IAN ANDREWS
THE SKETCHBOOK AND THE COLLIDER
DRAWING LINKS BETWEEN FINE ART AND PARTICLE PHYSICS
IN COLLABORATION WITH PROF. KOSTAS NIKOLOPOULOS
“Detectors are really the way that physicists express themselves, to say something that you have in your guts. In the case of painters, it’s painting with sculptors, its sculpture and in the case of the experimental physicist its detectors! The detector is the image of the guy who designed it.”
The Sketchbook and the Collider is an on-going collaboration with Prof Kostas Nikolopoulos from the particle physics group at University Birmingham and evolves from my residency at the University in 2018 culminating in the exhibition “The sketchbook and the Collider,” at the University and subsequent Arts Council funded exhibition at the Library of Birmingham entitled “Collision Event” in 2019.
The work takes as its starting point the search for equivalents between the primary artistic language of drawing and the elementary particles and their interactions.
It comprises three main elements: The search for an intimate connection between pure visual language and elemental particle characteristics and interactions. Development of the use of moving image work to explore actual movement and interaction in a drawing context equivalent to the interaction of particles and finally it’s culmination in the development of performative pieces that involve “live” drawing and the cooperation, participation and “interaction” of artists, scientists and members of the public.
“The quantum world describes things not as they “are” but as they “occur” and interact. A world not of objects but of events.”
NEWS
Honoured that The Sketchbook and the Collider has been awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for 2023 from the PKF organisation in New York following an extensive and rigorous selection process. The grant funds my living expenses for the year freeing time to concentrate on the development of new work taking drawing into three dimensions integrated with moving image work. The award is in support of Lee Krasner’s mission to advance the work of visual artists.
The Image (right) shows Lee Krasner in Hans Hoffman’s studio, early 1940s. Photo ©Robert E. Mates and Paul Katz. Lee Krasner artwork ©Pollock-Krasner Foundation/ARS. Image courtesy of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Ian Andrews has just been named as one of the Feeney fellows for 2023 by the John Feeney Charitable Trust. The Fellowship funding will enable the integration of drawing, three-dimensional structures and the moving image components of his work. He will be collaborating with a Birmingham-based fabricator to create three-dimensional structures on which the drawings will be created and with a video production expert to upgrade his skills in filming, editing and projection.
Ian Andrews has been appointed artist in residence at the University of Birmingham to work with the Centre for Systems Modelling and Quantitative Biomedicine for the next six months starting in September 2023 working with a research team looking at the disruption of circadian rhythms in the brain.
The Sketchbook and the Collider at the Forum Exposition Bonlieu in Annecy, France as a guest of Claire Adam Bourdarios from Laboratoire d’ Annecy de Physique des Particules as part of the Fete de la science in October 2022. Featured in the December issue of the CERN COURIER. https://cerncourier.com/a/the-sketchbook-and-the-collider/
The Sketchbook and the Collider was invited to talk to the International Particle Physics Outreach Group at their annual conference at CERN in Geneva 1n October 2023
The Sketchbook and the Collider has been recognised for innovative contribution to public outreach and engagement by the European Research Council as part of the Exclusive Higgs project.
"Deeply honoured to receive the inaugural ERC Public Engagement with Research Honour on the Public Outreach category! It has been an incredible journey that would not have been possible without my collaborators. Many thanks to visual artist Ian Andrews and dancer/choreographer Mairi Pardalaki for being part of this inspiring adventure! Maria Pavlidou was instrumental in our activities reaching the widest audience. It has been amazing to interact with all the participants in our activities, their genuine interest made it a fantastic experience!" - Kostas Nikolopoulos
CURRENT - UPCOMING
Entanglement 2 is currently on show at the RBSA inaugural drawing prize exhibition at the RBSA Gallery, 4 Brook Street, Birmingham. Until 14 October 2023.
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