First Hand is the culmination of a three year digital placement at Flat Time House by /origin\forward/slash\, a group of artists and philosophers working together to collaboratively produce new artwork and ideas. Group members have an array of different approaches, some specialising in making, others in writing, often meeting in the hybrid space between. They are led by artist Hester Reeve and in association with the Centre for Philosophy and Art, King’s College London, and have met since 2018 to investigate the relationships between philosophical thinking and art practice.
The title of the exhibition, First Hand, refers to John Latham’s naming of his artist studio as the ‘Hand’ and the fact that this exhibition provides the first opportunity for the group to work together in person after three years online. The show includes installation, photography, video work, sculpture, digital work, painting and book-based pieces which have been developed in partnership through close discussion. Over the course of their digital placement /origin\forward/slash\ have become focused on issues of dwelling, thinking, materiality, the questioning of the domestic sphere and the objects or words we produce.
/origin\forward/slash\have used two written documents as stimulus for First Hand, both included in the show. The first is John Latham’s permanent ‘book’ sculpture, cantilevered through the facade of FTHo, which they weild as an integral aspect of the exhibition. The second is the key philosophical essay by Martin Heidegger, The Origin of the Work of Art (1950) which the group use as inspiration to move through, with and against, to locate a dialogue between members of the group. The exhibition includes contributions from dance artist Marie Hay working in collaboration with philosopher Sacha Golob, artist Mark Titmarsh with art and critical theorist Johanna Malt, artist Hester Reeve whose work has been informed by conversations with philosopher Georgios Tsagdis, and a digital contribution by artist, writer and technologist Jan Hopkins.
The exhibition will be open from the 29th of September - th 5th of November, with a preview from 6-8pm on the 28th of September. For more information, click here.