-28 October 2007. Now in its third year, Design Event 07 includes exhibitions covering graphics, fashion, furniture, film and product design at a host of venues across the region. Design Event 07 is part of the Dott 07 (Designs of the time 2007) year-long programme of community projects, events and exhibitions. www.design-event.co.uk 'One-Off Factory' is supported by Arts Council England; works by Mathias Bengtsson and Max Lamb also supported by Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation.