An exhibition of work by Euphrosyne Andrews and Sam Marshall-Lockyer.
Seen from above, the formal garden resembles a geometric drawing carved into the land. On the ground, the garden dictates its own sequence of movement. It directs the body through a history of rules and patterns of space. Trees and shrubs are planted and tightly clipped to present the landscape from its best angle, a superficial ideal of nature imagined and controlled by the hand. Lines and circles delimit boundaries between contestants in sports. In curling, the target drawing, red and blue, lies underneath the ice. Like a dartboard or a bull’s eye, it marks an abstract centre point of perfection, it is the singular dot that decides the winner. On the surface of the ice, the body and the stone synchronise movement. The rules of the game mould the behaviour of the hand, a chanced throw guides the stone towards its aim.
A workshop with students from the University of Westminster accompanies the exhibition. A set of rules was proposed, linguistic prompts, specific mediums, time constraints and the physical limitation of the floor space. These parameters were then met by the decisions of each student, the outcome of what was made being unpredictable. An alternative to making with an intended outcome in mind, this approach sets out rules that allow improvisation and chance to play a hand in the outcome of what is made.