In Conversation: Matt Burrows with the artists of In Spite of Bad Weather

Matt Burrows will lead a discussion with the artists of In Spite of Bad Weather, who have come to the end of their MA in Contemporary Art Practice in a time of political and economic turmoil yet have persevered in their sense that the making of art matters. Matt will discuss the motivations and materials of the artists along with the audience experience in the gallery, while also reflecting upon maintaining an artistic practice post MA.

Matt Burrows is the Curator and Gallery Manager at Exeter Phoenix, a multi-artform contemporary arts venue in Devon that specialises in working with emerging and mid-career artists. He has previously held project management roles at Spacex, Exeter and Victoria Miro Gallery, London, as well as working on a wide variety of freelance consultancy projects, mentoring and lecturing roles.

Aldous George works as a multidisciplinary artist exploring the boundaries of what it is to be mentally and physically ‘human’ alongside humanity’s obsession with evolving beyond its current limitations, especially by means of science and technology. Working within the conceptual terrains of transhumanism, cyborgism and reconnecting with nature he employs sculpture, physical structures and prostheses, processual audio and visual material to immerse an audience within the blurry area between human and machine.

Victoria McTavish is deeply interested in woman’s story, ancient knowledge systems and the intersection between the two. Her work is based on myth, other worlds and the archetypal underpinnings of the collective psyche. It is in the act of giving form, care, and new life to materials such as old garments and domestic linens, which come with their own stories, as evidenced in the delicate wear and tear from use, that she re-tells and subverts linear narratives. The inherent tension of pulling, stitching, and deconstructing can all be seen as a metaphor for reparative thinking and through weaving together the personal, political, and transpersonal dimensions inherent in all stories she hopes to evoke a sense of the interconnection of all phenomena.

Neil Robinson is a surfer, artist and teacher who wades with his work through dark tides and folding waves. Living in the coastal landscape, Robinson is interested in critiquing contemporary coastal politics, and the ways in which coastal cultures are perceived by outsiders. Though his work may grow from commercial forms, like placid seascapes or the pretty kinds of pots you see in a tacky beachside gallery, his often-violent interventions subvert the hierarchy of tourist and place. Robinson’s work may provoke or confront the viewer, but its friendly, conversational approach allows unique space for a point of shared understanding to be reached between artist, viewer and oceanic environment.

Sam Machell is an artist and writer whose practice reflects ecological and political anxieties and is concerned with the intersection of sprawling systems and individual bodies. Writing, as both process and material, is positioned as the centre around which other works can orbit; the guiding fiction magnified into performances, diagrams, cartoons and videos, like the text of an illuminated manuscript. His ongoing project, the expanded fantasy novel Dinner Machine, explores the lives and messy relationships of humans and animals within an absurdly large and complex castle.

Host or Publisher The Arts Institute Plymouth