Both Sides of Here: Artistic Encounters at the Threshold
Both Sides of Here: Artistic Encounters at the Threshold explores art’s ability to evoke and capture spaces of transformation, moments and states of mind. A waiting room, an open window, a portal to another dimension or a psychological state - this digital exhibition presents thresholds as sites of transition in which one thing becomes another; moments of potential where new realities can take shape.
As we continue to navigate the uncertainty of ever-changing restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, Both Sides of Here invites reflection on other moments of transformation and change across art history. The carefully chosen artworks highlight visible thresholds, such as architecture and the body, as well as invisible ones that mark moments of psychological change. Many of the works also consider thresholds in terms of relative access, questioning the socially coded boundaries where race, class and gender intersect.
Both Sides of Here transcends its digital form by permeating the city of London through a series of Sculptural Encounters – pre-existing public sculptures that have been newly interpreted through a lens of thresholds and boundaries. The exhibition uses some of the artworks as the basis for the Public Events Programme across London. It features a live dance performance at John Maine’s sculpture Arena (1983) on the South Bank, a film screening of Mona Hatoum’s Measures of Distance (1988) at Shreeji News in Marylebone and a series of online events including a recorded visit of Linda Karshan’s studio. Both Sides of Here generates a porous threshold between the digital and the physical.
Navigating the exhibition
Both Sides of Here offers two routes: the Map and the List. Both options contain the same five threads of thematically grouped works and can be explored by selecting one of the titles on the left hand side of the screen, Beyond, Crossing, Embracing, Held and Embodying.
The map offers an overview of all the artworks in the exhibition. You are invited to drag the works around the screen and place them next to each other, forging your own connections. You can also select one of the five threads to see which artworks connect to each other within these groupings. The list offers a complete view of the artworks in the exhibition ordered alphabetically by artist’s surname. You can scroll through all of the artworks in the exhibition together or in their thematic group.
In both the map and the list view, you can click on the image of a work, which will bring up a pop-up screen to view the work in a larger format and to access further information, which for some works includes additional audio and video content. Click again on the image of the artwork to see it in closer detail. For an optimised experience of the exhibition, we recommend viewing it on a computer desktop, with your browser screen maximised to its full size.
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