Project Room Application - Tim Sandys

My proposal is to exhibit new sculptural works. I consider them 'memory portraits' of the staff encountered behind glass partitions that the commuter fleetingly experiences when entering Glasgow's subway network. The works are currently in production. The complex and highly detailed modelling and mold-making has been completed and I am soon to start the casting process. After this, there are several more time-consuming stages to complete. These include colouring, detailing, accessorising, eye-fabrication, hair-punching and eventual presentation. Although humanoid and psychologically representational, each work is a physical distortion; a distillation of personal experience. The project has eleven pieces in development. They are approximately the same size, will be clad in a fictional livery individually appropriate to function and status, and will be presented on bespoke hardwood tables. This project evokes the kiosk, the partition, and the employee within.

As a single project, this is very much within my established areas of artistic interest. I associate my work with societal and civic structures. Using actions and interventions, I carefully identify points of strain, failure or tension within city experience and then exploit them. My working methods reflect ethnographic or qualitative research without proselytising or conclusion. Producing sculpture, 2D works, film and sound pieces, my work promotes exercises in empathy in the face of impersonal civilian trappings. These works address the negated status of the individual functioning in a societal context. Using both empowering and provocative methods, this practice flirts simultaneously with deviance and empathy. Previous projects have referenced civilian infrastructure such as turnstyles, aircraft, rolling stock, letterboxes, and the world's largest train yard.

Crucially, I feel this project deserves an experimental outing for two reasons. First, this is a material departure for me. Although I have produced work to a high technical standard, this project draws on all my knowledge of fabrication. Each work has many contributing facets including silicone, pigments, glass, wood, motors, fabrics, etc. I aim for these pieces to be materialy eclectic and high-end. Second, in a practice that has often produced novel abstractions and machines, this is my first approach to a representational or anthropomorphic product. There is a large sculptural tradition of competing ideas to explore. I hope that each piece is to become a partial representation, not of a person, but a societal trope. My chosen sociological phenomena include the performance of innocence, the inequities of unpaid emotional labour and the concept of interpersonal belonging versus facial recognition. Potentially, there is a lot for me to examine post-curation so, while I do not expect 'failure', I believe this project will benefit hugely from an academic and curatorial audit by myself and others.

The logistics of my project are well underway. My funding goals have been met and my time-scale would make this a suitable project for the latter end of this open call. The Project Room is the ideal testing ground for what I believe will be a nuanced and energetic body of work.

Thank you for your time and attention.