'The possibility of winged flight' -The Plinth Project listings

Bristol artist Andrew Southall will be unveiling his flight inspired monument as part of the Plinth Project at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery on Wednesday 8^th September.

Centered around an empty plinth in the Museum, Andrew Southall is the fourth of six talented artists from CONTAINER, an artists’ led exhibition and workshop space set up by the Stokes Croft Contemporary Arts Project CIC, to step up to the challenge of creating a site specific work of art for the Plinth Project, which is showcasing six unique pieces of work being displayed for two months at a time over a 12 month period.

For his contribution to the Plinth Project, Andrew will be exploring the possibility of winged flight by constructing a model aircraft to replicate the ideas of flight from the early days of aviation. He estimates the wing span to reach approximately 6 meters, the same size as a prehistoric bird, with the structure hovering over the plinth on an aluminum pole.

Andrew’s work brings the opposing forces of art and science together. The common theme that prevails throughout his artwork is the exploration into the mechanics of an object. He takes a scientific enquiry and sculpts it into an art form.

‘The possibility of winged flight 2010’ has been inspired by the ‘Bristol Box Flight’ aircraft which soars over the museum foyer. He has also designed his installation to coincide with Flight exhibition at the museum running from 18^th September to 28^th November to mark the centenary of the founding of the Bristol Airplane Company (BAC).

When talking about his work for the Plinth Project, Andrew said: “The Possibility of winged flight’ is a daydream. It combines ideas of flight from the early days of aviation with the wing forms of a Pteranodons (pre historic birds) and bats. Its materials are taken from the present as well as those available at the beginning of human flight.”

Talking about Andrew’s work, Robert Manners and Paul Witt, founders of CONTAINER, said: “Andrew has set up an ambitious plan for his contribution to the fourth installment in the Plinth Project at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. Whilst remaining true to the recurrent themes in his practice, Andrew embraced the opportunity of making a larger scale piece of work that further explores his anachronistic investigation into the stuff of dreams and fantasy.”

They continued: “CONTAINER has always had at its heart the belief that the artists we work with need to communicate, through their work, in a direct manner and that the work and the artist should be judged with this in mind.”

The two remaining artists from CONTAINER are now gearing up to unveil their individual pieces of work to the public.

The remaining artists from CONTAINER who will be exhibiting their work during the course from the remainder of the year include Robert Manners and Irena Czapska.

For a full line up and dates, visit www.containerarts.org