It Couldn't Be Made Up brings together a series of five back-to-back group exhibitions that play on the multiple meanings and contradictory possibilities of the title, which can be read as a declaration of disbelief as well as one of failure. It Couldn't Be Made Up tries to reflect upon the competing drives that underpin artistic practice: the desire to make something happen and the risk that such plans might fall or fail. The title functions as an expression of both astonishment and disappointment; of regret and promise. It might suggest that something is 'beyond belief' or fantastical; or reflect the eruption of make-believe into the space of the everyday. Alternatively it articulates the regret felt at not being able to construct, set-up or make something happen - when something is seen as impossible or doomed to fail.
At Play
Monday 25th February from 6pm - Thursday 28th February
Echoing the fantastical and imagined world of childhood play, the gallery is presented as an immersive space transformed and interrupted by the presence of large makeshift structures; architectural propositions; sound works and light installations. Including work by Katharine Wojcik (curator), Matthew Hayes, Charlie Hood, Emma Kemp, Kate Lawrence
Apeiron
Monday 3rd March from 6pm - Tuesday 4th March
Emerging in the space between science fiction and science fact, artists in this exhibition draw upon the visualisation and explanation of various scientific phenomena in order to create works which blur the line between science and the imagination, the hypothetical and the real. Including work by Andrew Brookfield (curator), Rachel Eite (curator), Ashley Gallant and Richard Sides
Collapse
Thursday 6th March from 6pm - Friday 7th March
The exhibition reflects on how failure might offer a moment of disappointment but also the possibility of unexpected or humorous results; how the breakdown of one kind of logic might allow for the emergence of another. Useless and dysfunctional objects sit alongside works which explore the breakdown of language; mistranslations and glitches in communication. Including work by Jenna Finch (curator), Simon Franklin (curator), Tom Duggan, Toby Everitt, Craig Fisher, Bommsoon Lee, Tracey McMaster, Megan Tait and Naomi Terry
I Can't Believe it's Not Butter
Tuesday 11th March 6.00pm - Thursday 13th March
The exhibition brings together work where first impressions are often deceptive and things not always what they seem. The reassuringly familiar becomes disrupted or disturbed by the suggestion of other possibilities that lurk beneath the register of the initial glance; or by revelations and discoveries which slowly unravel the logic of the original reading. Includes work by Jennifer Webber (curator), Naomi Terry (curator), Laura Clarke (curator), Holly Farrington (curator), Lotti Closs (curator), Sarah Duffy, Emma Firkin, Dan Ford, Rachel Murray, Charlotte Osborn, Jon Palmer, Bethany Phelps, Rhiannon Worgan, Derek Sprawson and Ben Wheele
Snowball
Monday 17th March - Thursday 20th March. Closing event 6pm
Snowball explores the notion of the sketch or proposal as an imaginative zone unrestricted by the limitations of time and resources. Beginning with a series of speculative drawings and plans from seven selected artists, seven further artists will be invited to work as mediators and translators, moving between these disparate practices, making connections and creating new ideas in response. In turn, these will then be responded to in the gallery by the original group of artists, where the process of 'drawing together' or 'failing to see the link' is presented as an ongoing and live event. Includes work by Bommsoon Lee, Ottis Sturmey, Emma Tanner, Stephen Turner, Claire Merriman, Jess Stevenson, Fonny Fung Yin Shum
Interventions and Performances
Throughout the programme there will also be a number of interventions and performances where mistaken identities, secret exchanges and absurd encounters occur in the gallery space and erupt into the public realm. Includes work by Dominique Humphrey, Bill Nguyen and Alia Pathan.
It Couldn't be Made Up is a collaboration between Surface Gallery & Nottingham Trent University.
