{"id":4443,"date":"2024-07-03T12:52:21","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T11:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningspaces.dundee.ac.uk\/dundeeuniculture\/?p=4443"},"modified":"2025-09-15T10:46:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T09:46:29","slug":"cooper-gallery-spring-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/cooper-gallery-spring-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Gallery Spring Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now summer is upon us (?) this is a good opportunity to look back at the events at DJCAD’s Cooper Gallery between February and May.<\/p>\n

The main programme was The Scale of Things<\/strong> an exhibition of three moving image works that consider relations between humans and non-humans forming an exploration through history, intimacy and spirituality.<\/p>\n

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Image: Grace Ndiritu, Becoming Plant, 2022. Installation view Cooper Gallery, DJCAD, 2024. Photo by Sally Jubb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Cooper Gallery was proud to present the Scottish premiere of Jarman Award 2022 winner Grace Ndiritu\u2019s Becoming Plant (2022), alongside internationally celebrated Uzbek filmmaker Saodat Ismailova\u2019s The Haunted (2017), and on its fiftieth anniversary, Scottish filmmaker Margaret Tait\u2019s Aerial (1974).
\nThe three moving image works were brought together by a desire to unsettle how we imagine and see ourselves as part of nature. Understanding the recurring need for intimacy, to feel a connection that is commeasurable with our ability to impact and control, the exhibition approached desire itself; the desire to plunge our bodies deep into the earth and transcend the bounded individualism of being \u2018human.\u2019<\/p>\n

The exhibition was co-curated by Sophia Yadong Hao and Prof. Sarah Perks (MIMA, Teesside University), an internationally well-respected curator and film producer, formerly Artistic Director of Cornerhouse \/ HOME in Manchester.<\/p>\n

A number of public events accompanied the exhibition including a performative workshop by Sarah Perks ‘The Deep Ecology Council’\u00a0<\/strong>which encouraged connection with the planets lifeforms.<\/p>\n

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Image: Professor Sarah Perks leading participants through the guided meditation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Saoirse Amira Anis’s rebirth of a fraying body\u00a0<\/strong>was an intimate performance composed of movement and spoken word and ritual; positioning fugitivity as an act of rebirth, Anis offered an incitement for urgent collective action towards liberation.<\/p>\n

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Image: Saoirse Amira Anis, rebirth of a fraying body, 2024. Performance view Cooper Gallery, DJCAD. Photo by Cara Pirie.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Lovebug <\/strong> a reading event by Daisy Lafarge explored infection, intimacy, species and metaphor.<\/p>\n

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Daisy Lafarge reading next to a projection of living organisms, projected from a live feed from a microscope. Photo by Sophia Yadong Hao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Finally Grace Ndiritu gave a Performance Lecture\u00a0<\/strong> as part of the CHEAD Annual Conference 2024.<\/p>\n

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Grace Ndiritu, performance lecture, 2024. Cooper Gallery, DJCAD as part of CHEAD Annual Conference. Photo by Laure Divisia-Astill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Scale of things received a 4 star review from the Scotsman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Gallery continued its ongoing project\u00a0What I am Reading Now…\u00a0<\/strong>which invites Black practitioners and practitioners of colour to share, with a preface, a selection of five readings that are shaping their current thinking, research and practice. New contributions are published monthly on Cooper Gallery\u2019s A space in-between<\/strong> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Dayna Ash, an intersectional feminist, performing artist, published writer, playwright, and the founder & Executive Director of Haven for Artists, contributed to the February issue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

To find out more about the Cooper Gallery and past and upcoming events visit its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now summer is upon us (?) this is a good opportunity to look back at the events at DJCAD’s Cooper Gallery between February and May. The main programme was The Scale of Things an exhibition of three moving image works that consider relations between humans and non-humans forming an exploration through history, intimacy and spirituality. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":550,"featured_media":4450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-djcad"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/550"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6141,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4443\/revisions\/6141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}