Experimental exhibition unveiled

A Teesside University Fine Art student and graduate are involved in a new experimental art exhibition, StaticFlux, which is popping up in unused office space in Middlesbrough.

Static Flux, showcasing work by Tees Valley artists, Stephen Irving and Roberto Picciau, can be seen from November 26 to 30 at the First Floor of Navigator North, based at Dundas House, Dundas Street. The exhibition has been curated by AndNow Curatorial, a curatorial collaborative established in 2013 by two art museum and gallery studies graduates, Helen Robertson and Kimberley Gaiger. AndNow Curatorial is working with mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) through the mima Visual Art Bursary Programme and is being professionally mentored by staff at Teesside University.

StaticFlux aims to engage artists from the Tees Valley region at different stages in their practice, creating a platform for them to take a step back from their studio space, test work and ideas to further develop their practice.

It will also be the first time Helen and Kimberley have collaborated under AndNow Curatorial. The exhibition will also enable the young curators to develop their curatorial practice after graduating from their masters in a professional context.

About the artists:

Stephen Irving is currently studying for an MA in Fine Art at Teesside University. He has been an artist for over ten years. His art practice is strongly cemented within the ideas of experimentation. He is often more interested in the process of creating an artwork as much as, if not more, the final piece.

His work is influenced by the urban environment, from street art to urban exploration, the pursuit of finding beauty in the unbeautiful. Most of his work focuses on the use of mixed media, digital manipulation and creating work from up-cycled objects. The exhibition will allow him to develop ideas associated with his first MA project based around the title of Proximity.

Roberto Picciau, who graduated from the BA Fine Art at Teesside University in 2012, reconfigures different materials, pushing them in different directions to create something new. His practice consists of a repetition of manipulating different materials, creating an assembly of obscure appropriations. He often uses everyday materials in his work, such as magazines, pencils and paper, using them in a way which dissolves the associations we attach to them. This exhibition will create a platform for Picciau to present and develop some of his work in progress.

Dates: Wednesday 26 November - exhibition preview Thursday 27 November - Static part of the exhibition, 10.00am to 5.30pm Saturday 29 November - Flux part of the exhibition, 10.00am to 5.30pm Sunday 30 November - Flux continued, 11.00am to 4.00pm.

The exhibition comes at an exciting time as mima has transferred into Teesside University. The show will aim to strengthen this partnership further.

Navigator North is an arts organisation which initiate activities to raise the public awareness of artists, artworks and creative practice, stimulating dialogue, interaction and engagement between artists and the public.

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