6 June –
20 July 2020
Serena Korda’s first exhibition at the gallery, titled Breakthrough, included our ceramic sculptures titled Resonators and the new sound piece entitled Clairaudience, which have been brought together for the solo presentation. Working with ceramics and sound for several years, Korda combines her experimental approach to the materials with her interest in the acoustic properties of objects.
Commissioned by and previously exhibited at The Hepworth Wakefield in 2018, Resonators, comprise of large, richly glazed vessels with openings at each end. In the 1850s, physicist Hermann von Helmholtz developed a device, now known as the Helmholtz resonator, to pick out specific frequencies from complex sounds. Inspired by these instruments, Korda created these works which amplify certain frequencies from the sound piece in the gallery, and invite the audience to listen through them by placing their ears to each vessel to hear a range of bass-like tones.* Varying in their sizes and points of contact with the ground, each one resonates naturally at a slightly different frequency. These are hybrid objects, at once sculptures, musical instruments and pieces of scientific apparatus.
Invite
Clairaudience, takes its starting point from, the resonance of particular spaces and what they might hold through field recordings. Korda visited UFO hotspots around Todmodern in West Yorkshire, that had a history of sightings, performing deep listening in each location, in an attempt to soak up some of this alleged UFO activity.
Breakthrough suggests a desire to connect with the realm of the afterlife: Korda has been fascinated by Konstantin Raudive’s research into Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), hearing voices from the afterlife usually on a radio tuned between stations. ‘Breakthrough’ was the title of Raduive’s book and EP published in 1971 about communication with the dead using electromagnetism and radio as his medium. Raudive was a student of Carl Jung and spent much of his life studying parapsychology and the notion of the afterlife. EVP has little to no scientific grounding and can be explained as a form of auditory illusion, suggesting that you are hearing voices within white noise. Even though a hugely discredited phenomenon it is one that allows us to consider auditory illusion and how we are effected by sound. Breakthrough suggests a scientific discovery but also a way of getting through to the “other side” combining Korda’s interest in the scientific and imaginary holding equal weight.
Serena Korda is a British, London based artist with a MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art (2010) and a BA in Fine Art from Middlesex University (2001). She works across sculpture, sound, performance and film. Her interest in ancient cosmology, new age philosophy and theories of quantum physics have drawn her to the imperceptible connections between nature, plants and animals, all bound together by vibration, sound and energy. Giving the rational mind and the imagination equal weight, she strikes a balance between the scientific and spiritual realms by creating multi sensory experiences that make invisible and inaudible forces palpable.
Solo shows include: Khaos Spirit, Somerset House, London (2019); The Bell Tree, National Trust and Bluecoat, Liverpool; The Lore of the Land, Horniman Museum and Gardens, London; Missing Time, Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art, Gateshead; Daughters of Necessity: Serena Korda and the Wakefield ceramics, Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefieled; Missing Time, The High Line, New York, (2018); Hold Fast Stand Sure, I Scream a Revolution, Glasgow International and Comar, Isle of Mull (2016); The Jug Choir, Camden Arts Centre, London and Supernormal Festival, Oxfordshire (2016); Aping the Beast, Camden Arts Centre, London (2013); Fellowships and Residencies include: The Norma Lipman and Baltic fellowship in Ceramic Sculpture, Newcastle University (2016-2018), The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Los Angeles (2014). Group shows include: Waking the Witch, 20/21, Scunthorpe; Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury; Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham; Oriel Davies Gallery, Newton (2018-2019); Material Environments, The Tetley, Leeds (2018); Island, G39, Cardiff (2015); Shifting Sands, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2015); Test Run: Performance in Public, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2015). She is currently working on a new film work entitled Zuben Elgenubi: The Price to be Paid for a group touring exhibition entitled “The Mariner” opening September 2019.
Installation Views
Talk:
Serena Korda in conversation with GCCA Director Francis McKee
Wednesday 3rd July, 6.30pm – 8pm
Listen to a recording of the talk here
Catalogue
Interview on occasion of Serena Korda: Breakthrough Bosse & Baum, 2019
