Portrait of an Egg (2019) [multi-component output with contextualising information]
- Submitting institution
-
Bath Spa University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 3384
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- Great Arch Hall at Somerset House, London, England; River Terrace, Somerset House, London, England; online website.
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of first exhibition
- May
- Year of first exhibition
- 2019
- URL
-
https://doi.org/10.17870/bathspa.c.5101430.v3
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Portrait of an Egg’s the public exhibition took place on 16th – 19th May at Somerset House as part of Photo London. The project’s structure held four main strands: a curatorial interactive website, a sculptural installation on the River Terrace, a sculpture object, and audio-visual installation in the Great Arch Hall.
Photographing cultural visits has become a dominant way of behaving and the camera phone has created a new way of seeing. The project examined this phenomenon of art’s constant scrutiny under the gaze of social media, and took it a step further, openly inviting participants to upload images in a mass creative act, which centered around a sculptural work measuring 2.5m.
The website for Portrait of an Egg was a purpose-built platform to collect and display submissions and to continue the conversation around the themes of authenticity and inauthenticity. The open call posed a simple question: What does it mean to Portray an Egg? Over 1000 photographs were submitted to the website. The Hall of Fame was a commissioned selection by Francesca Gavin, Sarah Lucas, Martin Parr, @world_record_egg to curate their top 5 works. Also included was a public ‘liking’ system to highlight the People’s Choice.
The Portrait of an Egg Exhibition was a site-specific 4D installation. Submitted works were curated and projected across four large wall screens, accompanied by a soundscape of farmed birds, theatrical lighting and centered around the Ovum 2019 work, a spotlighted black bronze egg, on a Portland stone plinth, the same stone with which Somerset House was built.
Oeuvre 2018, a patinated bronze sculpture, was installed on the River Terrace a month before the opening, with a display board directing participants to the website and to interact with the work, as a beginning point for participants to get enthused about.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
