May Meet In Mutual centres around the exhibition of newly developed sculptural and performance work by Sogol Mabadi, Emma Reid and Craig Thomson, in the Park Ranger Centre in Baxter Park, Dundee. The exhibition will be open to the public for the Open Install and Preview on 29 August (3-9pm) and continues on 30 & 31 August (10am-4pm). The project, May Meet In Mutual co-curated by Katie Reid and Emma Reid, seeks to explore the potentials and complexities of site responsive practice, a method of artistic production where artists respond to physical, social and/or historical conditions of a particular location, in this case Dundee’s Park Ranger Centre in Baxter Park.

Emma Reid – Hole Video Installation – New Contemporaries 2013

May Meet In Mutual, showcases new work by Mabadi, Reid and Thomson. Responding to the situation of the Park Ranger Centre within Baxter Park, the artists share a common interest in boundaries, edges, and the in between and how these affect peoples’ interaction and relations.

Sogol Mabadi – The Family Transmission Gallery 2014 – Photo: Tor Jonsson

Mabadi’s sensitive work explores intimacy through a directness of the experience with the audience. Her performances and sculptural work often generate a sense of being at once near the edge of something whilst becoming a part of a shared meeting place. Reid is also interested in relations between people and investigates these through the notion of playfulness or performativity that is often present in our being in the world. Through clever positioning of live-feed cameras and monitors, combined with use of the Park Ranger Centre’s ground to ceiling glass windows, Reid takes the visitor to a place of inquiry whereby their watching, acting and manoeuvring of the space is distorted and revealed to them. Reid also takes her work outside the Park Ranger Centre, temporarily marking the large pillars so that they become an abstract signpost to the event within the space. Thomson’s sculpture underplays the power of the wrought iron fences. Through an exact replica of a portion of the fence made from wood, Thomson transposes the fence into a functional coat rack to be gifted to the Park Ranger Centre after the exhibition.

Craig Thomson – The Storm, 2014

May Meet In Mutual exploits its temporary nature through an events series, beginning with a Micro Residency on 27 & 28 August by Scottish artists responding to an Open Call to take part in a two day residency in the Park Ranger Centre to research and/or make work in response to the site. This Micro Residency acts as a fast-paced test bed to open up discussion surrounding site responsive practice.

Emma Reid – Hole Video Installation – New Contemporaries 2013

More Information about the Events Series:

- Open Install: 3-6pm, Friday 29 August. Join the artists and curators as they finalise the installation of new works by Mabadi, Reid and Thomson in the Park Ranger Centre.

- Preview with Open Stage: 6-9pm, Friday 29 August. Preview of the exhibition May Meet In Mutual, including an Open Stage event with performance, spoken word, screenings and music presented by the artists of the exhibition and those who contributed to the Micro Residency earlier in the week.

- Conversation Over Coffee: 3-4pm, Saturday 30 August. This relaxed discussion event on Saturday afternoon encourages further inquiry into the nature of site responsive practice. Invited speakers Annie Crabtree and Beth Savage, alongside artists and visitors will join or listen to this Conversation Over Coffee navigating the potentials and complexities of site responsive artistic/curatorial practice and what it might mean to work in this way today.

For further information about May Meet in Mutual which runs from 29 to 31 August in Dundee’s Baxter Park, see their website.

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