PhD students and art technicians present the Quiddity Art Show at the University of Chichester

The exhibition runs from September 1-11 at the St Michael Building on the Bognor Regis campus. Free entry.

Tim Sandys-Renton, senior lecturer in fine art sculpture, said: “The title of this exhibition is itself a challenge. Quiddity, rooted in Latin, seeks the essence of an object. Its ‘whatness’. It can describe the basic nature or quality of a material, circumstance or person. It is both expansive and precise. Seeking answers to such a question is at the root of creative practice for artists who seek to capture the what of their subject, using materials, media, display and context to represent the essence of their focus. In his essay The Origin of the Artwork, Heidegger asked similar questions, albeit seeking to define the ‘thingness’ rather than the ‘whatness’, observing that ‘the work makes public something other than itself … something other is brought together with the thing that is made’. He recognised that in the frisson between the maker and the artwork, materials are active and enabling.

“These forms of thinking have evolved into the field of new materialism which acknowledges the agency of the non-human in our collective world and is of particular relevance to visual artists, where engagement with materials is the bedrock of creativity. Whilst acutely aware of the agency of materials, each of the artists in this exhibition also evoke the body as a connective vein running through all the work. However, these real, implied or virtual bodies prefer to be seen as points of communication that interact with and through their non-human, material partners.”

PhD candidate Andrea Vassallo, said: “The installation is (a dissemination) of clues that invites the visitors to, first of all, investigate the space by questioning the meaning of every object presented, and secondly, offers the possibility to actively get involved and participate with any given object.

“As soon as we enter the space, we discover a dark environment with sounds of nature, whispers and footsteps. By the entrance we can find colourful hand- knitted columns like structures connecting the ceiling with the floor. The idea of knitting gives reference to memory of home, not my personal home, but a home that gave me and my walking companion a shelter just for one night. A home of strangers that opened their front doors to unknown walkers and who for few hours shared their lives with us.

“The choice of colours came from my personal sensation I had about those people, ranging from navy blue of Attilia, an Italian lady of an aristocratic background, to green of Leon, a young Swiss man full of energy, positivity and hope.

From inside those columns, we hear whispers of their stories related to our encounter preceded and followed by the sound of nature recorded along the way.”