Lost & Found Present: Graham Hudson & The Centre of Attention

Exhibitions

27 November 2009 - 10 January 2010

Milton Keynes Gallery hosted an exhibition curated by Lost & Found, a group of young artists, designers, writers and musicians who have been working with Milton Keynes Gallery over the past three years, as part of its Big Lottery Funded Young People’s Project.

Lost & Found invited artists Graham Hudson and The Centre of Attention to use the Gallery as a site of production rather than simply for the presentation of objects. Visitors therefore became directly involved in the development and realisation of the evolving exhibition.

In the Cube Gallery, The Centre of Attention (Pierre Coinde and Gary O’Dwyer) presented an installation called Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft [community and society], which refers to a book by German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies. The installation included functional, everyday objects occasionally sourced from the Gallery’s offices and workshops. It invited visitors to make an artistic judgement or statement by making changes to the work (such as adding, moving, editing or combining elements). In the Middle Gallery, The Centre of Attention hosted the Lost & Found curators within a formal office environment where they organised events and produced printed matter during the course of the exhibition.

Artist Graham Hudson was in residence in the Long Gallery from 23 November to 1 December. He constructed a new work called A considerable extension in time and an insignificant extension in space formed around a multi-levelled framework of scaffolding and pallets with TV monitors, record players, strip lighting and other objects from the Gallery’s ‘behind the scenes’. Hudson used the Gallery like a studio space, so that his working process became visible to the public, who were able to interact with the work.

“…a studio visit is always more interesting than the same artist’s gallery show – psychologically we’ve got to close that gap – and so open up new space”.

Graham Hudson in interview with curator Vincent Honore

“All that art tries to make invisible we transform into art.” The Centre of Attention

“Over the last few years, Milton Keynes Gallery has served as an incubator for energetic and enthusiastic young people who are exploring career possibilities and personal development in the arts. This exhibition follows on from a number of successful film screenings, performances and events and provides Lost & Found with the major challenge of producing an exhibition of contemporary art from its conception to its delivery.” Anthony Spira, Director, Milton Keynes Gallery