Within

24 April – 24 May 2014

Exhibition of the film and video works of artist and NUA alumnus Tim Davies

Tim Davies’ film and video works often feature a performer, usually the artist himself, negotiating his way through the built environment. The human body becomes the means by which to explore the spatial and social aspects of architecture.

This exhibition includes a new film made in response to Norwich – reflecting the city’s historic context and its cultural and architectural specificity. In an earlier multi-screen piece using moving and still images, the artist can be seen running through the streets creating a fluid, pounding rhythm, as he searches, searches and finally disappears in and amongst new buildings. In another, the artist’s hand traces a journey along Venetian canals, capturing the city in the watery reflections, images which disintegrate whenever the fingers ripple the surface. These short films made during a recent residency in China, and for the Venice Biennale, will be shown alongside the series of sanded postcards Bridge which, like the films, build patterns by discreet repetition and erasure creating a series of visual poems for familiar and some less familiar public structures and spaces.

Tim Davies lives and works in Swansea. He represented Wales at the 2011 Venice Biennale and his work is included in many public collections.

Davies’ main practice involves working site responsively. Kilkenny Shift of 2009 is the result of an invitation to make a piece of work for the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny. The artist was particularly struck by a set of servants’ stairs, which were hidden from the tourist trail frequented at Kilkenny Castle. It’s a place absent from heritage description but one the artist wished to expose through performative action. By contrast, Drift was one of the pieces made for the Venice Biennale. Here, rather than excavating something hidden, Davies worked directly with the iconic image of Venice but this time through the uncertainty of its reflection. The hand breaks the surface of the water and the perceived familiarity dissipates.

Having studied for a Fine Art degree at Norwich, Davies is already familiar with some aspects of the city but acknowledges that many things have changed since that time. The work will always question any assumptions. Davies last exhibited in Norwich as part of East International, so is very much looking forward to reacquainting himself with the city and exhibiting at The Gallery at NUA.