ISH #6

Open doors
18th – 20th Nov 14:00 – 18:00
Vernissage
Sat 21st Nov 19:00 – 21:00
Exhibition
24th – 30th Nov inc. (Except Sun 29th) 12:00 – 18:00

Mathilde du Sordet
– Archi Troyenne

From 18th Nov through to the 30th Nov 2009 the artist Mathilde du Sordet will occupy The Institute of Social Hypocrisy. During this period she will construct and exhibit an installation directly in response to the ideas at the core of the Institute.
The exhibition will open on Sat 21st Nov, but from the 18th Nov the public will be invited to visit the space, to be part of the installation process and to have the opportunity to discuss the work with the artist. An important aspect of this event is to partly demystify the art process and to engage others in the procedure in order to eliminate any sense of prejudice and prejudgement.

Mathilde du Sordet uses a section of ancient text written by the naturalist Pliny the Elder as a reference for the piece. It describes a small octopus-like sea creature, the Paper Nautilus, which lives in a protective shell. This text serves as an allegory for the shell that is both the ISH and the Archi Toyenne installation.
Initial and ongoing discussions between The ISH and the artist brought about a fusing of these two independent units for this event; a temporary combining forces to a mutually beneficial end.
Mathilde du Sordet works closely with recovered materials and was invited in to interpret the Institute’s ideas of hypocrisy and concealment, to bring an external dimension to the concepts already laid down and to develop, in conjunction with ISH, a piece which would become part of the ISH story.

Her installation will consist of a series of loosely associated elements, which closely examine the relationship between the surface and a hidden interior.
The viewer is invited to see through the external structure in order to reveal the interiority of the work. This revelation allows the viewer to become intimately connected to the object and the stories that are woven therein.

“Among the principal miracles of nature,” says Pliny, “is the animal called nautilus, or pompilos. It ascends to the surface of the sea in a supine posture, and gradually raising itself up, forces out, by means of its tube, all the water from the shell, in order that it may swim the more readily; then throwing back the two foremost arms, it displays between them a membrane of wonderful tenuity, which acts as a sail, while with the remaining arms it rows itself along; the tail in the middle acting as a hem to direct its course: and thus it pursues its voyage; and if alarmed by any appearance of danger, takes in the water an descends.”

Les Mystères de l'Océan by Arthur Mangin, 1868

French text Click here