{"id":17709,"date":"2017-04-26T15:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=17709"},"modified":"2017-04-26T12:45:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T11:45:27","slug":"the-optical-wonder-of-the-centrifugal-soul-by-mat-collishaw-at-blainsouthern-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/the-optical-wonder-of-the-centrifugal-soul-by-mat-collishaw-at-blainsouthern-london\/","title":{"rendered":"The optical wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain|Southern, London"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-01.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Looking like a mix between an elaborate multi-tiered wedding cake and a spinning UFO, this zoetrope by Mat Collishaw is a fantastic piece of art, and it&#8217;s currently on display in Hanover Square, central London.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-02.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The work is on view at the\u00a0Blain|Southern gallery until the 27th May 2017\u00a0as part of an exhibition presenting new sculpture, installation and paintings.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-09.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you walk into the darkened gallery, it takes a while to take in the beauty of\u00a0<em>Albion, <\/em>a ghost-like, laser-scanned 3D\u00a0projection of an ancient Major Oak in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham.<\/p>\n<p>Although the tree has a hollow rotten trunk, it remains intact thanks to\u00a0an elaborate system of scaffolding, first installed in the\u00a0Victorian era, with the image representing, &#8220;a\u00a0living object that is trapped in perpetuity to present the illusion of life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-11.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-03.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Around the corner &#8211; and set in an equally dark environment- is the\u00a0<em>Centrifugal Soul\u00a0<\/em>sculpture, which takes the form of a <a href=\"http:\/\/zoetrope.org\/zoetrope-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">zoetrope<\/a>, a pre-film animation device that produces the illusion of motion through rapid rotation and stroboscopic light.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-04.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Slowly the lights come on and the sculpture is revealed.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-05.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-06.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Close up detail.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-07.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The gallery offers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blainsouthern.com\/exhibitions\/2017\/the-centrifugal-soul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more information<\/a> about the work:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In <em>The <\/em><em>Centrifugal Soul<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blainsouthern.com\/artists\/mat-collishaw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mat Collishaw<\/a>\u2019s forthcoming exhibition at Blain|Southern, the artist\u00a0presents new sculpture, installation and paintings. Drawing on various forms of illusion, the exhibition explores ideas of superficial truth and the erosive effect of our primal urges for visual supremacy.<\/p>\n<p>Collishaw worked with evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller &#8211; whose theory is that the origins of art stem from natural instincts of courtship and reproduction &#8211; to produce the title work and centrepiece of the exhibition. <em>The<\/em> <em>Centrifugal Soul\u00a0<\/em>is a sculpture in the form of a zoetrope, a pre-film animation device that produces the illusion of motion through rapid rotation and stroboscopic light.<\/p>\n<p>The zoetrope animates scenes of bowerbirds and birds of paradise as they perform elaborate mating rituals. The work offers a captivating demonstration of how aesthetic diversity has evolved through sexual selection and also reflects the artist\u2019s ongoing examination of our insatiable appetite for visual stimulation.<\/p>\n<p>Collishaw\u2019s sculpture embodies Miller&#8217;s idea that evolution has created an inescapable\u00a0drive to\u00a0be noticed above the visual competition, feeding our need for self-promotion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/images\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-08.jpg\" alt=\"The spinning wonder of The Centrifugal Soul by Mat Collishaw at Blain Southern, London\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"735\" height=\"414\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xD9HDVgAS7s?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>See the work<\/h2>\n<p>The Centrifugal Soul is on exhibition at the Blain|Southern, a contemporary art gallery based in London and Berlin.<\/p>\n<p>Blain|Southern<br \/>\n4 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1BP (5 mins walk from Oxford Circus tube)<\/p>\n<p>Opening hours:<br \/>\nMonday to Friday: 10am &#8211; 6pm<br \/>\nSaturday: 10am &#8211; 5pm<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blainsouthern.com\/exhibitions\/2017\/the-centrifugal-soul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking like a mix between an elaborate multi-tiered wedding cake and a spinning UFO, this zoetrope by Mat Collishaw is a fantastic piece of art, and it&#8217;s currently on display &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,456,17,193],"tags":[34,1084,1622,1625,1623,1187,1624,1415],"class_list":["post-17709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-london-features","category-news","category-photos","category-places","tag-art","tag-art-gallery","tag-blainsouthern","tag-british-art","tag-centrifugal-soul","tag-contemporary-art","tag-mat-collishaw","tag-modern-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/centrifugal-soul-blain-southern-01.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-4BD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17709"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17716,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17709\/revisions\/17716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}