…AND ENCOUNTER
by Elena Cologni
curator Eliza Gluckman, assistants Maria Azcoitia and Seana Wilson
Women’s Art Collection (then New Hall Art Collection) at Murray Edwards College of the University of Cambridge
20 October 2017- 7th of January 2018
This was one of the outcomes of the project Seeds of Attachment developed in collaboration with Prof Susan Golombok, then Director of the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, and Dr Robbie Duschinsky Head of the Applied Social Science Group, University of Cambridge.
Exhibition view
Margaret Lowenfeld Mosaic Test
Box (1938) book and record forms (1954)
Courtesy Margaret Lowenfeld Library, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge
339282.580645 Barleycorns Away…
Installation: collages on paper, wooded shelves and fabric
Untitled (Prop) , Plywood and fabric, 100 x 100 x 2 cm closed / 200×300 cm open
During a residency at the Margaret Lowenfeld Library, Centre for Family Research University of Cambridge, to devise a strategy for engagement, artist Elena Cologni developed a nomadic and dialogic sculpture inspired by the Margaret Lowenfeld’s Mosaic Test box and related book (1954). The prop was used in a series of encounters in the city over the period of a year under the umbrella project Seeds of Attachment.
The exhibition … And Encounter marks the conclusion of the project in the UK, and includes the sculpture, together with traces of the process in the form of drawings, collages, and constructions.
Cologni’s artistic research and interdisciplinary approach explored the bond between parent and child, in relation to the experience of place attachment.
While Cologni set out to investigate the emotional, psycho-geographical condition of motherhood, the work also highlighted the crucial role of non-linguistic forms of dialogue at the core of processes of identity construction, and in relation to place.
The exhibition includes traces of the process adopted by the artist and the nomadic dialogic sculpture inspired by the Margaret Lowenfeld’s Mosaic Test box and book (1954), also on view, courtesy of the Lowenfeld Library, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge. The prop was used in a series of encounters in the city over the period of a year under the umbrella project ‘Seeds of Attachment‘.
Also New Hall Collection Curator Eliza Gluckman oversaw Assistant Curators Maria Azcoitia and Seana Wilson selecting works from the collection, specifically to contextualise Cologni’s project into ecofeminism. Looking to ideas of ecology, the mother, place and identity, on display are pieces by Monica Sjoo, Judith Tucker, Mary Cassatt, Celia Paul.
Further material: video essay by Cologni on research background here and 8 minutes interview with Phil Sansom here
Exhibition events include
Nomadic and Dialogic: Art and Ecofeminism, New Hall Collection at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge
20 October 2017
The round table, part of the Festival of Ideas in Cambridge , was chaired by New Hall Curator Eliza Gluckman, with artist Elena Cologni, author Susan Buckingham and Murray Edwards’ fellow Jenny Bavidge. It positions motherhood in relation to ecofeminism, ‘deep’ environmentalism, the caring role devalued in neo-liberal societies, to discuss the space between us, inter-corporeal space, micropolitics and haptic communication. (Edited video recording available here)
Attachment & Intraplaces: Discussing a Nomadic and Dialogic Approach in Spatialized Art Practice, Freud Museum, London
Artist Talk by Elena Cologni introduced by Curator Jamie Reurs on 21 January, 2018
Plate No. 11, Elena Cologni (2017/18), from the series Intraplaces
On the research background of Cologni’s artistic project Seeds of Attachment, which looks into the attachment between parent and child (Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969; Freud, A.,1967) as crucial to place attachment (Seamon, D., 2013). We get attached to a place through our attachment to our family (Gordon Jack, 2010), but how troubling can it be to be detached from a place and our loved ones (Bowlby, 1998)?
Cologni attempts to investigate this through the adoption of a nomadic (Braidotti) and dialogic sculpture though a non-verbal approach, she designed based on the principles of the Margaret Lowenfeld Mosaic Box (1954). Aspects of this process were exhibited at New Hall Art Collection at Murray Edwards College of the University of Cambridge, for which she developed the series ‘Intraplaces’.
Intraplaces: Dialogues without words, Freud Museum, London
Elena Cologni facilitates an active engagement, followed by a discussion with ecofeminist geographer Susan Buckingham, 15 September 2018
Cologni has previously discussed at the Freud Museum the research background of her artistic project ‘Seeds of Attachment’ (2016/18), looking into the attachment between parent and child (Freud, A.,1967; Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969) as crucial to place attachment (Seamon, D., 2013). Cologni brings the dialogic sculpture into the museums gardens to facilitate its activation with participants and to discuss its possible implications with Buckingham. This is done by considering issues of ecology, feminism and place, ad to ground the definition of ‘Intraplaces’.
