‘Table’ (2014) collage, steel legs, varnished oak, Briggs & Cole, as part of ‘Temperance 3/5′. Photo: Janet Wilson

‘Caesura’ is the inaugural public exhibition for the Reid Gallery, located in the new Glasgow School of Art (GSA) building, The Reid Building, designed by Steven Holl Architects. A ‘caesura’ (pronounced say-sura) denotes a brief, silent pause in poetry or music, during which metrical time is not counted. As the new Reid Building welcomes people and springs into life, occupied by its community, visited by the public, this exhibition is intended to act as a pause in time, the beginning of a new chapter for the art school.

Linear Construction No.1, Naum Gabo (1942 – 43). Perspex and nylon monofilament. On loan from The Pier Arts Centre Collection. As part of ‘Implicit Form’, Raydale Dower (2014)

Steven Holl Architects’ buildings have often been inspired by the connection between architecture, music and poetry. Steven Holl has spoken of the Reid building as a ‘Zen-like response to the Mackintosh building’. He has also inspired the title of the exhibition with his quote: ‘the twilight of northern cities …offers a caesura, a silent uncertain suspension for reflective… thoughts’. The new works commissioned for ‘Caesura’, offer the opportunity to encounter, experience and reflect on this new space.

‘Fabric’, 100% silk (2014) Briggs & Cole, as part of ‘Temperance 3/5′. Photo: Janet Wilson

The three commissions are by GSA graduates Raydale Dower (MSc Sound for the Moving Image, lives and works Glasgow), Briggs & Cole (Product Design / MFA, live and work in Glasgow) and Heaven Baek (MFA, lives and works Seoul). The resulting work responds in different ways to this new architecture, the show’s themes and this specific time in The Glasgow School of Art’s history. The graduates are from different disciplines, reflecting a guiding principle in the design of the Reid Building which was to create space for cross-disciplinary endeavour.

‘Seongbuk district Seongbuk resident’ (2014), Heaven Baek. Film still (HD, 23 mins) Image courtesy of the artist

Raydale Dower explores the links between sculptural and sonic form in Implicit Form,  situated alongside three references:  the work of the Russian sculptor, Naum Gabo (1890-1977); the oscilloscope patterns of US mathematician and artist Ben Laposky (1914-2000); and Le Corbusier, Xenakis & Varese’s  “Philips Pavilion” which designed for Expo ’58 in Brussels.

‘Poème électronique, Revealed Structure, (After Iannis Xenakis, Le Corbusier & Edgard Varèse, 1958)’ Raydale Dower (2014). Based on original architectural plans and engineering drawings, courtesy of Le Corbusier Foundation, Paris. Piano wood. Photo: Janet Wilson.

Heaven Baek has created a new video work entitled Seongbuk district Seongbuk resident using another Steven Holl Architects building, Daeyang Gallery and House, as the creative location in her city.

‘Seongbuk district Seongbuk resident’ (2014), Heaven Baek. Film still (HD, 23 mins) Image courtesy of the artist

Briggs & Cole examine the relationship between the Mackintosh Building and Reid Building through a variety of objects including an oak and steel board room table that brings together imagery from the architecture of both buildings, an etched mirror, a 4m-long silk wall hanging, a brass plaque and a glass vase.

Briggs & Cole, as part of ‘Temperance 3/5′. Photo: Janet Wilson

Caesura shows in the Reid Gallery in the Reid Building until 4 May. For more information see the GSA website.

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