Rosie Morris: Circles are Slices of Spheres

Rosie Morris has transformed one of the Laing’s original Edwardian galleries with an ambitious architectural installation, entitled Circles are Slices of Spheres. The title draws on the idea of the gallery as an intersection, a ‘slice’ of a greater whole.

A monumental painting will envelop the viewer in an expanse of colours and illusionistic shadows, creating a stage to reflect on our encounter with the gallery space itself. An accompanying sound commission by Sam Grant will accentuate the spatial acoustics and the gallery’s feeling of focus and separation, drawing on ideas of the sublime and hushed atmosphere associated with viewing art.

The installation houses a carefully selected object from the Laing collection, and is accompanied by an opening performance and subsequent script, all of which Morris uses as devices to further explore her continuing preoccupation with being in the ‘here-and-now’. In particular, the work addresses how we experience and relate to the world: from the way we interact with objects and the spaces in which we dwell, to the larger conceptual terrains of the Urban, the Landscape, and the Cosmic.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of events questioning pre-existing ideas surrounding the role of galleries by proposing new uses of the space.

This exhibition is kindly supported by Arts Council England and Newcastle University's Institute for Creative Arts Practice.