The active engagement at the Freud Museum concludes a series of encounters in London’s public spaces, the implications of which are then discussed with author Susan Buckingham, whose research and publications address gender and environmental issues.
Museum Curator Jamie Reurs wrote:
Seeds of Attachment is timely because it transcends the difficulties and bypasses issues of misunderstanding. The artwork seems to acknowledge the gendered nature of language by accenting a different way of bonding. We are not bound to the rules of language, we are not limited by culture or geography. Language can be linked to a geographical place or a certain culture and, as we have seen, it is limited by the gendered social order. This detail of Seeds of Attachment, seemingly minute is representative of major themes in the work.
Seeds of Attachment, humble in its make-up, is a sophisticated example of the visual arts transcending the confines of language. It possesses a universality that transgresses the social order and the gender bias of this discourse. It is capable of evoking more than what is said, written, emailed or texted. Instead, you feel it, you experience it, and it is liberating.
Relevant background
Cologni’s in(ter)disciplinary research approach with a consistent interest in artist/audience/participant relational and perceptual dynamics has been centered around memory in the present for sometime, and in collaboration with academics (psychology, philosophy, cognitive science). Relevant projects include Present Memory and Liveness in Delivery and Reception of Video Documentation During Perfornance Art Events (AHRC funded 2004/06) in collaboration with Thomas Suddendorf, on ideas of mirror self-recognition using video delays; based on same issues, RE-MOVED, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow (ACE funded 2008); GEOMEMOS, Yorkshire Scukpture Park (ACE 2009); rockfluid in collaboration with Prof Lisa Saksida, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, when a more specific interest in place in relation to memory is addressed, including the live installation Spa(e)cious (Wysing Arts Centre, MK Gallery, Bergamo Scienza) related to James Williams’ concept of Specious Present (various Arts Council England grants 2011/); more recently Lived Dialectics, Movement and Rest at MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, was developed in dialogue with David Seamon and on place attachment (discussed at the Leonardo Laser series of talks in London).
prizes
The ROYAL SOCIETY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH (RSPH) in collaboration with the Royal Society of Sculptors awards Elena Cologni with the fist prize of ‘The Shape of the Public’s Health’ (2019) for the sculpture untitled (prop) in Seeds of Attachment !!!, details in the link
Dr Ranjita Dhital, Committee member of the RSPH Arts, Health and Wellbeing Special Interest Group states:
‘Elena Cologni’s award winning sculpture Prop, seeds of attachment expresses the importance of space in public health. Particularly spaces which promotes meaningful communication about both the physical and emotional aspects of health. The vibrant purple and its soft sheen fabric are inviting and draws you into its positive energy.’
exhibitions
Project statements section show in PARALLEL VIENNA Sept. 24th–29th curated by Gulsen Bal and Walter Seidl Open Space, Vienna
‘The Shape of the Public’s Health’ prize show at ROYAL SOCIETY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH with the other shortlisted artists including Steve Hines and Lucy Glenndining, details in the link
PARALLEL LINES: Drawing and Sculpture, group show curators Jo Baring and Caroline Worthington (The Ingram Collection + Royal Society of Sculptors), 22 June – 25 August 2019, The Lightbox, Woking.
conferences/presentations/
On Care, And Finding The Cur(V)E. A Geography of Difference Through Caring, performance, in
On Care, and Finding the Cur(v)e. A Geometry of Difference Through Caring, two-part workshop in The Paradox European Fine Art Biennial forum Art Future / Future Signs 2019 in Riga, Latvia, program
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to Prof Susan Golombok Director Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, and Dr Robbie Duschinsky Head of the Applied Social Science Group, University of Cambridge, who supported and advised on the scientific aspect of the project. Thanks to New Hall Collection Curator Eliza Gluckman for her incredible support, Maria and Seanna, and the participants for having entrusted the artist with their invaluable input.
It was supported by Art Language Location, Anglia Ruskin University; Lowenfeld Library, Centre for Family Research University of Cambridge; New Hall Collection at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge; Eleanor Glanville Research Centre, University of Lincoln; Freud Museum London.
images courtesy of New Hall Collection at Murray Edwards College of the University of Cambridge, and the Margaret Lowenfeld Library, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge