The other MA held an exhibition in 2019 called ‘Odds’, where everything that was presented was actually a collection of objects and souvenirs of things that artists cherish. The items have all been collected from the artists’ home or studios, providing the audience with an understanding of the creative process of each artist. Some of the materials on display included a withered root of fennel, a scale model of Notre Dame, repeating lines of code or a pair of wooden trousers. ‘Odds’ explored the connection between surrounding and essential things that artists’ collect, and with an eclectic variety of items on display Odds reveals the passion, energy and openness belonging to every artist individually.
Odds was created after a conversation was sparked about what to do with the essential but left over and almost irrelevant materials remaining in artists studios. Subsequently the show expanded from a 3 day exhibition with 40 artists into a two month show with over 70 artists participating.
The reason this exhibition caught my attention was because of the emphasis of left-over belongings. Though many might view these as extraneous items, they’re all part of the process of each artist and I think its intriguing to see that an entire show was created highlighting these.
With my project focussing on aiming to prevent the concept of waste, and making sure I use all elements of every item at some point along the way, Odds has given me inspiration and confidence in it being an entirely possible thing to achieve.