Source Article

Below a review of Maeve Rendle's Mount Purgatory exhibition at Apartment features in issue 51 of 'SOURCE' magazine, the review written by Pavel Buchler explores Maeve Rendle's use of photography in her practice: click to enlarge and read.

Meeting Point - Axel Lapp Projects, Berlin

Apartment are currently in Berlin at Axel Lapp Projects. We are showing a selection of Apartment’s previous exhibitors at the space (Invalidenstraße 161, D-10115 Berlin); so if you happen to be in Berlin; do come to see us we will be there hosting the gallery until the show ends on June 23rd. Entitled ‘Meeting Point’ the exhibition features; Dave Gledhill, Paul Harfleet, Hilary Jack, Naomi Kashiwagi, Lisa Penny, Maeve Rendle, Cherry Tenneson, Martine Myrup, David Wilkinson and Beáta Veszely; more details below:

Twice a year Axel Lapp Projects invites and showcases the work of artist-run spaces based outside Berlin in a programme entitled INTERLUDE. For the first of this programme Axel Lapp has selected Apartment, a project and exhibition space, run from a sixth floor one bedroom council flat in central Manchester, UK, co-directed by Hilary Jack and Paul Harfleet. For INTERLUDE 1, Hilary Jack and Paul Harfleet have brought together the work of ten artists from Manchester, Budapest, London and Glasgow in a show entitled ‘Meeting Point’. The work offers an insight into the breadth of activity that Apartment has facilitated over the last three years and reflects Lapp’s own interest and commitment to this Manchester based exhibition space.

Above; visitors to the preview,

Apartment is based in a flat, and unlike many artist led spaces that operate in this way, the curators choose to present the work alongside the possessions that Paul Harfleet lives amongst. This curatorial decision enables the artwork to position itself in contrast to the objects or to hide within them, camouflaged by the everyday detritus. Each artist presented here, at Axel Lapp Projects, has exhibited at Apartment and has dealt with this reality in a variety of interesting ways.

When artwork is shown at Apartment the interior of the flat frames the work. At Axel Lapp Projects, Apartment itself is an absent participant, no longer available as a supporting framework for the presentation of the art work. Therefore the works are able to be re-seen without the context of Apartment, revealing to the curators, the complex relationships that have been formed between the artists and their practices over the three years that Apartment has existed. For the audience the various works are seen within the gallery context and with the knowledge that these relationships were forged in a domestic location; here the artists come together creating a meeting point where the work can be seen in a group show and in a totally new context.

Maeve Rendle

Maeve Rendle’s practice focuses on ways in which art works come into being and take on life through the process of being created. For ‘Meeting Point’ Rendle exhibits a set of twelve photographs which have been reduced to eight by her defective Pentax camera. Rendle is based in Manchester and was recently an Artist in Residence at Apartment culminated in her first solo show earlier this year.
‘Notch’ – 6” x 4” photographs

Maeve Rendle / Mount Purgatory

Apartment is delighted to present ‘Mount Purgatory’, a show by Maeve Rendle. The work is a culmination of a twelve month residency with Apartment and made during a week in residence at Apartment. Mount Purgatory looks at ways in which art works come into being and take on life through the process of being created.

The work is concerned with the nature of artistic practice, and of the domestic artist run space. It looks at how the artist run space and the art on display act with and against each other to produce a rich and varied dialogue.

The image above a detail of the photographs in the space which reveal the entire contents of Apartment placed in the living room.

The artist gives herself the challenge of completing a task. The process of under taking this task creates a fresh environment in which to think. It is in this thinking environment that the work begins to emerge to the artist. It is as though the work has its own intrinsic life and it becomes the artist’s job to uncover that life, to reveal that work of art, rather than to enable a pre conceived idea to be made real. In this respect the artist responds directly to her immediate physical environment using the materials and tools with which it provides her.

The first step was to remove every object, shelf, utensil, item of furniture etc from its original position within Apartment and place it in the living room. Taking the living room to be the main space of the ‘Gallery’, all the contents of Apartment were placed together to create a new surface with which the artist could work. The artist explores the thinking process and relationship that develops between the artist and the work, before during and after the work is made.

Above ; image of the emptied flat.

The final work presented for exhibition is a sequence of photographs taken over the period of time the artist was in residence. The photographs record the contents gathering in the living room; amidst the contents there is a growing pile of newspapers. The artist’s movements are traced through the viewfinder of the camera, and her presence is recorded only through a sentence repeatedly highlighted in every newspaper, ‘this morning there was no new idea’.

The process of finding the work from within the contents of Apartment correlates to finding words within existing newsprint accessible to all. Being able to find the same words each day in every newspaper, demonstrates that nothing is finite; similarly the work with the contents of Apartment will not come to an end but can be repeated with an ever-changing shape. Thus the present work of art is it’s demonstration of the potential for the work to change and morph into a new work, and that work into another work and so on.

The Installation of the photographs

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Friday 9th March - Sunday 11th March

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Mount Purgatory - Preview

Here are some images of the preview from Maeve Rendle's show. Thanks to all those that attended; It may be a our busiest night yet. Above: Paul Needham arrives! Below left to right:Maeve Rendle, Dave Macintosh and Hilary Jack. Centre the busy living room with many familiar faces. Right Paul Harfleet and Dave Macintosh (again!). Bottom; earlier in the evening!

Cyclists Dismount

Cyclists Dismount, the exhibition showcases the work of Apartment Collective; Cath Corlett, Paul Harfleet, Zac Ingham and Hilary Jack; this term refers to the artists who have researched, developed and made work specifically in reference to issues surrounding Apartment's location. Through discussion and collaboration the collective are able to act as producers, facilitating ideas from members. For Cyclists Dismount a selection of work and ongoing research is presented and also includes the work of two artists who are recent additions to the collective; Cherry Tenneson and Maeve Rendle.

Maeve Rendle

“Too up too down” is an example of dependency, a pursuit of independence and a resistance of free will. With 72 flats under the roof of Lamport court, a consistent and dedicated economy of space is preserved. The compact and repetitive packaging of the residents at Lamport court is where Maeve’s interest lies. A darkened space lit by a bulb alludes to a sense of mobility; the freedom of this mobility is compromised by the subject’s lack of intent or inability to leave certain parameters. A continual internal route from connection to connection, up or down, left or right joins and restricts each resident through their use of house hold appliances.

The Good Life

The Good Life presents the work of ten artists based in Manchester, London and Philadelphia. Apartment rejoices in the nature of self-sufficiency, ingenuity and our elavated city centre location. However The Good Life has a dark side and dysfunction and discord are never far away.

The artists are Alice Bradshaw, Mathew Brotherhood, David Gledhill, Paul Harfleet, Gary Leddington, Maeve Rendle, Cherry Tenneson, Rachel Tweddell, John Tiney and Ian Vail.

The show previewed on Thursday 14th April and was our busiest yet. Below are some images of the featured artists.

Paul Harfleet 07870 244 153 Hilary Jack 07957 398 451 or e-mail: apartmentmanchester@hotmail.co.uk

Maeve Rendle

Maeve is a recent graduate of the Manchester Metropolitan University Fine Art Ma. Her process involves the use of photography and installation. Last summer her work was selected by Mika Hanula for a show in Helsinki. Above is her table; 'Legs 11' this was accompanied by a series of photographs one of which is shown below. Rachel Tweddell's photograph can also be seen in the picture above.