The Stuff of Life | The Life of Stuff
Our new Universal Ticket allows access to our entire gallery. This ticket operates on a ‘Pay If and What You Can’ basis. Upon arrival, please go to gallery reception where our universal ticket is available.
No pre-booking necessary. If you would like to make a Group Booking or have additional access needs, please contact us on scva@uea.ac.uk or 01603 593199.
This exhibition took place from 10 October 2023 to 14 April 2024
The Stuff of Life | The Life of Stuff was part of our new season: Planet for our Future: How do we adapt to a Transforming World?
In this major international exhibition, visitors met artworks composed of salvaged materials, resynthesised fragments, and e-waste. They encountered new environmental zones, where synthetic and organic matter interact, providing a fertile ground for the invention of mythical worlds, dystopias and speculative future narratives.
These hybrid living-art entities have life stories that begin with the histories of the objects from which they have been born, and which tie them intimately to the things that construct our own sense of reality and animate our immediate environments. Through these challenging, empathic, and creative encounters with the artworks, visitors were asked to reimagine their relationship to synthetic materials and commodities designed not-to-last, and consider who is responsible for consumption, over-production, and waste streams in modern society. Ultimately, these artworks demonstrate the ingenuity of human creativity to re-imagine our relationships with the planet and inspire people to positively engage with our shared future.
The Stuff of Life | The Life of Stuff was curated by Vanessa Tothill, Curator at the Sainsbury Centre.
The Stuff of Life | The Life of Stuff presented works by:
Madi Acharya-Baskerville, El Anatsui, Mandy Barker, Karla Black, Ayan Farah, Daiga Grantina, Romuald Hazoumè, Diana Lelonek, Ibrahim Mahama, Mary Mattingly, Fabrice Monteiro, Marlie Mul, Samara Scott, Tejal Shah, Elias Sime, Michael E. Smith, Sarah Sze, Gavin Turk and Maarten Vanden Eynde.
Image: Fabrice Monteiro, The Prophecy, Untitled No.9, 2015, Photograph
From the exhibition
