Primary is an artist-led space that supports creative research through studios, residencies, exhibitions and events. Since 2011 we have transformed a Victorian school in Nottingham into a centre for artistic production; with studios for over forty artists and independent creative businesses, and a unique programme of artist commissions, free exhibitions and events.
For In Another Place Primary is showcasing artwork by Melanie Jackson, which will connect with a newly commissioned body of work, ‘Deeper in the Pyramid’, comprising animation, drawing, sculpture, performance and a publication, written in collaboration with academic Esther Leslie. It takes us on a journey of lactic abstractions, through the webs of bio-invasion and collective fantasy that interconnect various life forms through milk, its technologies and representations. The ontologies of species and gender have always been shaped by our relations with this primal liquid, and ensuring a ready supply has driven research in genetics, fertility and robotics. It is now open for radical transformation as new bio-organisms emerge, and real science merges with the fantastic.
Melanie was born in the West Midlands, and works as an artist and as a tutor at the Royal College of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Grand Union, Birmingham, Flat Time House and Matts Gallery in London, as well as showing internationally. She works with writing, moving image and sculpture – and for Primary has developed a performance lecture as well as the billboard.
Primary’s billboard, located in Nottingham, meets its desire to use billboards not simply as a site for marketing, but also as a site for artwork – as an extension of its programme. It will allow it to connect with a passing audience on their commute to or from the city, as well as open up conversations about the nature of advertising in our contemporary landscape.
