Does The It Stick Exhibition

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by Bryony Harrison (subscribe)

Freelance writer and poet from London; if you would like to read my poetry, please check out my book, 'Poems on the Page', available from goo.gl/Ta4oAX.

Event: 17/04/2014 - 15/06/2014

Visit the Rainbow Room

does the it stick, bloomberg exhibition, joanne tatham, tom o'sullivan

Image from www.bloombergspace.com

large image

If you walk through the swirling doors of the Bloomberg SPACE between now and the 15th June, you might think you have entered an office designed by a five year old. Let me assure you that that is in no way a negative response to the latest exhibition by collaborating artists, Joanne Tantham & Tom O'Sullivan, whose Does The It Stick, is an architectural installation built with what appear to be children's building blocks.

A colourful rainbow wall mimic's an onlooker's expression of 'Ooos' and 'Ahhs', with surprised eyes, pointy nose, and trumpet mouth. The seating is made of geometric blocks that are just a larger scale version of the wooden blocks I used to build with as a child. Indeed, they are dispersed in such a 'random' fashion that you could be walking into your toddler's nursery, after they have failed to put their toys away.

It is not quite a playroom though; for next to all the fun and leisure is an office desk looking rather sorry for itself. In contrast to the rest of the objects, it is dark, frowning, and patterned with lines reminiscent of a prison uniform of bars. Unable to enjoy the fun, it is piled under by paperwork.

Commissioned by the Voltaire Studio art collective, the site specific installation asks 'Does The IT Fit' within the corporate identity Bloomberg SPACE, while at the same time, being a reflection of their home base in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, as it responds to the Stephenson Works regeneration site, which was once a building where locomotives were built.