You are invited to join artists Daniel & Clara on a journey through their research into the relationship between place and the imagination. This event will take the form of an illustrated journey to various locations of personal significance such as Brighton, Avebury, Hastings and Mersea Island, with the artists reflecting on how the spirit of each place has impacted their work and creative process.
They will be joined by guest speakers who will expand upon their reflections, adding new layers to the meaning of each place and its wider impact on imagination and creativity.
Guest speakers include art historian Susan Owens, filmmaker Andrew Kötting, artist Ben Rivers, and Stella Keen, director of the Jeff Keen Archive.
Real time captions will be provided by a stenographer.
Presented by Daniel & Clara in collaboration with Art Exchange, and funded by an Arts Council England Project Grant.
BIOGRAPHIES
DANIEL & CLARA
Since meeting in 2010 Daniel & Clara have dedicated themselves to a shared life of creative exploration, working across moving image, photography, installation and correspondence art.
Their work explores the relationship between psychology and place, looking at how we imbue places with meaning, and how in turn landscape, weather and the environment impact our imagination and state of mind. By weaving narratives of mysterious incidents in the British countryside, they create experiences that are eerie and otherworldly where the very nature of reality becomes questionable.
STELLA KEEN
Daughter of British artist Jeff Keen, artist Stella Keen is the director and curator of his archive. For Landscape Imaginary, Stella will present an illustrated talk about the inner landscapes and sentimental journeys within her father’s films and paintings and the impact that Brighton had on his work.
Jeff Keen lived in Brighton from the early 1950s until his death in 2012; his work in film, performance, sound art and painting was deeply connected to the spirit of the place. To watch his films is to enter into his own cinematic vision of Brighton life populated by fantasy characters inspired by movies, comics and literature. He frequently took his art to the streets, painting directly onto the walls of the city or filming at the beach or local tip.
ANDREW KÖTTING
Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Kötting creates psychogeographic travelogues of modern day pilgrimages frequently accompanied by a band of regular collaborators including Ian Sinclair, Alan Moore and his daughter, artist Eden Kötting. People, places and journeys lay at the heart of his filmmaking, collaboratively unraveling the stories of the land.
For this event Andrew and Eden will be in full costume, channelling the hauntological potential of all things Hastings and Saint Leonards by means of a trawl-back through their sound and image archive.
BEN RIVERS
Ben Rivers is an award-winning artist and filmmaker represented by Kate MacGarry Gallery. His films seamlessly blend documentary and fiction, frequently focusing on modern-day hermits and wanderers, figures who have chosen to exist at an ideological and geographical remove from the rest of society.
For this event Ben will be in conversation with Daniel & Clara about this interest in individuals who separate themselves from society and live on the margins, and how he has worked with them in his films.
SUSAN OWENS
Susan Owens is an art historian and curator. Former Curator of Paintings at the V&A, she has written or co-authored books on natural history illustration, watercolours, drawings and self-portraits. Her latest book is Spirit of Place: Artists, Writers and the British Landscape, published by Thames & Hudson in August 2020.
