PREVIEW: Thursday 25 January, 6-9PM
EXHIBITION: 26 January – 17 February 2024
OPENING TIMES: Thursday – Saturday, 10am-6PM, or by appointment.

A Material Romance presents new work by Will Harvey with text contribution by Jana Dardouk as part of To & Fro. Will and Jana took the opportunity of connecting to critique the pace of mass consumption by confronting the consequences of its waste and debris. Both artists work within the common ground of art and architecture, their practices seek to challenge our cultural perspectives of ‘waste’.

By slowing down the rate of material use and consumption, possibilities open up at the end-of-life stage of a material’s original intended use. This sees us move away from a cradle-to-grave mentality and more naturally towards cradle-to-cradle thinking, doing and making. Using romance as a methodology, Dardouk and Harvey see beauty in the unwanted and discarded. As the project begun, Primary was undergoing a capital refurbishment, and so the building site became a starting point for the works development. Bearing witness to materials being thrown into skips, the artists acted to salvage a specific brick type, destined for downcycling, and from here the patterns of a relationship began to emerge.

Will Harvey & Jana Dardouk | A Material Romance was developed through Artist Development initiative To and Fro (2023-24). This pilot project paired four Primary residents or members with four non-resident artists who connect with our Public Programme.

Artist Bios:

Will Harvey is an artist working from Nottingham, UK who explores the rich interdisciplinary space between art and architecture and how each can collude to meet the issues of our time. His practice is a mixture of salvaging, making, drawing and designing which seeks to envision and manifest a more hopeful, playful and ecological future. Will works in collaboration with others who share a commitment to evolving our spatial and material cultures, elevating our human and more-than-human ecologies.

Jana Dardouk is a Lebanese-British creative working at the intersections of art, architecture and community-centred spatial practice as 1/6th of RESOLVE Collective. Her personal practice also includes documentary film photography and writing inspired by lived experience to address social issues.

Access:

The exhibition is in the first-floor gallery space which is only accessible via stairs.

If you would like to make a group booking or visit our exhibitions at a quiet time please contact us on admin@weareprimary.org or 0115 924 4493 to arrange.

Large print and braille versions of the exhibition text will be available, please ask our Front of House Assistant for details.

Please email admin@weareprimary.org or call 0115 924 4493 with any access inquiries.