NGCA gallery visit: Fiona Crisp

Fiona Crisp's exhibition 'Material Sight' is a series of large scale photographs and video works made possible by her collaboration with other disciplines and research facilities. These particular works are photos from 'The Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso,' the world's largest underground laboratory for particle physics. Through this series of works, Crisp allows public access and viewing to an interesting environment that would usually be an off-limits space that only a selective group would be able to see. The photograph combinations are quite confusing to view, as it is like seeing in to an environment with little information of whats going on with the odd familiar object or space, such as a natural landscape view, combined with unfamiliar laboratory spaces. As a viewer I found this effect unsettling.

The presentation of the works interested me the most about the exhibition, as the photographs are mounted to a scaffolding frame creating another cube space within the gallery space. The photographs and videos are displayed on the inner and outer walls of the created space, making it impossible to view all works as a whole. The overall effect is very sculptural, adding a physical aspect to usually flat objects and forcing them off the usual wall space. The scaffolding and piping matches with the context of the work, but also gives this unfinished, rustic feel which is a pleasant change from the classic white wall gallery aesthetic.