We Radicles? | Exhibition

Location: Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Arts
Exhibition Dates: 15 -17 October 2024, 9am-5pm
Opening Reception: 15 October 2024, 5pm- 7pm

Radicles are the first roots to emerge from plant seeds following germination. They grow down into the soil, anchoring the seedling. Eleven practice-based PhD students at Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon pose an oblique question: We Radicles? You are invited to encounter their research in progress, as they map their fields and seek future cross-pollinations.

This exhibition offers the public a glimpse into the early stages of research, presenting initial artworks and works-in-progress that reflect the foundational steps each scholar is undertaking in their respective field. As these researchers embark on their second year of study, We Radicles? highlights a diverse array of practices across Visual Communication, Service Design, Fine Art and Curation.

The works on display explore common themes such as feminist methodologies, diasporic identities, and the intersections between individual behaviors and broader societal systems. These shared concerns weave together the exhibition, offering a cohesive narrative of emerging thought and inquiry.

Undertaking a PhD involves a continual process of questioning and self-questioning, so the researchers choose to phrase their title as a question. The word ‘radicle’ hints, too, at its etymological near-neighbour ‘radical’ – typically used in modern art history for work that is provocative or confrontational. Some exhibition projects do confront the audience, broaching the failings of contemporary capitalist, patriarchal society. But most are gentler. They take an approach of nurture, connection, conversation, or care. ‘Radical’ is reconfigured less as avant-garde antagonism and more as a return-to-roots consideration of the fundamental values that make a good community.

A Long Table performative conversation, convened by Maria Walsh, is scheduled to precede the We Radicles? opening event. Speakers include: Prof. Paula P. Braga, Dr. Elzbieta Buslowska, Prof. Paul Goodwin, Prof. Adrian Kear, Dr. Denise Kwan, Dr. Mo Throp, Annie Riga, and Charlotte Yao. They have been invited to address notions of roots and radicality in arts research from their specific research perspectives.

Participating artists:

Amelia Crouch is an artist working with moving image, performance and text. Her research investigates the performance and destabilisation of neoliberal subjectivity in artists' moving image, with a current focus on dissatisfying dialogues with call centres. Amelia holds an MA Fine Art from Manchester Metropolitan University and BA (Hons) Fine Art from the University of Leeds. She is a lecturer in Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. Her work has been exhibited with The Tetley (Leeds), Castlefield Gallery (Manchester) and Coventry Artspace. www.ameliacrouch.com

Xiangying Chen is a London-based Chinese artist who explores the cultural negotiations of adults she terms "Wind People"—those who have relocated from the Global South to the Global North. Her research captures the fluid nature of identity and community for these individuals, who face cultural frictions and challenges of living in new environments. Xiangying’s work encourages participation, transforming her installations into spaces where social dynamics are continually renegotiated. She holds an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts and a BA in Public Art from Jiangnan University. Her work "Remain" was featured at COP_ART26 during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference. https://chenxiangyingarts.com

Ilenia Cipollari is an actor and singer with expertise in physical theatre and choral singing. Her research investigates how questions of care, connection, and shared intimacy intersect in live gig theatre. She has previously performed at the International Festival of Chamber music in San Paulo, Yale University Repertory Theatre, Tbilisi International Theatre Festival, Battersea Arts Centre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Tramway (Glasgow), BRAVE festival (Wroclaw) and numerous other venues throughout Europe.

Shengsheng Hu is an interaction and service designer based in London. Her research interests are in non-digital serious games, co-design and regenerative sustainability. Before starting her PhD, Shengsheng worked as a service designer in Zhejiang, China. She received her MA Design: Expanded Practice from Goldsmiths (2022) and her Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Product Design from China Academy of Art (2020). www.shengshengannalenahu.com

Yijie Li is a London-based set designer who received an MA in Performance Design from the University of Leeds and a BA in Scenography from the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin. As a PhD student, her current research aims to innovate shadow theatre performances by introducing digital media technologies into the performance space and discussing how to innovate traditional performances through digital technologies to gain 'new' insights into the performance process.

Annie Riga is a visual artist based between London and Athens. Her work draws from feminist and new materialist ideas of the porous body to investigate ‘leakiness' within expanded painting. Riga’s practice challenges ontological distinctions between objects, viewers, and modernist disciplinary formats, aiming to create new experiential spaces where painting becomes part of a pluralistic and interactive field. Annie holds a BA (Hons) Fine Art from Falmouth University and MA Fine Art from St. Joost School of Art and Design. She has previously exhibited at Kourd Gallery, Athens, TAF Foundation, Athens, Kunstrai Amsterdam, SK Gallery Solingen, and she was recent artist-in-residence at Banff Centre, CA. https://www.annieriga.com

Kimberly Shen is a Singapore-based curator and educator. Her practice research engages with feminist thinking, seeking to affirm the gendered gestures and vocabularies that transcend spaces and institutions of knowledge. She is a lecturer at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore and co-founder of art incubator dblspce. She holds a MRes Art: Theory and Philosophy from Central Saint Martins. Her curatorial projects have been shown at venues including the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Objectifs: Centre for Photography and Film, and NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore. She is winner of the IMPART Art Prize (Curator Category) in 2019. www.kimberlyshen.com / www.dblspce.com

Christabel Teng, an educator and creative leader working within visual communication, service design, and design management. Her research focuses on the impact of urbanisation on the Sembawang district of Singapore; using visual analysis and experiential storytelling to investigate the nuanced relationship between place and human experience. She holds a Master of Design from the University of New South Wales and now – after nearly a decade of diverse creative experience – works in leadership roles at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore.

Valerie Habsburg is an artist, researcher and curator based in Vienna, Austria. She holds a Master‘s degree (Mag.art.) from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where she also served as a lecturer. Since 2023 she has been working on her practice-based PhD entitled The Archive as Mother - exploring the concept of the mother in artistic and performative archival work, at the University of The Arts, London. She researches topics such as (vanished) memory(s), time and temporality(ies) and their relation to space and place. Archives and the archival form an important basis for her artistic research work, which is expressed in photography, video, objects and performance and is shown internationally. She is a founding member of the Artistic Research Collective ARC and the TFR Archive. www.valerieha.com, www.tfr-archive.com

Charlotte Yao is a Chinese-Canadian artist and curator. Her practice-based research uses photography, moving image and text to uncover narratives of Chinese feminist diasporic subjectivity. Charlotte holds an BA Philosophy from the University of British Columbia and MA Photography from Royal College of Art. Her works have been featured in Trinity Square Video (Toronto), Southwark Park Galleries (London), West Bund Art & Design (Shanghai), and A4 Art Museum (Chengdu). She was a recipient of RCA New Photography Prize 2021.

Ji Zhou is a London-based, Chinese graphic designer who focuses on visualisation, circularity, co-creation and xenofeminism. Her practice-based research explores the intersection of graphic design, behavioural psychology and circular design to understand how visual communication can motivate consumers towards circular behaviours. Zoe holds a Graduate Diploma Graphic Design from Chelsea College of Arts and an MA Graphic Design Communication from Camberwell College of Arts. Her work Regeneration has been exhibited at London Design Festival 2022. www.zzzoezhouuu.com

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Chelsea College of Arts, 16 John Islip Street, London, United Kingdom