V&A adobe creative residencies

Maja Quille portfolio of relevant works

Singularities

Title piece for recent solo show at SAK Gallery, Denmark. The piece is made up from 2300 steel swarf mounted on pins. The shards are the debris from a recent installation of an artwork protection system at Tate Gallery London.

Threshold (2018)

Joint commission by University of Edinburgh and Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Located at in the Higgs Centre for Innovation, Royal Observatory.

Based on research into the Higgs Boson at University of Edinburgh and CERN, Geneva and in close dialogue with High Energy Particle Phycisist Dr Victoria Evans. The project is based on a visualisation of what would happen to particles if the Higgs Boson, which gives mass to particles, was ‘switched off'‘. An impossible object, at once present and absent, the sculpture consists of roughly 16,000 gemstone spheres attached to wires running floor to ceiling. The optical illusion was generated by a bespoke computer program, developed with programmer Peter Balch. The beads, which make up the image of a door, only come into alignment as the viewer walks towards it upon leaving the building (enlightened?). From all other angles it appears as a ghostly cloud, a mist of nuclei drifting in the air, the fundamental part of its mass and energy removed. The door is an elusive object that leads to the unknown possibilities of future scientific endeavour; how will the discovery of the Higgs boson shape the future of science, now the door has closed upon the standard model.

London Clay project

Project funded through Arts Council England.

This ongoing, largely research based project is developed around 50 million year-old clay obtained from an 20m deep archaeological excavation by MOLA as part of a new development in Southwark, Central London. Based around material research, I am particularly looking at notions of geological authenticity and traces of the Anthropocene, exploring issues around the dichotomy between deep and experienced time and how past and present interlink. Parts of the clay is currently with soil scientist Dr Daniel Evans at Cranfield University, who is analysing the clay, looking for traces of the city. Nannopalaeontologist Dr Liam Gallagher has another section of the clay and is exploring the microfossil content and what has been done biostratigraphically nearby. I am also working with scientists based at Natural History Museum who are doing research around the late Eocene period, the last time there was a major shift in global temperatures. At the same time, I am working with the clay, exploring temperatures and ways of developing artworks.

Microscopic images taken at Natural History Museum. The image on the left is from work done at the Natural History Museum with Dr Peta Hayes, photographing cells and structures of ancient wood fossils found in London Clay. They show seasonal cell growth, so one can literally trace time frozen in place and watch how the tree lived 45 million years ago. The image on the right is a microscopic image of tiny particles found in London clay from the bank of the River Thames in Hammersmith. It shows a world in flux, a mixture of man-made plastic glitter, ancient fossils and new organic material.

The images below are all from a series of London clay experiments exploring chemical reactions, found objects and pushing materials to the limit. I have been exploring themes around time and place in my work. I am particularly interested in the way the clay naturally cracks, experimenting with temperatures to push the limitations of the material and exploring surface with found urban materials.

All in the shape of a humble test dome shape, each ‘planet’ is a microcosm created by replica natural forces and using found materials. The images below are microscopic images of the domes.

Reflections (2009)

I undertook a 3-month residency organised through Dar es Salaam University, Tanzania as part of a cultural exchange. Working closely with the community in a rural village in Kilimanjaro region with only locally available materials and equipment, the project was the culmination of dialogues addressing issues of cultural understanding of art, globalisation and local economies. Much of the work was based on long-standing relationships with the local community developed over a number of years and research into local concerns. One of the outcomes was a sculpture based on the banana tree, key to the local survival and economy made up from local coins of low denominations. This type of coins are usually only used for buying single cigarettes (60 Tsh each) or dropping into the alms box at church. Through inflation, the face value of the coins at the time was less than their scrap metal value.

Assembly was done using an electric single phase arc welder, which in itself posed a problem due to fluctuations in electricity.

this is rubbish

The culmination of three workshops with Victoria Primary school pupils. The project was a collaboration with artist Hans Clausen, a very enthusiastic and talented group of primary school children and lots of generous volunteers and donors. The workshops explored the children's area and issues of sustainability, local geography and art making from re-appropriated materials. The materials were gathered from donations from the local area over a 2-month period and the construction event itself took place over an hour of fun, self-directed construction by the children, exploring their creativity. The resulting 10 metre x 9 metre giant image was based on themes from maps of a future 2065 Newhaven as imagined by the children.

KALEIDOSCOPE, EDINBURGH, 2024

Kaleidoscope workshops in West Pilton as part of ideas development and wider community engagement for public artwork

undercurrents

Recent works with steel shards donated by machinists and artists, exploring the legacy of industrialism, time, underlying systems and the edge between order and chaos. The mandala-like, geometric patterns are generated by mathematic formulas exploring symmetry and unpredictability. Made from hundreds of steel shards, the result of the same, mechanised action and yet all uniquely different, they are the result of the circumstances of a specific moment in time. All colours are determined by the process and occur naturally through heat and friction. Questioning value and the elevation of certain objects, the shards have been individually mounted on steel pins.

Fleeting (2019)

Commissioned by Aberdeen City Council as a memorial to the Hazlehead crematorium scandal, which saw the ashes of more than 200 infants lost due to past practices at the crematorium.

The sculpture was developed over several months in close dialogue with the affected parents, who wanted a peaceful and positive memorial, which would provide a safe space for reflection and remembrance. This was a profoundly humbling and rewarding experience and taught me a great deal about working with diverse groups in a sensitive way. Based on a prolonged period of time spent with the parent group in order to understand their vision, this project succeeded in emotionally engaging people who might not normally appreciate public art, drawing together a group of individuals from different backgrounds to create a memorial reflective of their hopes and wishes.