ARCHIPELAGO by Portland
- Written byPost-Grad Community
- Published date 31 August 2021
Written by Portland, a collective of students from MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts.
The title ARCHIPELAGO of the exhibition by the international collective 'Portland – shown at the Project Space of Leicester’s StudionAme from 17 to 23 July 2021 – is to be understood not only literally but also metaphorically.
The core of the presentation was marked by two sculptural formations in white, presented in the centre of the exhibition space. While the white islands made from plaster on the large, grey base plate were still clearly separated from each other by gaps, several schematised housing units lie close together in the smaller sculpture.
The models are based on designs by the individual members of Portland, published in Portland Magazine No. 45 in February 2021.
Portland is an international fantasy community with members from England, Germany, Greece, Pakistan, and Scotland. It was founded in 2019 at the Chelsea College of Arts, while the artists were studying on the MA Fine Art course, and currently consists of artists Georg Dahled, Rosie Dahlstrom, Nicolas Evans, Georgina Kapralou, Alice Morey, and Veera Rustomji.
The collaboration between the individual members of Portland was initially focused on the Portland Magazine, which was published monthly, then irregularly. Even in times of lockdowns and travel restrictions, several new issues were completed through digital channels and presented on public platforms in varying media.
The exhibition ARCHIPELAGO is Portland’s first exhibition of visual art, as a group, showcasing not individual works from each artist, but collective work as a Portlanders.
ARCHIPELAGO was originally conceived as a chance for the Portlanders to come together in a physical space to create a real-life site-specific installation of new, physical, completely collaborative artwork. After a year and a half of Zoom meetings, WhatsApp chats and e-mails, nothing was more necessary to sustain and strengthen the irreverent and vital Portland spirit.
Drafts and sketches were easy to share via Google Drive, with the Portland members based in the UK then implementing the ideas for the exhibition on site in Leicester during the installation period.
Travel restrictions, which were unfortunately still quite harsh in July, ultimately made it impossible for Portlanders outside of England to travel to Leicester. They kept the Portlanders apart in their separate islands once again, still yet to form a proper archipelago.
Working in the pleasant white rectangle of the Leicester gallery space, the two Portlanders, upon finding themselves strangely reunited, used their shared history and experience to create a new sculpture out of the remnants of the older but broken Archipelago model. This became the tabletop landscape, an improbable hybrid architectural monster falling or balancing on a rocky landscape. Its solid white surface is betrayed by the thin, wooden sticks that precariously shore up the brittle structure.
The cooled-down, minimalistic atmosphere of the show in white and grey was complemented by an audio work in which the sound of the sea sometimes could be heard.
Four large-format posters on one wall showed verses from rap lyrics in which the name Portland is mentioned. But since their sources are not disclosed, nor was the specific naming of the landscape sections in the backgrounds of the posters, it remained unclear which of the many Portlands in the world they were referencing. At one point it may be about Portland, Oregon, in the USA. And another poster, is it about Portland in Dorset, UK? Or a fictional Portland? On the opposite wall, a number of small-format digital prints depicting drawings of ropes and knots cover the wall in unsystematic hanging. The inherent continuity and permanence of the rope motif were thus deliberately interrupted, even though its parts were in close proximity to each other.
The monochrome, pared-back show may be interpreted as a warning beacon for the unsatisfied desire to physical collaboration beyond digital channels. This form of collaboration has been severely hampered in times of lockdown. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. On the horizon, in the middle of a grey sea, land has finally been sighted.
Portland is Georg Dahled, Rosie Dahlstrom, Nicolas Evans, Georgina Kapralou, Alice Morey, and Veera Rustomji.
[Images by Portland, all rights of the artists]
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