Apophenia

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12th - 21st October 2012
Cardiff
group show curated by Sara Annwyl

Apophenia is a mental health condition where people feel a compulsion to connect random things and events together in order to make meaning. The premise of this exhibition was an exploration of the condition. The selected artists had shown together once previously, but our practices and concerns are seemingly quite disparate. Interestingly a conceptual cohesion emerged amongst the work shown.

One of my current interests is how the act of waiting can be mentally transporting. This is part of my ongoing interest in Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia or 'other spaces'. Heterotopia refers to physical and mental space. For this exhibition, I showed a film of people entering, waiting and exiting a simulated waiting room. This was sited next to the invigilator of the show. The piece comprised of the film, invigilator and viewer waiting for something to happen in the film.

Every Exit is an Entrance Somewhere Else (2012)
Invigilator, chair, film, monitor, table

Matt Humphries showed a film of his deaf and going blind father waiting.

Jo Berry showed a beautiful painting of a scan of an empty womb.

Sara Annwyl showed CCTV footage of her dead father being arrested by the police, and a book her father had once owned.

Zoe Gingell showed a feather under a spotlight, a signifier of her dead father.
Photo Josh Leeson.