17 June to 23 September 2023
20-21 Visual Arts Centre is delighted to present the first major UK gallery exhibition by kinetic sculptor Peter William Holden. His mesmerising installations combine sculpture, robotics, video and sound in automated sculptural performances.
Works on display include “Arabesque” – a kinetic artwork with its roots in Mary Shelly’s book Frankenstein, and the alchemist’s laboratory. Life sized casts of limbs are brought to life through their internal robotic mechanisms and bestowed with dynamism via the lifeblood of this organism – an invisible presence solely betrayed when exhaled loudly from the valves. Simultaneously, the rattle of relays and clattering of pistons produce a hyper-modern accompaniment to the music of Strauss.
In “Autogene” seemingly mundane umbrellas are transformed into magical animated objects! The circle of umbrellas expand and contract to form abstract, ephemeral patterns, seemingly governed by the accompanying music.
Peter William Holden was born in Burnley and currently lives and works in Leipzig, Germany. He has exhibited extensively across throughout Europe and globally at exhibitions that include China, Brazil, South Korea, Australia and the USA.
