|
 STEPHEN HURREL WINS £10,000 ARTS FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP
Stephen Hurrel has been awarded the £10,000 Arts Foundation fellowship for his work in lighting design. Artist Hurrel has used light in a variety of ways during his career. From using programmed light to play with the modernist grid of existing buildings he has more recently been creating interactive light-based sculptures some of which use sustainable energy sources to function.During most of the 90s Stephen explored various forms of new media. His main interest at that time was in how art could function within a social, urban context and how new media technologies could be utilised as tools for the art making process. In spite of producing many temporary site-specific installations and interventions his interest in light and digital media gradually outweighed other interests and led to a series of work using programmed light to play with the modernist grid of existing buildings. These often interactive installations would celebrate the grid on the one hand, yet undermine its architectural integrity on the other. Furthermore he liked that the reaction to such installations by an unassuming public made them question not only the authority of the building but also think about what other everyday objects could be re-imagined. Since 2000 he has produced several permanent artworks including The Rings in Glasgow, an interactive light-based sculpture where light flows between four rings and responds to sound levels from the surrounding streets. His desire to create artworks that can function both day and night has led him to look at sustainable light based artworks, an area he sees ripe for development in his work. The shortlist of James Farncombe, Alex Haw, Claire Morgan and Stephen mirrored the diversity of practices within the artiform ranging from lighting design for theatre and the built environment to public art installations using light as the main ingredient. The shortlisted artists were among those nominated by established and practising artists, commissioners, theatre designers and other professional sworking within the art form. The three judges were Peter Fink from Art4Architecture, Vivien Lovell, director of public art consultants Modus Operandi and Paule Constable. The £10,000 fellowships are there to offer 'a creative breathing space' for artists who have achieved some recognition for their work but for whom a time of creative development without the worry of where the next commission is coming from could be crucial to bring them forward in their practice. Lighting Design is just one of five awards the Arts Foundation awarded this year the others being for Illustration, Sculpture in Wood, Conducting and Literary Translation.
|
|