From Slow to Stop

The idea that there is an ever-quickening pace to contemporary life has become a compelling condition. The feeling of being in the midst of an ever-present flow of information and activity, of never quite having enough time, is something of a consistent feature from the nineteenth century through to now. It is a constant to such an extent that whenever the word ‘speed’ is mentioned there is an implicit suggestion that it tends to mean quick or fast. To be slow could be seen in negative terms, something to be easily overlooked or disregarded completely. Yet sometimes we just need to create the space to look.
The exhibition brings together a group of works which make things slow down or stop. This could be the subject of the work; things coming to a temporary stop to capture an unexpected moment. It could relate to the process of looking; where duration is stretched beyond reason. Alternatively, the depiction of boredom where a short space of time can seem like an eternity. There is also the political dimension of what it means to be stopped and restricted from movement, to be brought to a standstill at a border or checkpoint. The exhibition does not aim to mark the slow and the static as qualities that should be sought out, only that in these moments, there is an opportunity to look at things a little more closely.