4 April 2023

19:00

In this session, artists Alice Rekab and Frances Drayson explore an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation titled ‘Darmok’ (1991), in which the Starfleet crew struggle to make meaningful communication with an alien vessel. The artists will begin with a ‘PechaKucha’ style lecture that shares research exploring queer utopias, portals, myth making and communication. This will be followed by a facilitated discussion unpacking the presentation with the audience, and a screening of the episode.

This session has been organised by artist and A/WA member Frances Drayson. The session is free to attend and will be held on Zoom. Please register by emailing info (at) artworkassociation.org. Registered attendees will receive the link 10 minutes in advance of the discussion.

Alice Rekab’s practice is concerned with expressions and iterations of complex cultural and personal narratives. Alice Rekab takes their own mixed-race Irish identity as a starting point from which to explore experiences of race, place and belonging. Over the last ten years Rekab’s practice has centred around collaboration and interdisciplinary work from which they produce film, performance, image and sculpture, creating new intersectional narratives and objects for exhibition.

Recent Projects include Mehrfamilienhaus,Ricochet #14, Museum VILLA STUCK , Munich (2023); FAMILY LINES Project, Douglas Hyde Gallery(2022); Mountain Language, Galway Arts Centre(2022) Concealed in the half-light, Catalyst Arts Centre, Belfast (2021), Truth, Flags, Identity, Temple Bar Gallery+Studios // Culture Night Dublin (2020) The Nomoli/Father talk, VERY Project Space, Berlin (2019) and The Open Object, Stanley Picker Gallery, London (2018). Rekab completed a PhD in Art at Kingston School of Art London in 2018 and an MA at Goldsmiths College London in 2010. Their work is in the collections of Trinity College Dublin, The Cathal Ryan Trust, The Irish Museum of Modern Art and The Arts Council of Ireland. Rekab is a recipient of the Visual Arts Project Award 2021 and the Visual Arts Bursary Award 2022. Alice Rekab identifies as non-binary.

Frances Drayson lives and works in London. Their practice spans installation, sculpture, sound, writing, drawing, photography and video. They explore the possibilities of expression within rigid systemic frameworks through tricky or slippery methodologies such as ciphers, metaphors and analogies. Funded solo shows and commissions include Bold Tendencies Arcadia, London (2021), Natural History at Britta Rettberg Gallery, Munich (2021) and Crypsis Pairing at Art Lacuna, London (2020). They have exhibited works in group shows at Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2023), General Information, London (2022), Ridley Road Project Space, London (2022), Collective Ending, London, (2020) and Museion Bolzano, Italy (2018).

They were resident at Kunstverein Munich’s Peripheral Alliances residency concurrently with Alice Rekab (2022). Their writing has appeared online in Form IV (2016) and in print in Art Reviews 2021 (2021). They recently broadcast live readings of their written work, sounds and songs live on Cashmere Radio and Reboot FM on the invitation of Plus X (Berlin, 2023). Drayson completed a postgraduate diploma from the Royal Academy Schools (2019). They are the recipient of funding from Arts Council England (2020), the Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac Travel Prize (2019), the Gilbert Bayes Grant (2019), the Salaman-Seelig Art Prize (2018), the Art Collecting Society Award (2018) and the Elephant Trust Grant (2015)